Environmental groups want TVA prosecuted for spill
Posted: Tue Dec 15, 2009 9:03 pm
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20091 ... +for+spill
Environmental groups said Monday that they want the Tennessee Valley Authority to be prosecuted for its huge coal ash spill in Tennessee and not shielded from penalties for polluting.
In response, officials with the nation's largest public utility said they are already subject to penalties and lawsuits filed by the Environmental Protection Agency and it's working to change the way it stores its coal ash.
The groups argue that TVA should not be protected from prosecution or penalties by a long-standing federal rule that limits how the Justice Department can prosecute federal agencies.
The Dec. 22, 2008, spill is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in TVA history. About 5.4 million cubic yards of metals-laden ash spilled when an earthen dike failed at the coal-powered plant and a cleanup is ongoing.
Environmental groups said Monday that they want the Tennessee Valley Authority to be prosecuted for its huge coal ash spill in Tennessee and not shielded from penalties for polluting.
In response, officials with the nation's largest public utility said they are already subject to penalties and lawsuits filed by the Environmental Protection Agency and it's working to change the way it stores its coal ash.
The groups argue that TVA should not be protected from prosecution or penalties by a long-standing federal rule that limits how the Justice Department can prosecute federal agencies.
The Dec. 22, 2008, spill is considered one of the largest environmental disasters in TVA history. About 5.4 million cubic yards of metals-laden ash spilled when an earthen dike failed at the coal-powered plant and a cleanup is ongoing.
and exposed to civil suits from that point till now... and under those conditions it would now be bankrupt and gone...
