Tennessee
disaster "black eye" for clean
coal lobby
12 January 2009 - Tennessee
, United States — “Greenpeace could not
have staged a bigger anti-coal demonstration
than what you unintentionally put on” –
Representative Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat,
to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
For the second time
in less than three weeks, a coal fired power
plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) has leaked toxic coal ash into a nearby
river.
The spill from the Widows
Creek Fossil Plant in northeastern Alabama
on 10 January is reported to contain even
more toxic chemicals than the earlier larger
spill from the Kingston Fossil Plant on
22 December.
Described by US broadcaster
MSNBC as “giving the coal industry’s clean
coal campaign a black eye”, the Kingston
disaster released over a billion gallons
of toxic coal ash sludge into the Emory
and Clinch Rivers, tributaries of the Tennessee
River, which supplies drinking water to
millions of people. Widows Creek lies on
the same river.
Kingston spill is 48
times bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill
The size of the Kingston
disaster, double that of initial reports,
is 48 times bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill. The sludge that had spilled out
of its storage pool at the 50 year old Kingston
Fossil coal-fired power plant, operated
by the TVA toppled houses, muddied rivers
and streams, and before long dead fish were
found downstream.
Calling for a criminal
investigation into the Kingston spill Kate
Smolski from our US office said, “If the
Exxon Valdez was a symbol of pollution 20
years ago, the Tennessee Coal Spill of 2008
is the symbol of it today.”
The Widows Creek spill
highlights again that there has clearly
been a drastic failure of safety protocols
at the TVA, and makes our demand for a criminal
investigation into the failure of the TVA
to prevent the Kingston spill all the more
urgent.
Local environmental
groups and residents have stated their intent
to sue the TVA under the US Clean Water
Act and other statutes. In addition, the
US Senate Environment and Public Works committee
held a hearing to explore tighter regulation
of coal ash to prevent these disasters in
the future. Members of Congress served by
TVA have said the spill stands to affect
coal-fired generation across the US.
Coal ash, yet another
dirty legacy of burning coal
Coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal, contains
significant amounts of carcinogens and retains
the heavy metal present in coal in far higher
concentrations. The toxic sludge contained
such delights as cadmium, mercury, lead,
chromium, arsenic and benzene to name a
few.
Shockingly, the response
of the local authorities was to utterly
downplay the dangers and to advise people
to boil their water. That would be good
advice if boiling water offered protection
from arsenic and lead. But it doesn’t.
US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) tests have found that water
samples near the Kingston spill contain
arsenic, known to promote cancer, at more
than 100 times the acceptable level.
Disasters give “clean
coal” a black eye
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World
News, and News about the Economy
Both disasters are indeed a “black eye”
for the clean coal lobby. They show, yet
again, that “clean coal” is a contradiction
in terms. The last few weeks have highlighted
coal ash as yet another drastic example
of why coal is always dirty.
As Rick Hind, from our
US office said about the Tennessee disaster
“this wouldn’t have happened at a wind farm.”
Some coal plants claiming
to be “clean” may be controlling air pollution
better, but it’s not as though their toxic
residues no longer exist – it’s just that
now they become solid byproducts, such as
fly ash, “stored” in unlined ponds or pits
near the plants. With more than 1,300 dumps
across the US, production of these “post
combustion” wastes has dramatically increased
in recent years. But, there has been no
proper regulation of coal ash from power
plants by the US government.
The true cost of coal
Coal ash is just one
part of coal’s filthy legacy. Our True Cost
of Coal report shows that just some of the
damages caused by coal cost the world €360
billion in 2007. Many of coal’s impacts
simply can’t be assigned monetary values
at all, but we are all paying the price.
From mining to combustion
(burning) to waste, coal leaves a trail
of destruction in its wake. Not only is
coal the single greatest contributor to
the greatest crisis facing our planet –
climate change; but it is also responsible
for air pollution, illnesses, human rights
abuses, forced displacement of communities,
blowing up mountains, contaminating water,
drying up lakes, reducing crop yields and
killing people.
