Thursday, April 16, 2009
By the Way Farmers in Ash Spill Ground Zero Face Mounting Health Problems; TVA Suit Plaintiffs Double
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 11:53 AM
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Environmental activist Erin Brockovich and attorney Robin Greenwald visited Harriman for the second time since a tidal wave of fly ash was loosed from the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant.
Now more than 200 residents have joined the lawsuit against TVA, citing developing health problems and property values that took a nose dive as Harriman and Kingston became synonymous with man-made environmental disaster.
You may remember an elderly couple whose farm was inundated with fly ash and submerged beneath a toxic lake. Last time we checked in with Sandy and Terry Gupton, they were getting nowhere with TVA and the 20 acres of good grazing bottomland they cant' graze because they fear it is contaminated with arsenic and a smörgåsbord of toxic heavy metals.
Terry Gupton says the ash and the pent-up water remains, but TVA is finally beginning to clear the roads. He declined to say exactly how much progress he's made in negotiating the sale of his land to TVA, but it's clear his cattle operation is still in limbo. "There's still water in our bottoms. I don't think you could use it if there wasn't water on it. And they've never offered to test it, so I wouldn't use it," Gupton said.
Like many in the area, Sandy and Terry are dealing with some health problems. Terry said Sandy was hospitalized for pneumonia recently. "You know there's no way to prove it's related to the spill. I know it contributes to her coughing and headaches and that kind of stuff. Every time she gets out close to the stuff she has a reaction to it, a coughing spell," he said.
Meanwhile, in the world of double standards, Greenwald told the News Sentinel TVA is arguing it should be immune from litigation because it is a government entity. This is the same TVA that didn't follow federal emergency response coordination protocols because technically they are a federally owned corporation, not an agency. Guess rules apply to TVA only when it is convenient and/or beneficial. Accountability, folks.
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