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48–645 PDF 2009

THE TENNESSEE VALLEY 

AUTHORITY’S KINGSTON ASH 

SLIDE AND POTENTIAL WATER 

QUALITY IMPACTS OF COAL 

COMBUSTION WASTE STORAGE 

(111–19) 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

TRANSPORTATION AND 

INFRASTRUCTURE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

MARCH 31, 2009 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 

( 

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota, Chairman 

NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia, Vice 

Chair 

PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

JERROLD NADLER, New York 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

BOB FILNER, California 

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas 

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi 

ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa 

TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

RICK LARSEN, Washington 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

JASON ALTMIRE, Pennsylvania 

TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota 

HEATH SHULER, North Carolina 

MICHAEL A. ARCURI, New York 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona 

CHRISTOPHER P. CARNEY, Pennsylvania 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

STEVE COHEN, Tennessee 

LAURA A. RICHARDSON, California 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas 

PHIL HARE, Illinois 

JOHN A. BOCCIERI, Ohio 

MARK H. SCHAUER, Michigan 

BETSY MARKEY, Colorado 

PARKER GRIFFITH, Alabama 

MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York 

THOMAS S. P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

HARRY TEAGUE, New Mexico 

JOHN L. MICA, Florida 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin 

HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

JERRY MORAN, Kansas 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

SAM GRAVES, Missouri 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West Virginia 

JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

MARY FALLIN, Oklahoma 

VERN BUCHANAN, Florida 

ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio 

BRETT GUTHRIE, Kentucky 

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana 

AARON SCHOCK, Illinois 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

(II) 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT

EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas, Chairwoman 

THOMAS S. P. PERRIELLO, Virginia 

JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois 

GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi 

ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California 

BRIAN BAIRD, Washington 

TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

STEVE KAGEN, Wisconsin 

DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland 

SOLOMON P. ORTIZ, Texas 

PHIL HARE, Illinois 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

HARRY TEAGUE, New Mexico 

ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of 

Columbia 

MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts 

GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizaon 

JOHN J. HALL, New York 

PARKER GRIFFITH, Alabama 

BOB FILNER, California 

CORRINE BROWN, Florida 

JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota 

(Ex Officio) 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

DON YOUNG, Alaska 

JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee 

VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan 

FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey 

GARY G. MILLER, California 

HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina 

TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania 

BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania 

MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

LYNN A WESTMORELAND, Georgia 

CANDICE S. MILLER, Michigan 

ROBERT E. LATTA, Ohio 

ANH ‘‘JOSEPH’’ CAO, Louisiana 

PETE OLSON, Texas 

(III) 

(V) 

CONTENTS Page 

Summary of Subject Matter .................................................................................... vi 

TESTIMONY 

Davis, Hon. Lincoln, a Representative in Congress from the State of Tennessee .................................................................................................................... 5 

Hoyos, Renee Victoria, Executive Director, Tennessee Clean Water Network .. 7 

Kilgore, Tom, President and Chief Executive Officer, Tennessee Valley Authority ................................................................................................................... 22 

McCoin, Sarah, Tennessee Coal Ash Survivors Network ..................................... 7 

Meiburg, Stan, Acting Regional Administrator, Region Four, United States 

Environmental Protection Agency ...................................................................... 22 

Sloan, Paul, Deputy Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Environment 

and Conservation ................................................................................................. 22 

Vengosh, Avner, Professor, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Duke University .......... 7 

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS 

Carnahan, Hon. Russ, of Missouri ......................................................................... 33 

Costello, Hon. Jerry F., of Illinois .......................................................................... 35 

Davis, Hon. Lincoln, of Tennessee ......................................................................... 37 

Mitchell, Hon. Harry E., of Arizona ....................................................................... 39 

Oberstar, Hon. James L, of Minnesota .................................................................. 40 

PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES 

Hoyos, Renee Victoria ............................................................................................. 45 

Kilgore, Tom ............................................................................................................. 74 

McCoin, Sarah .......................................................................................................... 84 

Meiburg, Stan .......................................................................................................... 89 

Sloan, Paul ............................................................................................................... 97 

Vengosh, Avner ........................................................................................................ 123 

SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD 

Napolitano, Hon. Grace F., a Representative in Congress from the State 

of California, questionaire distributed by State of Tennessee Department 

of Health ............................................................................................................... 26 

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(1) 

HEARING ON THE TENNESSEE VALLEY 

AUTHORITY’S KINGSTON ASH SLIDE AND 

POTENTIAL WATER QUALITY IMPACTS OF 

COAL COMBUSTION WASTE STORAGE 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:00 p.m., in Room 

2167, Rayburn House Office Building, the Honorable Eddie Bernice 

Johnson [Chairwoman of the Subcommittee] presiding. 

Ms. JOHNSON. I would like to call the Subcommittee to order. 

This afternoon we will be holding a hearing on the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Ash Slide: Potential Water Quality Impacts of Coal Combustion and Waste Storage. 

We are aware that on December 22nd of last year a retaining 

wall collapsed at a coal ash storage facility at the Tennessee Valley 

Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency described what happened next as a ‘‘tidal wave of 

water and ash that crashed down on the local community and into 

nearby rivers.’’ 

Unfortunately, this description is really not an exaggeration. 

Over 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge were released. Over 

100,000 cubic yards were deposited on the land, resulting in the destruction of three homes and damage to dozens of other properties. 

Sludge was spread across over 300 acres, at points over six feet 

deep. Over five million cubic yards ended up in the local river systems. 

I have heard the concern that this oversight hearing on the Kingston ash spill is just a backhanded effort to discontinue the use of 

coal as a power source. I reject that out of hand. That is simply 

not true. This hearing is both about the impacts of over five million 

cubic yards of coal ash sludge being swept into a community and 

river, and an investigation about how this could ever have happened. It is also about the environmental practices put in place by 

a Federal entity and about what other Federal and State agencies 

did to ensure they were robust. 

This Committee and Subcommittee have a constitutional obligation to oversee the agencies within their purview. I do not take 

lightly any suggestion that this hearing is a front for some other 

agenda. When your drinking water is threatened with leeching and 

poisoning, from both arsenic and mercury it is not a play situation. 

2 

It is important to note that scrutiny should fall not just on the 

TVA with regards to this ash spill. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Tennessee also have an obligation to 

be vigilant in protecting the environment. More importantly, they 

must show that they are overseeing the cleanup and response effectively. EPA, especially, has a duty to provide oversight of both the 

actions of TVA and the State of Tennessee. 

The December 22nd coal ash spill really has had consequential 

impacts on the lives of nearby residents, as well as on the local environment. It also served as a wake up call to the Congress. It has 

raised questions not only about the storage of coal ash generally, 

but also about the Tennessee Valley Authority itself. This Subcommittee held a host of hearings on a wide variety of subjects last 

year, but we did not hold any on the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

We should have. 

In fact, it has been nearly a decade since the Committee held 

hearings focused solely on the Tennessee Valley Authority. That 

oversight regarding oversight ends today. As a result, we might be 

having oversight hearings now every 30 to 60 days. This hearing 

is just a first in a series that will evaluate the Tennessee Valley 

Authority and various elements of its mission. I have full faith that 

both the board and the management of the Tennessee Valley Authority will join me in ensuring that from this point on TVA will 

become a model agency; both in terms of its mission to the Tennessee Valley region, and also in terms of environmental stewardship. 

I thank you for attending this important hearing and I look forward to hearing our witnesses. I now recognize our Ranking Member, Congressman Boozman from Arkansas. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Today this 

Subcommittee begins its review of the potential water quality impacts of coal ash storage, specifically the December 22nd, 2008 incident at the Tennessee Valley Authority power generation facility in 

Kingston, Tennessee. 

This hearing continues what is becoming an all too familiar refrain from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure regarding the declining state of our Nation’s infrastructure. While 

public and private utilities have safely operated approximately 600 

coal ash sites for decades with only a few documented failures, it 

is important to recognize that this spill directly impacted more 

than 40 property owners. Homes were rendered uninhabitable. 

Water mains and gas lines ruptured. Nearby neighborhoods had to 

be evacuated. Thankfully, no one was hurt and it is my sincere 

hope that what has occurred at the Kingston coal ash disposal site 

was an isolated incident. 

Since the spill, it has become evident that the Tennessee Valley 

Authority and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation must do a better job of inspecting coal ash storage facilities. Indications of small leaks at the Kingston facility were detected as far back as 2003, yet it is unclear what corrective actions 

took place to reinforce the dikes that impound the coal ash. 

