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This was when a dike holding back a coal ash pond at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in East Tennessee failed. Over 4 million tons of ash was released into the nearby Clinch River, destroying three homes and overrunning about 20 others.
The saga of the Kingston coal ash spill continued for another 15 years. TVA brought in nearly 1,000 workers, through a contractor, to clean up the ash. Cleanup took seven years.
Then, the workers sued the contractor for failing to provide protective gear. Dozens of workers died from coal ash exposure.
WHAT TO KNOW
A 25-foot wall of ash at the site of the 2008 Kingston coal ash spill. TVA contractors worked for years to clean up the toxic ash, in many cases without masks or gloves. Credit: Brian Stansberry / Creative CommonsThe EPA’s proposed revisions to its rules regulating coal ash would allow for “site-specific determinations,”something environmental advocates say could open the door to relaxed oversight and potentially disastrous consequences.
WUOT’s Pierce Gentry spoke with several people involved in this issue:
- “It’s taking the whole concept of why we needed these protections in the first place and undermining them,” says Nick Torrey, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, a non-partisan legal advocacy group focused on climate and the environment. “These are very dangerous sites. They’re vulnerable to big storms and structural failures.”
- The TVA said in a statement that it supports the “site-specific” approach proposed by the EPA. “TVA supports efforts to ensure that coal ash regulations are grounded in science,” spokesperson Scott Brooks wrote. “TVA is an industry leader in safe, innovative coal ash management, implementing best practices before they were required.”
- Jessica Waller-Downs, whose father worked the cleanup without protective gear and exposed her mother to it, isn’t buying it. Her parents died in 2016 from their exposure to the ash. “If they cared about safety, then why aren’t my parents here?”
The EPA’s proposed rule changes will be open to written comments from the public for 60 days, and will hold two online information sessions about the rules in mid-April.
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Who was the man who designed much of 19th century Nashville, and do any traces of his work survive? A significant number of significant Nashville buildings that don’t exist anymore were all designed by the same man: Adolphus Heiman. Plus the local news for April 17, 2026.
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MORE TO KNOW
- Immigrant advocates are calling on Ascension Saint Thomas to release their policy on treating patients detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Advocates say the Catholic hospital barred priests and legal counsel from speaking with a young man in ICE custody at the hospital’s Murfreesboro campus. Yuri Rodriguez, a priest at Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Chapel in Nashville, said she was one of several clergy members who were turned away from meeting with the patient, a Guatemalan native. WPLN’s Marianna Bacallaco reports Ascension Saint Thomas has not responded to multiple requests for comment. The patient has since been transferred to an ICE detention center.
- The Memphis Safe Task Force has arrested thousands of people since it started last fall, but a relatively small portion of them involve violent crime. New analysis from ProPublica and the nonprofit newsroom MLK50 shows that of 5,200 arrests made, only about a quarter were for violent offenses. Additionally, more than 800 immigrants were arrested by law enforcement who believed they were not in the country legally. (Unlawful presence in the United States is a civil offense, not a criminal one.) Of those immigration arrests, 17 individuals were also charged with a violent crime. A White House spokesperson tells the outlets that the Task Force has been a huge success, saying, “All Memphians are safer today than they were seven months ago.”
- If your seasonal allergies have felt intense lately, it’s not just you. Pollen counts in Metro Nashville’s air quality data have been hovering around 11 on a 0-to-12 scale. And the recent warm, dry weather is driving up pollen production. Much of Middle Tennessee has faced moderate drought conditions in recent weeks, so there hasn’t been much rain to help clear the air, either. Apart from allergy meds, you might want to keep windows closed, and shower and change clothes after spending time outside. [The Tennessean]
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