The Tennessee Valley Authority had promised that it would clean up all the toxic coal sludge, laden with heavy metals, from the Emory River. The sludge had surged into the river bed after its escape from a dam that had held it back in a giant lagoon. Now we can count that as another coal industry lie.
The latest word is that it’s just not possible to remove all of the coal sludge from the river. As much as one fifth of the amount originally spilled into the river will remain.
Remember that residue the next time you hear about “clean coal”.
“Yessirreeee bo-ah! You Yankees toss a Kleenex outta car winda an’ it’s a 3 hunnit dallah fahn, but down ear we can fuck up a whole goddamn river and it don’t cost us nuthin’!”
This story is a vignette of the entire environmental movement in America. Corporations use the earth as their free dump for their toxic waste and our “watchdog groups” look the other way leaving the taxpayer to clean it up.
“Hee-hee, at’s some gummint ya got they bo-ah.”