I would like to hear the witnesses elaborate on what steps were 

taken between 2003 and the date of the spill to strengthen the impoundment structure. In this case, an ounce of prevention may 

3 

have proven to be a pound of cure. Had the Tennessee Valley Authority and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation taken corrective action and made a minimal investment at 

that time of the initial leak then perhaps we would not have had 

almost an $850 million problem. 

I believe the Tennessee Valley Authority has traditionally been 

a good steward of the environment and one of the more accountable 

Federal agencies. After all, most of its employees including CEO 

Tom Kilgore reside within the Tennessee Valley Authority and are 

all directly impacted by the actions taken by the agency. 

It appears this spill is a failure of the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to adequately inspect the Kingston facility and take the appropriate corrective action. Additional laws or Federal regulations 

would probably not have prevented this terrible accident. New laws 

and regulations will not replace homes, family treasures, heirlooms, and other personal property lost as a result of the Kingston 

spill. 

Even if coal ash were regulated under Subtitle C of the Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act, it is unlikely this spill would have 

been prevented. In fact, the Environmental Council of the States 

recently reiterated its position that the States, not the Federal 

Government, should be responsible for the regulation of coal ash as 

a nonhazardous waste. The Clinton Administration in May 2000 

determined that fossil fuel combustion waste should not be regulated as hazardous waste. In addition, in 2006, the EPA also determined that mercury is retained by the resulting coal combustion 

residues and is unlikely to be leeched at the levels of environmental concern. 

When managed properly, coal combustion waste can be beneficially reused for construction materials used in our highways, 

bridges, buildings, and other infrastructure projects. This reuse has 

resulted in significant economic, social, and environmental benefits. 

However, this is little comfort for those property owners impacted 

by the Kingston spill who have sacrificed a great deal and in some 

cases have forfeited their homes and other irreplaceable memories 

to this accident. 

I thank you, Madam Chairwoman, for holding this hearing and 

I look forward to the testimony of the witnesses. I yield back. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. The Committee now recognizes a distinguished Member of this Full Committee and former 

Chair of this Subcommittee, Mr. James Duncan. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman. 

Thank you for calling this hearing. I am sorry I had another appointment and didn’t get here in time to hear your opening statement. I did hear most of the statement by the Ranking Member, 

Mr. Boozman, and that was a fine statement. I want to welcome 

our former Member, my friend Lincoln Davis, who is such an outstanding Member. We worked together closely on many, many 

things. 

This spill is not in my district but it was close enough that, like 

all people in east Tennessee, I had a lot of concerns about it. I did 

go down and take a helicopter tour and met with all of the officials 

who were working on it. I do understand that at one point it said 

4 

that TVA was spending over $1 million a day to take corrective action. I don’t know how much they have spent since that first story 

came out but it does seem to me that TVA is doing everything possible to try to rectify this situation and make sure that it doesn’t 

happen again. I do think that TVA has among the finest leadership 

that the agency has ever had, contrary to the impression I think 

some people have tried to leave. Certainly no one in TVA and particularly those at the top level wanted this to happen or intended 

for it to happen. 

Everybody has been trying to, I think, treat the people who were 

affected as fairly as possible. In fact, I understand that 92 percent 

of those who were affected by this have accepted TVA’s first offer. 

That, I think, shows that there has been a lot of fairness in this 

situation. Although, I have noticed that some people have dollar 

signs in their eyes over this and so there have been a lot of lawsuits filed. Of course, we had a New York law firm who came in 

and I suppose want to make a lot of money out of this. But we have 

got to be very careful there. We have also got to remember that 

99.99 percent of the people in the Tennessee Valley would be hurt 

if we go ridiculously overboard or start having excessive judgements or recoveries. 

Some people have tried to use this, they have been almost gleeful—some groups have—that this happened because they want to 

use it to promote a radical political agenda and particularly an 

anti-coal agenda. Coal produces over half of our energy in this 

country and about 60 percent of TVA’s power. If we just basically 

do away with coal in this country, and I don’t represent or have 

really any coal production in my district, but if we just do away 

with coal in this country you are going to see a doubling or tripling 

or quadrupling of utility bills. Who that is going to hurt, that is 

going to hurt the poor and the lower income and the working people most of all. 

I hope that some of these groups in their glee that this has happened will stop and step back and think about how much they will 

hurt the poor and the lower income and the working people if we 

use this tragic event to promote this anti-coal agenda. 

Now, having said that, I do want to make sure that everybody 

who is directly affected is treated as fairly as possible and is compensated for their loss. I am a little bit concerned that some people 

who are very far away from this spill may use this to make unjustified claims. I hope that doesn’t happen. 

But I am pleased that you are holding this hearing. This is a 

very, very unusual event and certainly has never been to this extent. I feel certain, based upon what I have been told by all the 

people involved, that everything possible is being done to make 

sure that an event like this never happens again. Thank you very 

much, Madam Chairwoman. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. I would ask everyone that 

has opening statements to submit them for the record so that we 

can go right to our first panelist, Mr. Lincoln Davis of Tennessee. 

He represents the district where the coal ask spill occurred so we 

will value his insights on this issue. Consistent with Committee 

practice, this panel will be dismissed at the conclusion of Congressman Davis’s testimony. Your full statement will be placed in the 

5 

record. If you can stay within five minutes, we would appreciate it. 

I know that is hard. 

TESTIMONY OF LINCOLN DAVIS, MEMBER, FOURTH DISTRICT 

OF TENNESSEE, UNITED STATES CONGRESS 

Mr. DAVIS. Let me say, it is good to be back in the Committee 

room where my first two terms were spent serving here on this 

Committee. I appreciate the great work that Chairman Oberstar 

and certainly Chairwoman Johnson are doing. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to talk about the issues and the spill 

that occurred in the eastern part of my district. It is also a privilege to be here with Ranking Member Boozman from Arkansas and 

my good friend Jimmy Duncan. The area where our districts border 

is close to where this ash spill occurred. 

Kingston, Tennessee, where the ash spill occurred, is on the eastern side of my Congressional district. I have the honor and pleasure of representing 10,000 of Tennessee’s 40,000 square miles and 

have the fourth most rural residential Congressional district in 

America. I am blessed to live within some of the most beautiful 

mountains, overlooks, and waterways in our Nation. The valley I 

live in is a blessing that supports tourism and industry in Tennessee and is an inheritance that we are bound as good stewards 

to pass on to future generations. 

On December 22nd last year when a dike at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant broke and released over a billion gallons of coal ash into 

the surrounding areas, it was a major setback for landowners, for 

our environment, for the mission of TVA, and for the eight million 

rate payers who rely on the TVA for low cost electricity and service. 

I have visited this site now on several occasions. Additionally, I 

have met with the CEO of TVA, administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency, and current Administration officials as 

well as local officials and constituents who are directly affected by 

what has occurred. In my discussions with those involved, I have 

come to three conclusions. 

First, the cleanup will come slowly and at great cost. Second, the 

financial burden of setting this straight should not fall on those 

who have been harmed. Third, my constituents and the land they 

live on must be made whole again. Let me repeat that: My constituents and the land they live on must be made whole again. 

When President Roosevelt established the TVA with his signature in 1933, he launched an independent agency that would help 

solve some of the southeast’s most challenging problems. TVA reforested land, produced navigable waterways, developed fertilizer 

that would help reclaim eroded soil, and by 1949 delivered electricity to a million people. Today TVA serves eight times that number. 

This history is well known to my constituents, as well as all 

across the Tennessee Valley. However, TVA’s history, as with that 

of our Nation, is imperfect. Last December the public’s trust was 

broken. But America’s strength has never relied on an impossible 

standard of never making mistakes. Instead, it is our commitment 

to correct our failures and move forward with the promise to never 

6 

repeat our most egregious missteps that keeps America strong. 

This is precisely what I expect of TVA. 

I have spoken with officials from this Administration and the 

EPA who have assured me they will stay on the ground to oversee 

this cleanup until it is completed to everyone’s satisfaction. I have 

received a similar assurance from TVA that they have the means 

to make this right. I am pleased to hear from TVA that they have 

already purchased land and homes appraised at nearly $20 million. 

I expect that will continue. 

I understand too that TVA is currently inspecting the containment dikes at its 10 other fossil plants and has hired an independent engineering company to perform an in-depth analysis of 

the root cause of this ash spill. I want these findings to be made 

public so that every rate payer and lawmaker alike can take part 

in our effort to ensure that this never happens again. 

As a Congressman representing the spill zone, I expect two 

things of TVA. First, TVA must continue working closely with the 

Corps of Engineers, the EPA, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the local community to ensure that 

TVA is in compliance with all relevant laws. Second, they must act 

with complete transparency. TVA must do everything in their 

power to earn and regain the public’s trust, including making their 

findings public and holding unscripted meetings with ratepayers so 

the voices of citizens in the spill zone can be heard. 

