2008: Thank God It's Over!

   2008 has been one hell of a year, has it not? For some of you, 2008 was a good year as far as family, finances, and health is concerned. For many of you, 2008 sucked as far as family, finances, and health is concerned.

    I fall into the latter group. You and I have had our share of shit in this year, which is only a few more hours away from becoming history, thank God!

   You know what's really cool? Only 19 more days until Republican criminal George Bush leaves office! That makes the new year better already!

   2009 is upon you, and so are the ingredients to make the new year a better one than the one that we leave behind. Many people are expecting our President-elect Obama to fix many of their problems so far as America in general is concerned. That he may be able to do.

   But keep in mind something else that he once said to you and I. I have to paraphrase because I'm not sure of his exact words. You'll remember then though.

  He said something like: We are the change we have been waiting for.

   Only you can make real change in your lives in 2009.

   Be safe tonight people. If you're going out to ring in the New Year and you're drinking, let someone sober drive.    We'll see you next year!

 

 

Technorati Tags: New Year,2009,Politics,Barack Obama,George Bush

TVA Covering Up...

   or so it would seem when it comes to getting any information on what kind of chemicals and/or other toxic agents are in the coal ash which spilled out into Roane country,Tennessee, damaging homes and possibly polluting water wells.

  The TVA is at this point refusing to disclose test results from water samples taken after the flood of ash, saying that the agency is focusing on the cleanup.

   So what might some of those toxic pollutants be?

"We know they have that data," said SACE Executive Director Stephen Smith. "Yet here we are eight days into this event and we still don't have it."

It's important for local residents, cleanup workers and others who come in contact with the spilled coal ash to have some sense of what's in it so they can adequately protect themselves. It's especially critical for the rural dwellers near the spill who rely on private wells for their drinking water.

In order to get some sense of what's in the ash, the Institute for Southern Studies examined the facility's Toxics Release Inventories filed with the Environmental Protection Agency from 2006, the most recent available on EPA's TRI website, back to 1998, the first year that coal-fired power plants reported their emissions under TRI. We also factored in the 2007 TRI emissions data posted on the TVA's own website. Here is what we found:

For a year-by-year breakdown of the releases, click here.

  Read more here, and here.

  For even more details, go to Southern Studies.

Technorati Tags: Institute for Southern Studies,Tennessee Valley Authority,Coal Ash,Coal Ash Disaster