In the US alone, some
24,000 people die every year from illnesses,
including heart disease, lung cancer and
breathing ailments, caused by pollution
from coal-fired power plants. Just by operating,
the Tennessee coal plant that caused the
coal spill potentially cuts short the lives
of more than 140 people per year.
It's time to quit coal
and save the climate
And that’s all before you consider coal’s
impact on our climate. Climate change is
the greatest threat the world has ever known,
its effects are already killing 150,000
people a year, with millions more displaced
and hungry. The world has enough technically
accessible renewable energy to meet current
energy demands six times over. So what’s
the excuse for burning coal? That’s right,
there isn’t one.
We can save the climate
but only if we quit coal. Our Energy Revolution
blueprint shows how renewable energy, combined
with greater energy efficiency, can cut
global CO2 emissions by 50 percent, and
deliver half the world's energy needs by
2050.
It’s time to lay coal
to rest for good, and embrace 21st century
solutions, such as wind, wave and solar.
These are clean, safe, reliable, and available
faster than new coal plants.
+ More
Join the plot to stop
airport expansion
14 January 2009 - London,
United Kingdom — Greenpeace UK has bought
a piece of land right in the middle of the
proposed third runway site at Heathrow Airport
near London. The UK government plans to
go ahead with airport expansion across the
country even though this means it will have
no hope of meeting its climate emission
targets. Tackling climate change means stopping
airport expansion and we need you to join
the plot.
Our UK office bought
the land with Oscar winning actress Emma
Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan (pictured
below) and prospective Conservative parliamentary
candidate Zac Goldsmith.
We need YOUR help
Heathrow expansion isn't only an issue for
those unfortunate enough to live on the
flight path. If expansion goes ahead Heathrow
will become the largest single source of
greenhouse gas emissions in the UK - the
effects of which will be felt accross the
world. The UK government's plans to expand
airports across the country mean it will
be impossible for it to meet its commitment
to reduce emissions and stop runaway climate
change.
We expect the government
to announce that it is going ahead with
expansion at Heathrow Airport this week
and so we need your help. You can sign up
now to get your own piece of the plot. It's
not a financial thing, but you can be included
as a beneficial owner on the legal deed
of trust.
Select One Afghanistan
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Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa
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Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain
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(British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Wallis and
Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia
Zimbabwe
Fields with an * are mandatory. Greenpeace
UK privacy policy applies.
The plot thickens...
As legal owners of this
plot we will take the opportunity to oppose
airport expansion at every stage in the
planning process. Although the maximum number
of owners are already on the deed, you can
still join the plot as a beneficial owner
and stand beside us to resist all attempts
of a compulsory purchase of the land.
It's possible that the
British government will be legally required
to serve you in person with the land purchase
notification so the more people we get to
join the plot the harder it will be. If
you're planning a long trip to an isolated
part of the world or you live somewhere
that is difficult for them to get to (St.
Helena perhaps?) - even better!
You'll be joining beneficial
owners who've already signed up UK Members
of Parliament, environmentalist George Monbiot
and acclaimed climate scientist and Royal
Society Research Fellow Dr Simon Lewis.
The runway is by no
means inevitable. The British Airports Authority
now faces a long process to get its tarmac
laid. It will probably take years to get
the runway through the planning process
- so we've got time to stop them.
Source: Greenpeace International (http://www.greenpeace.org)
Press consultantship
All rights reserved
TOXIC SLUDGE LEAKS
EXPOSE TRUE COSTS OF COAL
Environmental Panorama
International
January of 2009
Tennessee disaster "black
eye" for clean coal lobby
12 January 2009 - Tennessee
, United States — “Greenpeace could not
have staged a bigger anti-coal demonstration
than what you unintentionally put on” –
Representative Jim Cooper, a Tennessee Democrat,
to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
For the second time
in less than three weeks, a coal fired power
plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) has leaked toxic coal ash into a nearby
river.
