Anderson County Commissioners are scheduled to meet Monday to decide whether to contact the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) about potentially radioactive coal ash waste, reportedly in a children’s playing area.
Commissioners will also debate whether to contact the Tennessee Department of Health on the same matter.
This, after The Knoxville News Sentinel published an article saying children have — for decades and without knowing — played on a sports field that contains the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA’s) coal ash waste.
“The nation’s largest public power provider is now acknowledging it used a mix of dirt and ‘bottom ash’ — the most toxic and radioactive form of TVA’s coal ash waste — to build a ball field that’s part of a larger park that contains a playground, as well. The ball field has played host to youth sports games since it opened in 2001,” according to The Knoxville News Sentinel.
“Coal ash is the byproduct of burning coal to produce electricity, and it contains a toxic stew of 26 cancer-causing pollutants and radioactive heavy metals. Duke researcher Dr. Avner Vengosh — a renowned expert in coal ash detection and testing — noted the ‘absolute concentrations’ of toxic heavy metals in the soil of the adjacent playground were low.”
Anderson County Commissioner Tracy Wandell told The Tennessee Star this week that he and other members of the county’s Operations Committee decided this week to contact TDEC.
“Based on a conversation we had with our mayor and our law director, we decided to pursue TDEC and the Tennessee Health Department and get feedback from them and get their studies to be done on the park as a precautionary measure,” Wandell said.
“The property is owned by the TVA. The county just maintains the property in terms of taking the trash off and cutting the grass.”
TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told The Star by email that his agency disagrees with The Knox News Sentinel’s reporting.
“In 2000, TVA collaborated with the Claxton Optimist Club on the construction of the Claxton Community Playground. As part of the project, TVA prepared the site and provided fill materials, mainly comprised of soil but which also included a small portion of bottom ash, while the Claxton Optimist Club provided the remaining materials, including multiple layers of geofibers, gravel, and mulch on top,” Brooks said.
“The beneficial use of a small portion of bottom ash as fill meets regulatory standards. While TVA owns the property where the playground and ballfields are located. Anderson County manages the use of the playground under a 30-year easement, and the ballfield area is managed by the Claxton Optimist Club under a license agreement. As Duke University’s recent study about the playground revealed, the trace amount of ash in the soil does not exceed human health guidelines that are established by federal and state agencies to protect public health.”
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
