How Bad To Be ‘High Hazard?‘

Greater federal oversight is obviously needed when the Environmental Protection Agency leaves one of the nation’s worst coal ash spills in history off the list of “high hazard” sites.

Three days before Christmas, a disaster at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tenn., sent about 5 million cubic yards of coal ash and sludge into the nearby Emory River and covered about 300 acres of land. The spill buried homes, damaged others and raised health concerns throughout the community because of the toxicity of coal ash, which is known to contain heavy metals, arsenic and lead.

Part of the problem is the Tennessee Valley Authority and other site operators rate their own facilities. Another is that a federal list of ash storage ponds posing the highest threat to residents was created after the disaster in Roane County.

Before the massive spill, TVA compiled its own ratings. But according to a March 25 report to the EPA that was obtained this week by the Associated Press, TVA conceded that “based on hindsight at Kingston Fossil Plant, the ranking did not adequately represent the actual risk experienced on 12-22-2008.”

Of course, hindsight, and the billion-dollar cleanup in Roane County, tell a different story. Still, even this week, EPA officials would not say if Kingston should have been on the so-called “high hazard” list.

That is outrageous. The coal ash and slurry spill was among the worst ever experienced in the nation.

Citizens need a better method for protecting the environment and their health than allowing utilities to regulate themselves. Obviously coal ash sites should have structural safety and environmental checks that operators perform, but that work must be regularly monitored by EPA.