If TVA cannot fulfill their duty to make my constituents whole, 

I am fully prepared as a Member of Congress to call upon our current Administration to name the EPA as the lead agency in charge 

of the cleanup and to appoint a czar that will hold TVA accountable. In the meantime, I take the EPA on their word that they will 

remain in place to see the job through. I thank them for the work 

they do and for being here today to speak on this important issue. 

As a final note, I would like to point out that the charge we have 

before us first and foremost is to see Kingston cleaned up. Undoubtedly, and as we have already seen, there are those on both 

ends of the political spectrum who would use this spill to push 

their narrowly focused agenda for America’s energy policy. Coal has 

been a part of America’s economic engine for all of the years of our 

industrial might and will likely play a role alongside solar, wind, 

and other alternative energies as we work toward a cleaner world 

and freedom from foreign oil. To be sure, our economic and national 

security depend upon this. However, I would ask that as this 

worthwhile debate plays out we not let it distract from the pressing 

needs of the people in Kingston, Tennessee. 

Again I want to thank the Members of Congress, Chairman 

Oberstar, and Chairwoman Johnson for allowing me to be here 

today. There is plenty of work yet undone to restore the site at 

Kingston and still more ahead to forge a clear path for a brighter 

new energy future for America. It is my sincere hope that we will 

continue to discuss these issues, as we are today. I have no doubt 

that with the efforts of committed men and women like those who 

have assembled here we can see these efforts come to light. Thank 

you for allowing me to be here today. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. [Presiding] Thank you, Congressman Davis. A 

vote has been called so we are going to have to move on. But I 

7 

couldn’t totally agree with you more on the cleanup issue. Thank 

you for taking the stance of making sure the cleanup is effected 

and that EPA sticks with it. I have a similar situation, so I know 

exactly what you may be going through. I think the PRPs, the potential responsible parties, ought to be commended if they are 

working with you and gone after if they are not. 

Mr. DAVIS. I have had many visits in the area and met with 

folks. At this point in time there has been a good, open line of communication especially with our Congressional office. This is located 

almost on site in Rockwood, the neighboring town. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Well, thank you, sir for your diligence. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Chair? 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Yes, Mr. Boozman? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. We would like to submit a whole bunch of written 

questions for you to respond to personally in your writing. 

Mr. DAVIS. Could I critique some of those questions, to be sure? 

[Laughter.] 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, thank you very much for being here. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you. We will call up the next panel and 

begin with the first witness. Then we call a recess for the votes. 

We have 12 minutes left. 

We have Sarah McCoin from Harriman, Tennessee; Renee Victoria Hoyos, Executive Director, Tennessee Clean Water Network 

in Knoxville, Tennessee; and Dr. Avner Vengosh, Professor of 

Earth and Ocean Studies at Duke University in Durham, North 

Carolina. 

We will start with Ms. McCoin. You have five minutes and then 

we will recess. You may proceed. 

TESTIMONY OF SARAH MCCOIN, TENNESSEE COAL ASH SURVIVORS NETWORK; RENEE VICTORIA HOYOS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, TENNESSEE CLEAN WATER NETWORK; AND AVNER 

VENGOSH, PROFESSOR, EARTH AND OCEAN SCIENCES, 

DUKE UNIVERSITY 

Ms. MCCOIN. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Johnson, Ranking 

Member Boozman, and distinguished Members of the Committee. 

Thank you for the opportunity to appear before this Committee and 

to discuss the TVA coal ash disaster in Harriman, Tennessee and 

Kingston, Tennessee, they were both affected communities, that occurred on December 22nd, 2008. 

I personally am a seventh generation resident of Harriman, Tennessee. My relatives have lived at the Adkisson Farm since 1802. 

I am a member of the Tennessee Coal Ash Survivor Network and 

I am here to testify before you all today on behalf of my community, the diverse community of Harriman, Tennessee. 

In this testimony, I want to express three main points. And I am 

approaching this Committee with a plea for your help. Firstly, TVA 

is not listening to us. It is as if they don’t care. We need more information and increased communication. Secondly, many families 

fear that they are poisoning their children by remaining in their 

homes. They do not have the resources to pay for testing on those 

children. They need help; they need answers. We are hoping to obtain that. Thirdly, TVA must be held accountable for the damages 

they have caused. 

8 

Prior to the spill, we lived under a false sense of security. I drove 

past that ash pile day in and day out, never thinking anything 

about it, never assuming that it was dangerous. It was just a place 

to store coal ash. The spill changed that perspective and has left 

us scared and confused. 

Since the coal ash spill, I have received only four documents from 

TVA about the status of the contamination and the cleanup efforts. 

The residents who were immediately impacted have been contacted 

by TVA about their losses and concerns. Other residents were instructed to file claims with the Outreach Center and the Property 

and Casualty Company. As of today, there has been little or no response to those claims. 

Even more troubling is people who have not sought legal counsel 

from attorneys. They are just sitting and waiting. They are waiting 

for help and waiting for answers. TVA has held a series of public 

meetings but these meetings did not provide clear answers. For 

many, TVA has failed to adequately inform us about our property, 

their plans for cleanup, and the environmental risk. 

TVA must rectify the disaster they created and pay for resulting 

damages. We agree that the coal ash must be removed from the 

Emory River but we fear that dredging the river will cause further 

leeching of toxic metals into the water and will cause more hazardous particulates to be released into the air. Further, there are 

inconsistencies between TVA’s dredging reports and the independent testing regrading environmental risk. We cannot support 

this plan until the irregularities about the risk and hazards of the 

dredging of the river are resolved. 

So far as we know, the current dredging plan is incomplete. As 

we understand it, the coal ash will be trucked to a temporary location where it will remain until a permanent site is identified and 

a facility can be built. Without Federal regulation, there are not 

consistent guidelines for coal ash storage and no guarantees that 

this time TVA will provide a permanent storage facility that will 

be properly lined, capped, sealed, and maintained. 

Harriman, also Kingston, is now a toxic wasteland due to the 

lack of Federal regulation. We urge that guidelines and laws are 

in place so this never happens again. 

There has been an influx of the number of work vehicles traveling throughout Roane County and it is expected that an additional 600 trucks plus will be traveling as part of the dredging effort. These trucks track coal ash from the loading site if they are 

not properly rinsed off. Then they release the ash into the air and 

track it into neighboring communities. We worry that this increased traffic will inevitably cause harm or death. 

We are a community that hunts, fishes, and swims in the river. 

Harriman and Kingston residents need to be sure that it is safe for 

our families to recreate in and around the rivers. Several fish populations were decimated by the ash and estimates suggest that these 

species will not resume their original populations for at least 20 

years. 

Harriman is home to people who rely on the fish for their meals. 

This ash is in the water, in the air, and in the ground. It is consumed by the fish, the birds, the game, and the livestock. We question whether we are at risk for illness as the contamination worsVerDate Aug 31 2005 11:50 Nov 12, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00024 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\48645 JASON
9 

ens as it moves up the food chain. Because of the significant lack 

of information from the authorities, many continue to eat the fish 

despite the contamination. 

We have the right to know what pollutants are in our air and 

water, at what levels these pollutants are occurring, and at what 

point they have the potential for harm. However, each successive 

study contradicts the previous one. We need to know why these discrepancies exist. The community must be given full disclosure 

about what chemicals and heavy metals are in the air and in the 

water. We need to know how these contaminants can harm our environment. 

I am trying to hurry here. I am almost done. 

Coal ash inevitably entered the air prior to the spill but the problem since has increased. TVA initially promised to keep the coal 

ash wet to prevent air contamination. Instead they dropped sprouted rye grain and straw from helicopters in the middle of January 

when the temperature was around 15 degrees. There are reports 

that the TVA is now using Flex Terra to cover the ash but that is 

not enough. Too many residents are experiencing respiratory problems and other ailments which we believe are directly related to 

the contaminants. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Would you wrap it up, please, ma’am? 

Ms. MCCOIN. Yes, ma’am, I will. Thank you. Let me just skip to 

this. We desperately need to have testing for our communities to 

find out whether or not our children are being poisoned. We need 

Federal regulation. And we need to make sure that this doesn’t 

happen again. We have been neglected. There are people who have 

been satisfied but there are many who have not. Thank you. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you for your testimony. I am sure there 

will be questions addressed to you when the Members return. With 

that I will recess for the votes. We have five minutes to get to the 

vote. Thank you. 

[Recess.] 

Ms. JOHNSON. [Presiding] The Committee will resume its hearing. We apologize for having to interrupt the testimony. It happens 

pretty frequently around here. We want to thank Ms. McCoin who 

finished her testimony and move right to Ms. Renee Victoria 

Hoyos. 