The spill from the Widows
Creek Fossil Plant in northeastern Alabama
on 10 January is reported to contain even
more toxic chemicals than the earlier larger
spill from the Kingston Fossil Plant on
22 December.
Described by US broadcaster
MSNBC as “giving the coal industry’s clean
coal campaign a black eye”, the Kingston
disaster released over a billion gallons
of toxic coal ash sludge into the Emory
and Clinch Rivers, tributaries of the Tennessee
River, which supplies drinking water to
millions of people. Widows Creek lies on
the same river.
Kingston spill is 48
times bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill
The size of the Kingston
disaster, double that of initial reports,
is 48 times bigger than the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill. The sludge that had spilled out
of its storage pool at the 50 year old Kingston
Fossil coal-fired power plant, operated
by the TVA toppled houses, muddied rivers
and streams, and before long dead fish were
found downstream.
Calling for a criminal
investigation into the Kingston spill Kate
Smolski from our US office said, “If the
Exxon Valdez was a symbol of pollution 20
years ago, the Tennessee Coal Spill of 2008
is the symbol of it today.”
The Widows Creek spill
highlights again that there has clearly
been a drastic failure of safety protocols
at the TVA, and makes our demand for a criminal
investigation into the failure of the TVA
to prevent the Kingston spill all the more
urgent.
Local environmental
groups and residents have stated their intent
to sue the TVA under the US Clean Water
Act and other statutes. In addition, the
US Senate Environment and Public Works committee
held a hearing to explore tighter regulation
of coal ash to prevent these disasters in
the future. Members of Congress served by
TVA have said the spill stands to affect
coal-fired generation across the US.
Coal ash, yet another
dirty legacy of burning coal
Coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal, contains
significant amounts of carcinogens and retains
the heavy metal present in coal in far higher
concentrations. The toxic sludge contained
such delights as cadmium, mercury, lead,
chromium, arsenic and benzene to name a
few.
Shockingly, the response
of the local authorities was to utterly
downplay the dangers and to advise people
to boil their water. That would be good
advice if boiling water offered protection
from arsenic and lead. But it doesn’t.
US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) tests have found that water
samples near the Kingston spill contain
arsenic, known to promote cancer, at more
than 100 times the acceptable level.
Disasters give “clean
coal” a black eye
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World
News, and News about the Economy
Both disasters are indeed a “black eye”
for the clean coal lobby. They show, yet
again, that “clean coal” is a contradiction
in terms. The last few weeks have highlighted
coal ash as yet another drastic example
of why coal is always dirty.
As Rick Hind, from our
US office said about the Tennessee disaster
“this wouldn’t have happened at a wind farm.”
Some coal plants claiming
to be “clean” may be controlling air pollution
better, but it’s not as though their toxic
residues no longer exist – it’s just that
now they become solid byproducts, such as
fly ash, “stored” in unlined ponds or pits
near the plants. With more than 1,300 dumps
across the US, production of these “post
combustion” wastes has dramatically increased
in recent years. But, there has been no
proper regulation of coal ash from power
plants by the US government.
The true cost of coal
Coal ash is just one
part of coal’s filthy legacy. Our True Cost
of Coal report shows that just some of the
damages caused by coal cost the world €360
billion in 2007. Many of coal’s impacts
simply can’t be assigned monetary values
at all, but we are all paying the price.
From mining to combustion
(burning) to waste, coal leaves a trail
of destruction in its wake. Not only is
coal the single greatest contributor to
the greatest crisis facing our planet –
climate change; but it is also responsible
for air pollution, illnesses, human rights
abuses, forced displacement of communities,
blowing up mountains, contaminating water,
drying up lakes, reducing crop yields and
killing people.
In the US alone, some
24,000 people die every year from illnesses,
including heart disease, lung cancer and
breathing ailments, caused by pollution
from coal-fired power plants. Just by operating,
the Tennessee coal plant that caused the
coal spill potentially cuts short the lives
of more than 140 people per year.
