On the night of December 22. 2008, a dike at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash pond broke, releasing 7.3 million tons of coal ash onto 300 nearby acres and into local waterways. No one was killed in the spill.
But the resulting cleanup of the toxic coal ash did result in the deaths of at least 50 of the 900 workers who worked the cleanup site. The workers were not given proper protection during the cleanup and were thus exposed to the radioactive and highly toxic waste.
It’s a little known tale of corporate violence.
Jamie Satterfield knows the story well, having covered it for the Knoxville News Sentinel. She left the paper last year and is now reporting for the Tennessee Lookout.
There was a safe way to clean up the spill but TVA and its contractor, Jacobs Engineering, did not protect the workers with proper safety equipment.
— source corporatecrimereporter.com | Jul 8, 2022