Ms. HOYOS. Good afternoon, Chair Johnson, Ranking Member 

Boozman, and distinguished Members of the Committee. Thank 

you for this opportunity to speak to you today. 

My name is Renee Victoria Hoyos. I am the Executive Director 

of the Tennessee Clean Water Network and the President of the 

Board of the National Clean Water Network. The Tennessee Clean 

Water Network’s mission is to empower Tennesseans to claim their 

right to clean water and healthy communities by fostering civic engagement, building coalitions, and advancing water policy for a 

sustainable future. We are located in Knoxville, Tennessee. 

I would like to speak with you today primarily on water quality 

concerns that the Network has. Primarily I would like to speak to 

you about selenium contamination. I do want to point out that 

originally when I saw the site I thought to myself that this site 

needs to be dredged immediately, that they need to get out that 

coal ash as fast as they can. But since then I have had the opporVerDate Aug 31 2005 11:50 Nov 12, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\48645 JASON
10 

tunity to speak with scientists that have worked on coal fly ash 

spills and have come to change my thinking about the dredging 

plan. 

Our major concern is selenium. It is a trace nutrient for humans 

and mammals but at high levels it is extremely toxic. Dr. Bryce 

Payne who has worked on the coal fly ash at PPL, which discharged into the Delaware River, contacted me and had some concerns about the dredging that I would like to share with you. 

Selenium, when it becomes oxidated, it goes through a number 

of oxidation changes. Two constituents of this are of concern. One 

is selenite, which is toxic but binds very readily to particles and 

goes into the sediments. However, if the sediments get disturbed, 

and we think they will by dredging, this form of selenium turns 

into selenate. Selenate is highly toxic. It does not bind to particles 

and we believe it can slip quite easily through the turbidity curtains that TVA has chosen to use as a measure to keep the sediments back. 

One concern that we have is the fact that the fish that we are 

seeing in the river have been tested and have high levels of selenium in their reproductive organs. Selenium is taken up through 

the system by bioaccumulation. These tests were done January 8th 

and January 9th of 2009. It was too soon for these fish to receive 

high levels of selenium through the spill. Our concern is that they 

have been receiving selenium through the discharge of the wet 

storage pond for 50 years. The levels in these reproductive organs 

were so high that there is concern that the fishery may fail if there 

is another release of selenium. 

Through the dredging process, it mixes oxygen into the coal fly 

ash. If it oxidates to selenate and slips through the turbidity curtain, it cannot be recovered. The State has been notified of this 

through conference calls and through written letters. Many of the 

agencies have been notified of this problem and they have chosen 

to continue monitoring. Though we are appreciative of continued 

monitoring, once the selenium goes into the system there is no way 

to get it back. What we will be monitoring is probably another big 

fish kill. 

Another concern is that in the wet storage pond, the permit only 

required that TVA test for total suspended solids and for pH. They 

were never required to test for heavy metals. Because of this we 

think that whole area has probably been contaminated by heavy 

metals. This has been taken up by the fish and those fish are consumed by folks that live in the watershed. So we have some concerns about the legacy of heavy metal contaminants from the pond. 

We feel the wet storage of coal combustion waste is inappropriate 

given the fact that there are a number of new technologies that 

have been in existence since the 1980s. We would urge the Committee to ask the EPA to phase out wet storage of coal combustion 

waste in favor of dry storage, which appears to be a lot safer. When 

you are storing coal combustion waste, when they take out the bottom ash from the plant, they run about 8.5 million gallons a day 

of water to process this into the wet storage ponds. This water 

comes in contact with almost 25 toxic metals that are known to be 

toxic to humans and wildlife at a certain dosage. So we really feel 

that wet storage is an inappropriate form of storage for this fly ash. 

11 

We would like specifically for the Committee to consider advising 

the EPA to apply the Superfund law at the disaster site. We feel 

that the communities’ voice has not been well heard and that requiring a cleanup under CERCLA will ensure a more timely and 

complete cleanup. It also gives the public a venue through this Act 

to receive some funding to get an independent technical assistant 

as well as puts this on the hazardous ranking system to score the 

site to determine its eligibility for listing on the National Priorities 

List. 

We would also like that the final four TVA board member positions that are vacant be filled with folks from the environmental 

and social justice communities so that those concerns can be heard 

at the board level. Again, I want to thank you for this opportunity 

to speak. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. Dr. Avner Vengosh. 

Mr. VENGOSH. Madam Chairman, thank you for inviting me to 

talk here today. My name is Avner Vengosh. I am a Professor of 

Geochemistry at Duke University. My research is on water quality. 

That is what I do and my expertise. 

After the spill on December 22nd, we went to the field to conduct 

research, me and my group at Duke University. That is what I am 

going to talk about today. I am going to talk just about the results 

of what we have been doing, and focusing today on the water quality aspect. We have done several other studies. 

But talking about the water quality, we went to the field. We collected water samples according to very strict protocol, the USGS 

and the EPA protocol, and then we measured trace metals using 

highly sophisticated instruments that we have. We are very proud 

of our analytical capability. We have a very high sensitivity and 

low detection limit. We measured different elements including arsenic and mercury in both the water and the sediment. 

So this is a map of where we sampled. Basically, we sampled the 

area in which the ash covered the surface area, we call it the Cove, 

in the tributaries where we can see today the standing ash. I will 

show you a picture in a minute. Then we sampled in the upstream 

and downstream of the Emory and the Clinch Rivers. We went 

three times to the field and conducted comprehensive analyses. So 

this is an example of sampling at the Cove area where the ash is 

covering the area. Basically, as you can see, this is the area that 

was most impacted. 

The result—I am not going into details in this table—is we found 

that the Cove area, the area in the tributaries, has high level of 

contaminants. This is an example of arsenic concentration. Arsenic, 

as selenium, is a highly bioaccumulative toxic element. We found 

that in the Cove and the tributaries the levels are up almost 100 

parts per billion whereas in the downstream river water the levels 

are much lower. In fact, they are lower than the maximum contaminant level of the EPA. 

Our results in this sense are consistent with TVA results. However, from a detailed analysis of the geochemistry we see that even 

the downstream river has a higher concentration of arsenic relative 

to the upstream water, meaning that there is some leeching of arsenic and other metals from the ash in the water. This will be important when we speak later about dredging. 

12 

Basically we also sampled sediments. Our results for mercury 

concentration in the sediments shows that the ash has a relatively 

higher concentration of mercury to the sediments of the river upstream for both the Emory and, according to new results, also relative to the Clinch River. The downstream content of mercury in 

the sediments of the river indicates mobilization and transport of 

ash into the river. So we are actually using this to detect how 

much ash is actually transported into the river. 

So in conclusion, we found that in those areas in the Cove and 

the tributaries, we found very high levels of trace metals and of arsenic in particular. We can see that downstream of the river there 

is some leeching of those metals from the sediments into the river 

water. And we argue that during remediation and dredging of the 

Cove, of ash from the river, further leeching might become much 

more dominant. 

So careful monitoring is really a must to make sure that remediation and taking out the ash from the river would not be associated 

with a massive contamination of the water. Also, the relatively 

high concentration of mercury in the sediments has implications for 

the ecological health of the river. In certain situations we can see 

that formation of metal mercury in the river sediments could affect 

the health of biological and ecological life. So therefore detailed 

monitoring during and after the remediation I think is essential to 

ensure that the quality of the river, the downstream river, will be 

maintained as clean as the upstream river. Thank you. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very, very much. I guess that concludes 

the testimony of this panel. We will start with the questioning. 

I guess I should ask Ms. McCoin this. Has EPA released health 

information that was received by the public, understood by the 

public, and effective in getting people to take the desired actions 

to reduce their potential health risks? 

Ms. MCCOIN. Ma’am, it is my understanding that EPA has not 

satisfactorily satisfied the communication. What we have to remember is even though something may be available on a website, 

many of our residents may not have anything other than dial-up 

if they even have that and they don’t use the computer. That is 

probably where a lot of this conflict in communication begins. The 

fact is that there is still quite a heavy emphasis on print copy as 

far as information distribution in our community. So to answer the 

question, I think that they have failed in that regard. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Have there been any community meetings or information sessions for the surrounding area by any government entity or TVA? 

Ms. MCCOIN. Yes, ma’am. What we found initially was that people were asking a lot of questions. We were running around not 

knowing what direction to go. Out of that were two efforts. Basically two community groups formed and just because of personalities tend to attract people to one group as opposed to the other. 

There is a lot of cross-flow between the two groups. Both community groups have had meetings trying to figure out which direction 

to head and to transfer information back and forth. 