It's time to quit coal
and save the climate
And that’s all before you consider coal’s
impact on our climate. Climate change is
the greatest threat the world has ever known,
its effects are already killing 150,000
people a year, with millions more displaced
and hungry. The world has enough technically
accessible renewable energy to meet current
energy demands six times over. So what’s
the excuse for burning coal? That’s right,
there isn’t one.
We can save the climate
but only if we quit coal. Our Energy Revolution
blueprint shows how renewable energy, combined
with greater energy efficiency, can cut
global CO2 emissions by 50 percent, and
deliver half the world's energy needs by
2050.
It’s time to lay coal
to rest for good, and embrace 21st century
solutions, such as wind, wave and solar.
These are clean, safe, reliable, and available
faster than new coal plants.
+ More
Join the plot to stop
airport expansion
14 January 2009 - London,
United Kingdom — Greenpeace UK has bought
a piece of land right in the middle of the
proposed third runway site at Heathrow Airport
near London. The UK government plans to
go ahead with airport expansion across the
country even though this means it will have
no hope of meeting its climate emission
targets. Tackling climate change means stopping
airport expansion and we need you to join
the plot.
Our UK office bought
the land with Oscar winning actress Emma
Thompson, comedian Alistair McGowan (pictured
below) and prospective Conservative parliamentary
candidate Zac Goldsmith.
We need YOUR help
Heathrow expansion isn't only an issue for
those unfortunate enough to live on the
flight path. If expansion goes ahead Heathrow
will become the largest single source of
greenhouse gas emissions in the UK - the
effects of which will be felt accross the
world. The UK government's plans to expand
airports across the country mean it will
be impossible for it to meet its commitment
to reduce emissions and stop runaway climate
change.
We expect the government
to announce that it is going ahead with
expansion at Heathrow Airport this week
and so we need your help. You can sign up
now to get your own piece of the plot. It's
not a financial thing, but you can be included
as a beneficial owner on the legal deed
of trust.
Select One Afghanistan
Åland Islands Albania Algeria American
Samoa Andorra Angola Antarctica Antigua
and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia
Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh
Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda
Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana
Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean
Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina
Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape
Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic
Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos
(Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo Cook
Islands Costa Rica Cote d Ivoire Croatia
Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti
Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt
El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia
Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe
Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana
French Polynesia French Southern Territories
Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar
Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam
Guatemala Guinea-Bissau Guinea Guyana Haiti
Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican
City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland
India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel
Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya
Kiribati Korea (North) Korea (South) Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan Lao People s Democratic Republic
Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein
Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar
Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall
Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius
Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States
of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia
Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia
Nauru Nepal Netherlands Antilles Netherlands
New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger
Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana
Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian
Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea
Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland
Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania
Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint
Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa
San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia
Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles
Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia
Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South
Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain
Sri Lanka St. Helena St. Pierre and Miquelon
Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands
Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan
Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste
Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia
Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands
Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom United States Minor Outlying
Islands United States Uruguay Uzbekistan
Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands
(British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Wallis and
Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia
Zimbabwe
Fields with an * are mandatory. Greenpeace
UK privacy policy applies.
The plot thickens...
As legal owners of this
plot we will take the opportunity to oppose
airport expansion at every stage in the
planning process. Although the maximum number
of owners are already on the deed, you can
still join the plot as a beneficial owner
and stand beside us to resist all attempts
of a compulsory purchase of the land.
It's possible that the
British government will be legally required
to serve you in person with the land purchase
notification so the more people we get to
join the plot the harder it will be. If
you're planning a long trip to an isolated
part of the world or you live somewhere
that is difficult for them to get to (St.
Helena perhaps?) - even better!
You'll be joining beneficial
owners who've already signed up UK Members
of Parliament, environmentalist George Monbiot
and acclaimed climate scientist and Royal
Society Research Fellow Dr Simon Lewis.
The runway is
by no means inevitable. The British Airports
Authority now faces a long process to get
its tarmac laid. It will probably take years
to get the runway through the planning process
- so we've got time to stop them.
