TVA ash to remain in Emory and Clinch rivers
The Environmental Protection Agency has approved a plan by TVA to leave more than 500,000 cubic yards of spilled coal ash at the bottom of the Emory and Clinch Rivers in Roane County.
In December 2008 more than a billion gallons of sludge was unleashed from the TVA Kinston Fossil Plant when a retaining pond failed. A large portion of that ash went into the Emory River and Clinch River beside the plant. After a year and a half of dredging the ash out of the water, crews stopped in the summer of 2010 and intentionally left a layer of ash at the river bottom.