TVA, even as late as last night, did have an information sharing 

system. But it is my understanding only 72 people attended. So 

there has been some of that. Initially they were heavily attended. 

13 

But most people now are just like, okay, I am a victim so what am 

I going to do now? I guess this is the way it is going to be. And 

it is very, very, very sad. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Are there any instructions to the people as to how 

best to protect themselves until they can get it cleaned up? 

Ms. MCCOIN. What is interesting about that, and I am not sure 

if it was in my testimony, the Tennessee Department of Health left 

on my particular doorstep a bag of instructions. It said, don’t worry 

about it—I am summarizing obviously—don’t worry about it, it is 

not hazardous. But if you touch it, spray it off. Don’t let your pets 

get near it. Don’t touch it. Don’t get near it. Run away from it. You 

know? But it is not hazardous. Get it off of you. 

Then there was a meeting at the Methodist church, and I am 

sorry but I don’t remember the date, in which two or three EPA 

people, Mr. Kilgore from TVA as well as the plant manager from 

TVA, and then some of our county officials attended. That particular meeting was jam-packed in that Methodist church. I specifically asked Mr. Kilgore at that meeting to please tell me about this 

stuff, what is it? He responded to me directly that it is nonhazardous. I said, well, then why are we having warnings like don’t 

touch it, wash it off, don’t get near it, don’t let your pets climb on 

it, keep your kids away from it? So it is just a conflicting accumulation of data. But it is not hazardous, remember? And that is where 

we are so concerned. 

Then from that are these subsequent health conditions with people who have a tendency to have asthma anyway, and there are a 

lot of people with asthma, their sense is they are very, very, very 

sick. And the mental condition of the community is even suffering 

more now because TVA has bought so many properties that it is 

looking like a ghost town. 

So we have now another impact from TVA because of the purchase of all those properties. Those people are happy and they have 

moved on but the rest of us, like I plan on not leaving the area, 

you drive in and homes are all empty. It just is incredibly depressing to see your ponds and lakes gone, now with the beautiful new 

road, but you have ash all around you and then now all the homes 

are empty. 

So it is a very difficult situation mentally and physically. So 

through, I think, a better print copy of communication we could 

serve our community much, much better. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. It is hazardous. If it dries on the 

ground and it is breathed, it will cause respiratory problems. If it 

leeches, as it is doing now, it is ingested by aquatic life and the 

fish get contaminated. The last thing I want to do is try to interfere 

with a major business that is offering jobs, but they must operate 

safely. I am hoping that as we move through the testimony we will 

find that that is one of the things that they have emphasized. 

The Tennessee Department of Health recently said that the inhalation of this coal ash dust would have the same health effects as 

breathing other types of dust-- except this is a more hazardous 

dust-- and that ingestion of the dust would not pose a hazard. 

Based on the sampling of the ash and your knowledge of these 

issues, would you agree that these are statements that you have 

heard? 

14 

Ms. MCCOIN. Yes, ma’am. I agree that the ash is very hazardous. 

I have had guests come in out of town and within the first 24 

hours, you know, I don’t want people not to come visit me because 

of where I live, and without saying anything, because you don’t 

want to talk about this all day long, without saying anything my 

guests have said, gosh, my eyes are itchy or my throat is scratchy 

and is it the pollen. 

I fear because this is the only way into the community and out 

of the community. We have had a lot of rain to suppress the dust 

but the inside of my house, I can dust but my filters are filthy. And 

I am about a mile up from, though the wind blows that way, up 

from the actual ground zero site. So I worry. I worry seriously. I 

can’t imagine if I was trying to raise children there. I would be 

sick, sick thinking that I was exposing them. 

We have received this question and answer. I believe it is in part 

of my written testimony and if not we can make sure that you get 

this. This was again distributed by the Department of Health, left 

on my front porch. I think you would find it incredibly interesting. 

If you look at it, when you read it, at first you are like, oh, okay. 

But read it, and read each word, and you are going to be really surprised at what you see. It is very, very alarming. 

I do want to address, if I could, about TVA being an important 

employer. TVA has been wonderful. Without TVA, we would be a 

very, very suppressed community. Our annual income in our community is only $23,000 a year. So if you took TVA away from us, 

we would be desperate. We realize the value of coal but we also realize that we can’t start over. We can’t let it pile up again. We have 

got to be protected. 

Today’s technology allows us things that technology back in the 

1950s when the plant was established were not even thought of. 

They weren’t considered and we didn’t have them. We have got to 

be able to modify and make business better for TVA without the 

risk of losing TVA because we cannot lose TVA as an employer in 

our community. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Dr. Vengosh, would you like to comment on that? 

Mr. VENGOSH. Well, there are several issues here. I mean, if you 

are trying to separate them, there is the water quality and there 

is the air quality. In respect to the water quality, it is something 

we can see and something we can measure. So basically we do 

know and I think my results from my group are pretty consistent 

with what TVA were actually measuring themselves. There is not 

any major contradiction. So that is actual measurement and it is 

pretty consistent. 

The only thing with regard to water is to know what is the potential of arsenic, mercury, and selenium to be a potential hazard 

for the ecology? This is again something that we are talking about, 

the potential hazard, something not already existing. So it is kind 

of more difficult for prediction. 

With respect to the air, then we are in a grey zone. We have 

been looking with people from the Duke Medical School at what 

will be the potential of inhalation of this material, of ash. Obviously, that will definitely increase the health risk of people upon 

inhalation of this material. 

15 

However, given the relative climate condition as very wet, I know 

we have had a lot of rainfall in the south until now, there hasn’t 

been formation of particular matter that would derive from the ash 

as yet. So current measurement of particulate matter in the air 

hasn’t found high levels of particulate matter nor toxic elements. 

So for the current situation, we are saying there hasn’t been formation of dust that could affect health. However, this could be 

changed very soon. And if, indeed, this dust does generate, there 

will be some health affects that my colleague just talked about. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Boozman? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Thank you very much. First of all, I just want to 

say that I have great sympathy for the residents, you know, and 

what you are going through. I would like to ask just so we kind 

of can get a little bit more background, first of all, I would like to 

know if any of you are involved in litigation? If so, what kind of 

damages are you seeking? 

Ms. MCCOIN. Should I answer that first? 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. MCCOIN. Thank you. Currently I am not engaged in any litigation, any action against TVA as I have been awaiting patiently 

for some communication to come back from Crawford and 

Crawford, the P&C company that I think is the adjudicator of the 

claim. I filed in January and received one letter back that said, oh, 

guess what, we got your claim. That is all we have heard. But I 

personally have not entered in any legal action against TVA at this 

point. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Good, thank you. Ms. Hoyos? 

Ms. HOYOS. The Tennessee Clean Water Network has not initiated any litigation. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Good. I guess the two things that I am confused 

about are, first of all, if a determination is made not to dredge, how 

do you solve the problem? What is the alternative to dredging? 

Ms. HOYOS. Dr. Bryce Payne has indicated that there are some 

technologies, they are not proven for a spill of this size, but there 

are some ways in which you can protect for the dissemination of 

these heavy metals while getting the ash out of the pond area. We 

were hoping that the dredging plan would be, we were actually 

hoping that the recovery plan would include other things, not just 

dredging. 

There are some technologies that exist, I am sure, that we could 

look at. We could use the next couple of weeks or months trying 

out a couple of technologies to see if they would work before we get 

a number of heavy machinery into this pond, chopping it all up, injecting a lot of oxygen, and then watching a fish kill happen maybe 

months later. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. But if we have, and again, I am not being argumentative, I am just trying to figure it out, if we have a situation 

where you really believe that we have a toxic waste sitting here. 

Ms. McCoin has testified that people come and visit and they have 

got all of these symptoms, she is concerned about her children, and 

things like that. It seems like hat we would move forward as quickly as possible. 

16 

Ms. HOYOS. Oh, absolutely. We don’t think that they should not 

remove it. We are just wanting more protective recovery methods 

so that the removal doesn’t create an even bigger problem that we 

won’t be able to solve. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. I understand. Again, it just seems like we should 

be doing that now rather than figuring it out. 

Dr. Vengosh, we could dump any substance, not any substance 

but most substances, and if you had such great concentrations, we 

could pick something out of thin air, if you dump so much of it you 

would have fish kills and you would have problems. Do you consider this a hazardous waste by current definition as we normally 

think of hazardous waste? 

Mr. VENGOSH. That is tough one. I think so. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. So in small quantities? 

Mr. VENGOSH. Yes. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. You feel like this is a hazardous waste? 

