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Ash spill in the US

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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/us/25sludge.html

Kinda serious eh...largest coal ash spill in US history. Much on the news down there about it?
Dec 28 2008 8:33PM
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artfullydodged
Posts: 8358 - Karma: 1,674
this is the first i've heard of it, you'd think it's be front line news.
Dec 28 2008 8:54PM
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Billek
Posts: 5665 - Karma: 98
Hate to sound insensitive, but that's what happens when you stockpile harmful shit in absolutely stupid places.

Some people are gonna lose their jobs.
Dec 28 2008 9:20PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
I've been hearing a lot of this actually...seems like someone is trying to keep this quite...
Dec 29 2008 8:41AM
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babujib
Posts: 5039 - Karma: 104
and thats the exact reason why i come on NS, its a way better news source than any news channel that i know of
Dec 29 2008 9:00AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336


Spilled right into the river...bad news bears...loads of fish have died already so i can only assume there is some serious shit in that water now.

Dec 29 2008 9:10AM
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fdsa
Posts: 686 - Karma: 19
Def like, 15 minutes down the road from my house. My friend's backyard got filled with ash.
Dec 29 2008 11:23AM
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fourhundred
Posts: 2760 - Karma: 21
quiet
Dec 29 2008 11:26AM
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kepler.
Posts: 8761 - Karma: 139
What I don't get out of the article is, who is at fault? Was it the coal plant's dam, or was it the county's or state's dam? That's what I'm wondering about.

I'm all for cleaner energy, but if this wasn't the coal company's fault then they shouldn't be punished for this.

With that being said, you can clearly understand the underlying theme of the article, the artist has a serious dislike for coal and "dirty" energy.
Dec 29 2008 11:37AM
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C.R.E.A.M
Posts: 2987 - Karma: 4,577
"fly ash, a byproduct of the burning of coal to produce electricity, does contain significant amounts of carcinogens and retains the heavy metal present in coal in far higher concentrations. The report found that the concentrations of arsenic to which people might be exposed through drinking water contaminated by fly ash could increase cancer risks several hundredfold."


basically pwn'd that shits already seeped into the ground.
Dec 29 2008 1:30PM
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Bob_Gnarley
Posts: 1583 - Karma: 0
thats about 15 minutes from my house, also. Basically we just had a bunch of rain and the support walls for the pond of sludge got really soft and just broke.
Dec 29 2008 2:03PM
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pmills
Posts: 7162 - Karma: 59
saw some clips on CNN this afternoon, they mentioned how some of the water was deemed potable by EPA however there were traces of arsenic... sounds like some people will have a great start to 09

Something that i thought about was where is all this sludge going in the first place? Is it only being noticed now because it's disrupting an area where people live?  I doubt many people will connect any dots and seriously think about the sort of impact/consequences coal power can have. 
Dec 29 2008 2:15PM
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Drail
Posts: 14012 - Karma: 10,011
you wanna talk about sludge and liquid waste from industry take a look at the oil sands in Alberta. To extract the oil out of the sand they have to use 5 barrels of water to get 1 barrel of oil. The leftover sludge is extremely watered down clay which will take many many decades to settle. So not only is all of this water being taken out of the river system, it will be sitting in man-made pools for many a-decades to come. Just one of these pools is the size of downtown Vancouver.

Let's hope that the damns never break and all that sludge doesn't end up back in the Athabasca River... that could shut down the river completely, and that's probably the least of our worries. (I talked about the oil sands in Alberta in a past blog if you choose to look into it some more)
Dec 29 2008 2:31PM
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ZavierV
Posts: 5077 - Karma: 100
it's so true though.
Dec 29 2008 3:02PM
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pmills
Posts: 7162 - Karma: 59
i've heard a little bit about Canada's dirty business with the oil sands as people have been saying i think these sorts of things have been/will be kept under pretty tight wraps until it's too late.

fuck us eh
Dec 29 2008 3:41PM
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popNfresh44
Posts: 3757 - Karma: 44
why they still use coal as an energy source puzzles me. its the dirtiest and most inefficient shit out there, look what it has done.
Dec 29 2008 3:52PM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
ftw
Dec 29 2008 4:05PM
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JOP178
Posts: 111 - Karma: 10
Coal is cheap and plentiful.  We don't have to import it and we already have the facilities to burn it.  It makes economic sense.  What alternatives are there?  People would bitch about nuclear, wind is too expensive, and solar just isn't practical in some areas.  We have enough coal to last us forever and we'll keep burning it until there is a more economically viable alternative.
Dec 29 2008 4:22PM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
this right here is the reason why you SHOULDN'T use coal
Dec 29 2008 10:30PM
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JOP178
Posts: 111 - Karma: 10
Because it's cheap and can bring electricity into homes that would otherwise not be able to afford electricity?  Because we don't have to import it?  Because it allows you to spend more money on skis and less on powering your home?
Dec 29 2008 11:37PM
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Bangor
Posts: 9599 - Karma: 129
Yeah I'm really quite surprised this isn't much bigger in the news. Absolute disaster.



You want to read about something really scary?

the Hanford site in Washington. Sits on the Columbia river, and has a bajillion gallons of super-radioactive waste sitting in leaking underground tanks. Courtesy of WWII and the Manhattan Project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Contemporary_Hanford
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mYstiYhJs

there was also a 60 Minutes piece done about it, which I can't find.



Oh and Obama didn't have a clue either:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGZbgMQZATs
Dec 29 2008 11:59PM
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3ski6guy0
Posts: 9201 - Karma: 132
and the groundwater is fucked...
Dec 30 2008 12:58AM
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pmills
Posts: 7162 - Karma: 59
you realize how dirty it is; dirty getting out of the ground, dirty burning ... if you count in the costs of using coal and cleaning up after it i bet it's not as cheep as you belive
Dec 30 2008 1:49AM
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ATLskier
Posts: 8203 - Karma: 406
hasn't shit like this happened before? I know I've seen a story almost exactly like this in west virginia, where a huge dam broke and a mudslide fromt he coal plant killed a bunch of people.
Dec 30 2008 2:38AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Yeah what a ticking timebomb that mess is...gah
Dec 30 2008 9:27AM
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JOP178
Posts: 111 - Karma: 10
Those are all external costs... You don't see them on your electric bill so it doesn't matter.
Dec 31 2008 2:14PM
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fdsa
Posts: 686 - Karma: 19
You would bitch if we tried to use Nuclear too. You would bitch about rolling brownouts if we tried to use solar or wind, and you would bitch about the cost of power if we invested the necessary R&D costs for something like fusion.

Basically, you are here to bitch that the world isn't perfect. This discussion is about specific waste disposal issues and an issue that occurred in Tennessee. If you don't have anything meaningful to contribute to that, get out.
Dec 31 2008 3:33PM
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Ben.
Posts: 21463 - Karma: 683
no you
Click for larger image

dont put words in his mouth
Dec 31 2008 3:54PM
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pmills
Posts: 7162 - Karma: 59
no, no i wouldn't

now what?
Dec 31 2008 3:57PM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
$165 million lawsuit is in the works now from local developers and landowners...any coverage on the US new networks yet?
Jan 2 2009 10:27AM
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Ryno
Posts: 31125 - Karma: 336
Environmental concern aside...has there been any coverage in the media yet?

This happened on Dec 22....
Jan 2 2009 10:31AM
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