Mr. VENGOSH. The problem is the mass balance, basically. So if 

you take this amount and try to calculate, for example, the amount 

of arsenic in kilograms per square mile or per volume of the waste, 

you would get an enormous amount. The numbers would be great 

numbers. So basically I think the balance, when you take this 

amount of ash and put it in a very large river, the impact of the 

ash on the river will be negligible because of the dilution factor. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. I don’t mean to interrupt. I agree with that. But 

I am talking about in normal quantity. If I had a pile of it sitting 

right here, is that a hazardous waste? Not as we see in the picture, 

but I am just talking about a normal pile. 

Mr. VENGOSH. It depends on the interaction between that material and the environment. That is, I think, the key to understand 

how this can affect the environment and health. Then I would define it by this as to whether it is a toxic waste. If this is isolated 

from the environment, if you find technology or isolation from the 

environment, then there is not any damage by itself. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Do you think it should be dredged or do you think 

that they should wait as we move forward to try and figure out 

some other procedure? 

Mr. VENGOSH. I think it should be carefully dredged with a very 

systematic and very detailed monitoring, even more than they 

would. Because we don’t know. Basically, it is kind of trial and 

error. So the monitoring, online monitoring, and with a very detailed selenium and arsenic resolution would be the key to see if 

this dredging is doing any harm. Also start to do it in small sections rather than all the river. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Okay. Thank all of you; that is very helpful. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Congresswoman Napolitano? 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very interested in several of the testimonies because I have a like scenario, 

not in my area but close to my area, with DDT in the ocean. You 

can dredge it, but in doing so you are going to spread it and then 

you are going to affect the sea life, in my instance, in our area. Yet 

they have yet to find a way to be able to do it so it doesn’t cause 

harm anymore. This is a product of an outfall of the sanitation district. With regards to the Kingston spill, I am not sure what the 

17 

site is used for. What is the ash used for? What is the process that 

they have in that particular facility or site? 

Ms. HOYOS. The pond contents where the bottom ash and the fly 

ash? 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. No, I am talking about the company that is 

producing this ash. What is it? 

Ms. HOYOS. I believe it is burned in order to create electricity. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Oh, okay. So the ash is an aftermarket type 

of thing? 

Ms. HOYOS. It is the waste, yes. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. There are several concerns. One of them deals 

with the water that they use to be able to sludge it, if you will, and 

then either take it away or dump it into the pond or whatever. Is 

it clean? If it isn’t, then it is going to hit your water tables and it 

may contaminate them. Some of those, if I am correct, some of 

those constituents do not get, how would I say, cleaned out in 

treatment. I don’t know what they do with the water. 

Ms. HOYOS. There is no treatment of the water. The permit that 

they had, the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System 

permit only asked them to test for pH and turbidity. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Has the Health Department not done any follow up to be able to determine whether or not some of those constituents like selenium, mercury, radium, and arsenic are indeed a 

threat to the health of the community and especially to those that 

have immune systems lower than normal? 

Ms. HOYOS. The Health Department conducted a health consultation in the weeks following the spill. It was sort of a questionnaire 

on, you know, how do you feel. They actually concluded that stress 

was a big motivator of some of the illnesses that were being described. While we agree that stress was probably a big problem out 

there, what they didn’t do was come back and follow up on those 

studies. 

We have asked the ATSDR, the Agency of Toxic Substance and 

Disease Registry has been asked on three occasions to do a full 

public health assessment, which we really think is necessary to figure out what is going on in that community. We feel like that agency is the best agency because they have the experience. This spill 

is huge and I believe it is taxing our State agencies. This was unexpected and it is just so enormous that we really need more Federal 

oversight of the cleanup and of the health assessments. 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Well, Ms. Hoyos, is TVA doing anything to 

work towards asking the community if there are any after effects 

to report? Are they going out to the community and asking any follow up questions, to the residents? 

Ms. MCCOIN. I believe that the follow up has occurred mainly 

with those who TVA felt that they needed to communicate with immediately or in other words, those properties that they wanted 

right away. That would probably be a question that would need to 

be asked of TVA. 

However, if you could imagine where the coal ash spilled, it was 

a circle road that goes around that is full of probably about 160 

homes, maybe. In that area, the coal ash spill—I am just going to 

illustrate—would be up here at the top. You would come in and you 

would have to take the circle and you would come back out. Well, 

18 

this whole area is blocked off and this would be where the coal ash 

is. Most of the people on that circle have not been personally communicated with in weeks. The Department of Health of the State 

of Tennessee, and I think this was probably an effort that was in 

concert with TVA, you know, were trying to get the word out. 

Again, their hands were full because you cannot describe how 

large this ash spill is. It is unbelievable. In fact, the new road that 

they put in is beautiful. As I was describing, the top of the eagle’s 

head up there on that emblem, that is where they have already 

knocked it down. That is going to be the side of the hill, I guess, 

by the road. That is left over. It is just huge. 

But back to the Department of Health, this bag with this letter 

with questions about how in keeping with their mission they need 

to know if we have got any concerns and what can we do to protect 

ourselves. There was never any personal follow up on this and I 

can guarantee you that there are many people that could not understand this letter. I am not suggesting that people in my community cannot read or comprehend. I am just suggesting is this is a 

scary thing to read in the first place because we know our community has been forever changed. Then you are afraid. It talks about 

toxins and chemicals and it says call us. 

Well, they have a hard time communicating over the telephone, 

describing. So they follow up, there were people who did respond 

and said they had headaches, bloody noses, couldn’t breathe, dark 

circles under their eyes. I mean, the list is unbelievable. There are 

stress related illnesses. Children are missing school for weeks. But 

there are a lot of other people who are not responding. I could go 

down through the road and say that man has cancer, his sister is 

taking care of him, and she has emphysema. I can guarantee you 

they did not respond to this and they are really very close to 

ground zero. That story can be repeated over and over and over. 

Again, it is because we have relied so heavily on the internet as 

the communication piece when most people do not communicate via 

the internet. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Duncan? 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Thank you. Madam Chair, could I ask that be 

introduced into the record? 

Ms. JOHNSON. Time has expired. Mr. Duncan? 

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I do apologize to 

Ms. Hoyos and Dr. Vengosh because I had previously scheduled appointments in my office. But I did read their testimonies. I did hear 

Ms. McCoin’s testimony. I know some of her family and they are 

really fine people. 

I will say again that I want to make sure that everybody who 

is directly affected is treated fairly, compensated, and made whole 

as much as possible. I will say once again, though, that I have also 

got to make sure that we are fair to the 99.99 percent of the people 

who weren’t affected by this, that we try to handle this in such a 

way that their utility bills are not doubled or quadrupled or whatever. 

I do know that there have been hundreds or maybe even several 

thousand people when you count the government employees, the 

TVA employees, the EPA, the Tennessee State employees and then 

19 

you add in the contractors and their employees, so it has to be 

many hundreds if not a few thousand who have been working to 

try to correct all of this mess up until now. And it is a mess. It 

is a very sad thing that this happened. 

But what we need in this whole situation is a little balance and 

common sense and fairness. In these kinds of situations you can 

never satisfy the extremists. We have seen some of these things in 

the past where they have found, you know, sometimes you hear 

about these quack doctors that will come in and convince people 

that anything that happens to them from here on out is due to the 

coal ash. We just can’t go along with the kooks and the extremists 

in these situations. 

With that, I don’t have any questions. Madam Chairwoman, I 

have some other appointments though I will stay as much as I can. 

We are going to have some votes, I understand, at 4:00 p.m. or 4:30 

p.m. so I guess we need to move as fast as we can. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Congresswoman Edwards? 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. 

Thank you each for your testimonies. I want to focus, Ms. 

McCoin and Ms. Hoyos, on the aspects of your testimonies that 

deal with public participation. I would like for you to describe formal mechanisms that you believe or that TVA has told you apply 

to the participation of the public in determining the dredging plan, 

looking at health consequences, and all of the aspects of what is 

happening with the cleanup. Do you believe that there is a formal 

mechanism that is required for public participation? 

Ms. HOYOS. I believe there is a more formal mechanism required 

under CERCLA. We would like to see that invoked. Currently it is 

our experience observing some of these public meetings that the 

community is being talked to and not talked with. There was one 

particular meeting on March 5th, it was a number of State agencies, and they had a number of booths that folks could mill around 

and ask questions. 

The program then turned to talks from the different agencies on 

what they were doing and the community was given half an hour 

to have question and answer. The community was actually given 

cards and told to write their questions on the cards. The agencies 

would then group the cards into topics and select out the ones that 

they thought were most representative of the issue. We really took 

great offense to this method of public participation. 

By the end, the agencies had over-used their time and so there 

was only enough time for a couple of questions. And though the 

agencies agreed to stay behind and answer questions, what this 

doesn’t allow for is transparency. What people need in public participation is to have their concerns heard by the entire community. 

Speaking to people one on one is very private. So you can not receive the full benefit of hearing other people’s concerns. 

Ms. EDWARDS. So let me just interrupt you because I just have 

a limited amount of time. In your testimony you indicate that you 

would like to see the Superfund law applied to this site precisely 

because you believe that it would guarantee a more formal process 

20 

for public participation and exchange and place requirements on 

TVA in terms of its responsibility to the community? 

Ms. HOYOS. That is correct. Currently there is no public participation process. It is just whatever the agencies feel that they need 

to communicate with the community. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Ms. McCoin, if I could just ask you about the 

health data. Do you believe that TVA has a requirement to gather 

the health data, to analyze it, and report it back in any kind of formal way? Or is that just at their discretion? 

Ms. MCCOIN. I believe it is at their discretion. If there is a formal 

process, I have not seen that implemented. 

Ms. EDWARDS. So in terms of the bag that you describe that was 

left at your home, for the 6,000 or so residents, there has been no 

way really to gather the information, to analyze the information, 

and to look at both the short term health consequences and the 

long term epidemiology in terms of the effects of the coal ash ingestion? 

Ms. MCCOIN. The bag that was left at my door was left, I assume, by the Department of Health and not TVA because that is 

the letterhead that it is on. If that was in concert with a request 

and effort of TVA, I am not aware of that. It may have been. 

Ms. EDWARDS. But did anybody come back and get the bag? 

Ms. MCCOIN. It was just a reference. If you have any questions 

or if you want to report something, call this number. There has 

never been a one on one consultation with me and I am right on 

the main road. I know several other families that have not been 

communicated with. It sure seems that there would be a list, a 

gathering of data, and is there any type of common complaint that 

we are seeing out of this. 

To my knowledge, none of that is going on. That, again, is where 

some of the frustration comes in which has driven people. We were 

told to contact the Outreach Center, which was established right 

after the disaster. The people staffing the Outreach Center, I believe, initially were from out of town. They moved them out and 

then brought in—— 

Ms. EDWARDS. So there has been no direct sort of gathering of 

information, disseminating of information, or process for you to report health complaints, and then an analysis for the community of 

what those complaints would be? 

Ms. MCCOIN. There has not been any analysis reporting that I 

have seen. 

Ms. EDWARDS. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you. Mr. Griffith. 

Mr. GRIFFITH. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Is your water safe? Have you been reassured by your mayor or 

your municipality or the State of Tennessee that your water is 

safe? 

Ms. MCCOIN. My drinking water, I assume? 

Mr. GRIFFITH. Yes, your drinking water. 

Ms. MCCOIN. My drinking water comes from upstream approximately 10 miles. We have been reassured that that water is safe. 

The residents downstream, I am not sure. Renee may know where 

those water plants are better than I. It is kind of like, mine is safe 

so I am drinking it. But as the dredging begins, I know that there 

21 

is a lot of concern, not just in Harriman but in Rockwood and on 

down towards the Tennessee River wherever that water is processed. 

Mr. GRIFFITH. I am the lowest point on the Tennessee River. 

Ms. MCCOIN. Oh, you are? 

Mr. GRIFFITH. Guntersville Dam, yes. That is my district so I just 

wanted to know how things were going in your area. 

Ms. MCCOIN. There is a lot of concern. It almost seems that the 

people down on the Tennessee River weren’t thinking much of it 

until they realized, wait a second, that stuff is going to go somewhere and it heads this way. So there is that concern. 

Again, I think instead of this being a negative, take it as an opportunity to communicate in a public forum that people read versus 

on the internet. Explain what you are doing so they can understand it. 

Mr. GRIFFITH. Well, I wanted to commend the panel for your attitude toward this. There are an awful lot of good, solid people at 

TVA that are environmentally conscious and concerned. Apparently, the design of their pond and the designs of other ponds not 

just in the TVA area need to be looked at and certainly improved. 

I think that this is a teaching moment for us because we have been 

with coal fired plants for many years, well over half a century, and 

they are close to our waterways. 

Whether or not the concentration of selenium in reproductive 

glands is a significant fact or not, we don’t know. We do know that 

reproductive glands have a tendency to concentrate heavy metals 

over the years because of their blood supply, et cetera, et cetera. 

But it does raise concerns. I am on the TVA system in Huntsville, 

Alabama, the Madison County area, and my whole district. The 

river runs through it. 

So we are concerned and we communicate with the TVA. It is not 

an unusual problem for a large electrical company selling electricity not to be able to communicate. That is not their game. But 

they are getting better at it and I think you are going to help them 

get a lot better at it. So I appreciate each and every one of you 

being here. I think it is a teachable moment for America. We are 

going to run into this as we concentrate on balancing the protection 

of our rivers and streams with our desire for safe energy. So thank 

you all. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. And thanks to the panel. 

We will now release you and go to the third panel. Thank you very 

much for your testimonies and for being here. 

Thank you very much. We will acknowledge you as you are listed 

here: Mr. Tom Kilgore, President and Chief Executive Officer of the 

Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tennessee; Mr. Stan 

Meiburg, the Acting Regional Administrator for Region Four of the 

United States Environmental Protection Agency in Atlanta, Georgia; and Mr. Paul Sloan, Deputy Commissioner of Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation in Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Kilgore, you may proceed. 

22 

TESTIMONY OF TOM KILGORE, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY; STAN 

MEIBURG, ACTING REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, REGION 

FOUR, UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY; AND PAUL SLOAN, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION 

Mr. KILGORE. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman Johnson, Ranking Member Boozman, and Members of the Committee. Thank you 

for this opportunity to discuss the ash spill at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, the actions we are taking to clean it up, and what we are 

doing to monitor the environment and to protect the citizens and 

the environment. 

First let me say on behalf of TVA that we deeply regret the impacts on our neighbors and the impacts to the environment. We are 

grateful that no one was seriously hurt. I have told the people of 

Roane County and our employees that we are committed to clean 

up this spill, protect the public health, safely restore the area, and 

wherever possible to make it better. We are proceeding under reviews and approvals from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the EPA. 

Our four primary objectives are to protect the health and safety 

of the public and our recovery personnel, to restore and protect environmentally sensitive areas, to keep the public and the stakeholders informed, and to restore conditions in the community and 

to rebuild trust in TVA. In my written testimony I have described 

the event and the actions that TVA is taking to ensure the public 

health and safety. 

The spill occurred between 12:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. on December 

22nd when a containment dike failed on the coal ash storage cell 

at Kingston, about 40 miles west of Knoxville. The failure did release about 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash onto 300 acres. I was 

there within the hour and I have been there almost every week 

since then. The ash spilled onto land, adjacent waterways, and the 

Swan Pond Embayment including the Emory River, which flows 

into the Clinch River about two miles downstream. A root cause 

analysis is underway by a national engineering firm and we expect 

a report on their conclusions this summer. 

On March 19th we reached a major milestone in the recovery 

with the start of the dredging to remove about two million cubic 

yards of ash material. The dredging plan was approved by the 

State and the EPA. Environmental monitoring and controls are in 

place. We are making progress but we have a long way to go. 

In our efforts to protect the public health and safety we are 

working with State officials and the EPA in establishing an environmental monitoring network for sampling the air, the drinking 

water, and the soil. According to the Tennessee Department of 

Health, public and private drinking water supplies continue to 

meet State and Federal standards. Those results come from certified laboratories, not from TVA. More than 27,000 air samples 

taken by the State and TVA show that the average daily samples 

for particulates remain below the National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards set by EPA. 

23 

A plan is also being developed to respond to individual health 

concerns. Since there have been several questions about this, I will 

go into more detail. We are currently finalizing a contract with Oak 

Ridge Associated Universities, a consortium of a hundred research 

universities. This program will give people in the community access 

to medical and toxicological experts who have experience with the 

contaminants associated with ash. 

On March 2nd, as a part of the order issued by the Tennessee 

Commissioner of Environment and Conservation, TVA submitted a 

formal corrective action plan to the State with a copy to the EPA. 

This document covers plans for environmental monitoring and testing, protecting the public and private water supplies, removing the 

ash from the public waterways, remediating and stabilizing the ash 

storage facility, and protecting the health and safety of the public 

and, again, the workers involved in the recovery. The plan includes 

the formation of an interagency working group consisting of Federal, State, and local agencies. We will work closely with them to 

move the recovery forward safely with a full attention to the environment. 

Since the first day of the event, we have endeavored to keep the 

public informed and involved. Last night we held our latest meeting at Roane State Community College to keep the community informed. A community outreach center remains open in downtown 

Kingston to respond to the claims and concerns. More than 740 

households have used that center. 

I realize that the monitoring equipment and sampling results 

don’t make the physical effects of the situation go away. But I hope 

that the results thus far and TVA’s actions going forward will help 

reassure the public that we will be there until the job is done. Extensive information is posted on the TVA public website and we 

will continue to address the community concerns. As I said at the 

beginning, our intent is to do this job right. Thank you and I look 

forward to your questions later. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. 

Mr. Meiburg? 

Mr. MEIBURG. Thank you very much, Madam Chairwoman, 

Ranking Member Boozman, and Members of the Subcommittee. I 

appreciate the opportunity to testify this afternoon. I am Stan 

Meiburg and I am the Acting Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region Four office in Atlanta, Georgia. I would like to request that 

my written statement be entered into the record. 

I would like to summarize EPA’s actions in response to this release as well as our commitment to a cleanup that protects public 

health and the environment and is consistent with the law and 

sound science. We recognize our ongoing responsibility to inform 

and to involve the community in our activities and to keep the 

Committee informed as cleanup progresses. 

As soon as we learned of the release on December 22nd, EPA Region Four joined TVA, the Tennessee Department of Environment 

and Conservation or TDEC, and other State and local agencies in 

a coordinated response. The EPA provided oversight and technical 

advice to TVA and conducted independent water sampling and air 

monitoring to evaluate public health and environmental threats. 

We also set up a Kingston task force in Region Four to coordinate 

24 

our continuing actions. The Chair of that task force, Tom Welborn, 

is here with me today. 

There are more details about sampling results in my written testimony but in general we found that just after the release, samples 

of untreated river water showed elevated levels of suspended ash 

and heavy metals known to be associated with coal ash. We saw 

this again after a heavy rainfall on the night of January 6th, 2009. 

However, treated drinking water from the Kingston water treatment plant, which is located downstream of the release, has met 

all Federal standards since the ash release occurred. 

TDEC is continuing a regular sampling program at that plant. 

Some residents near the site rely on private wells for drinking 

water. EPA and TDEC have identified and sampled potentially impacted residential wells in the immediate area. TDEC continues to 

handle well sampling requests from residences within four miles of 

the ash spill. Over 100 wells have been tested to date and all have 

met drinking water standards. 

Wind blown ash poses a potential risk to public health. With 

EPA oversight, TVA began air monitoring for coarse and fine particles. EPA also conducted independent monitoring to validate 

TVA’s findings. To date, all of the more than 25,000 air samples 

from this area have measured levels below the National Ambient 

Air Quality Standards for particles. Together with TDEC we will 

continue to oversee TVA’s air monitoring throughout the cleanup 

as well as TVA’s efforts to control dust at the site. 

Sampling results for sediment, air, and water testing are available on the websites of the various agencies. 

While protection of the public health and safety remains a primary concern, EPA and TDEC are also very concerned with the 

long term ecological health of the Emory and Clinch Rivers. We 

support efforts to minimize flooding and sheet flow over the ash 

spill area. We will be monitoring this work while it is underway 

and if we see elevated levels of compounds, we will ask TVA to stop 

dredging and investigate. We also endorse the requirement in the 

TDEC Commissioner’s order for TVA to support a detailed ecological assessment to determine how to restore the functions of this 

aquatic system and its tributaries. 

Our working relationship with the State of Tennessee is exceptional and we are committed to continuing that. Our common objectives will be to prevent further environmental damage, monitor the 

air and water quality, share information as we receive it, review 

cleanup plans as they become available, and make sure that the 

cleanup meets all Federal and State laws and standards. 

Madam Chairwoman, this was a terrible event for the community. EPA recognizes that members of the community are dealing 

with very difficult changes in their daily lives, their homes, and 

their properties. We recognize that even under the best of circumstances, this cleanup, to be done right, will take time. EPA, 

along with TDEC, will be there to ensure that it is done right. 

Done right means that the cleanup is comprehensive; is based on 

sound scientific and ecological principles; moves as quickly as possible; is fully transparent to the public, especially to the local community; complies with or is better than all Federal and State environmental standards; and gives EPA, TDEC, and the public conVerDate Aug 31 2005 11:50 Nov 12, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\48645 JASON
25 

fidence that we are doing everything we can to keep this from happening again here or at any other TVA site. 

Thank you very much for the opportunity to testify today. I will 

be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. Let me say to the witnesses 

that we have a vote. We have less than 10 minutes to get there, 

but we do want to finish with the testimony. We will gather the 

questions and submit them to you. 

I ask unanimous consent to introduce to the record, to put in the 

record, a statement handed to us by Representative Napolitano. It 

is from the State of Tennessee Department of Health. Is there any 

objection? Hearing none, so ordered. 

[Information follows:] 

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Mr. Sloan? 

Mr. SLOAN. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member 

Boozman, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the 

opportunity afforded me to testify this afternoon. 

I am Paul Sloan, Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and Director of its Bureau 

of Environment. By virtue of Tennessee’s various enabling statutes, 

our Department implements the Federal Clean Water Act, the Federal Clean Air Act, and regulates solid waste management consistently with standards currently prescribed by the Federal Resource 

Conservation and Recovery Act or RCRA. 

The catastrophic ash release at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant 

in the early morning of December 22nd, 2008 inundated a 300 acre 

portion of the Emory River, its adjoining embayments, and riparian 

areas of the Watts Bar reservoir. The Department’s immediate response was to fully participate as a team member with EPA, TVA, 

the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, Tennessee Department of Health, and Roane County officials and first responders in 

the emergency response based at the facility’s incident command 

center. 

Given its enormous scale, we are thankful that remarkably the 

release resulted in no loss of life or critical injury. That being said, 

its impact on area residents and their supporting communities 

three days before Christmas was devastating, a fact that deepens 

our staff’s resolve to assure that this cleanup and its environmental 

restoration be completed thoroughly and in full compliance with all 

applicable laws and regulations. Reflective of that resolve is the 

fact that by February 28th, more than 60 of our staff members 

have expended more than 10,000 hours working at various aspects 

of our response. 

Our Department’s five priorities have been to assure public safety as well as public access to information; to conduct extensive 

sampling in all media including water, land, and air; to establish 

an enforcement framework with a clear directive to TVA; to begin 

the removal of ash from the Emory River; and to make our decisions with the collaboration of a broad and supporting base of scientists. 

Our initial sampling priority was to determine whether public 

drinking water supply was safe. Daily samples were taken and reported for the closest two public water treatment facilities serving 

Kingston and Rockwood. All sample results have fully met drinking 

water standards. In addition, we have sampled over 100 domestic 

wells within a four mile radius of the site. We have found no 

groundwater contamination associated with the ash in these wells. 

With respect to surface water, routine sampling has shown averages within water quality standards. However, maximum sample 

data have shown some exceedances particularly proximate to the 

released ash. 

The Department has collected and analyzed coal ash samples. Although results are below the levels that would cause the ash to be 

characterized as a hazardous waste, its safe and appropriate removal and final disposition has been required by the Department 

in its own enforcement order issued shortly after the release. 

32 

The Department’s sampling of air particles has also shown no 

exceedances of National Ambient Air Quality Standards. However, 

TVA’s continued management of airborne particles is and will remain a high priority of our Department. 

To assure that the public is kept fully informed, all sample results as well as TVA submittals to the Department are posted to 

our website. TVA and EPA also host websites on which their data 

is posted as well as other supporting material. Numerous community meetings have been held and will continue to be held. 

On January 12th, the Department issued its enforcement order 

requiring among other things that TVA prepare a comprehensive 

corrective action plan. Further, on February 4th the Department 

joined EPA Region Four in directing TVA to provide all submittals 

simultaneously to both agencies for review and approval. TVA’s 

proposed cap has been submitted and is under consideration. It is 

on our website for public review and comment. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much. You have submitted your 

statement to the record. 

I have one question before we have to run. On March 9th, 2009, 

the Administrator of EPA sent a survey to TVA under Section 

104(e) of the Superfund law requesting information on the condition of coal storage facilities under their control. Has TVA responded to that yet? 

Mr. KILGORE. Yes, ma’am, we have. 

Ms. JOHNSON. Okay. Apparently it has not been received. Nevertheless, let me just say in conclusion that it is clear that there is 

a problem for the public representatives and it is a problem for the 

people that live in this area. I would personally ask that all of you 

work together. I would ask that you clear this area just as quickly 

as possible. 

We all know, if we admit it, that this is not a good situation for 

the consumers. We understand business will go on and accidents 

will happen but there is a strict responsibility to clear up the damage that the businesses have done just as soon as possible. 

We will have another hearing soon. We will be sending out the 

notices. We thank you very much for being here today. 

[Whereupon, at 4:12 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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