The Harriman Disaster
A Tennessee Valley Authority sludge holding pond in Harriman, Tennessee failed on December 22, flooding hundreds of acres with the liquid form of fly ash, a byproduct of burning coal at the Kingston Fossil Plant. Fly ash contains heavy metals and other toxins; residents of Harriman and other downstream communities are now faced with the fear that their air and water has been contaminated as well as the physical devastation of their land.
The Harriman disaster has intensified a long-running national dialog about the future of coal power in Appalachia and the United States. Clear lines connect this incident with our national emphasis on inexpensive electricity and the enduring dream that coal represents or could represent the foundation of a healthy economy for the United States and Appalachia.
Setting aside these broader questions of policy, this disaster also represents the same failure of accountability and failure of our regulatory framework that we saw during the Martin County sludge spill of 2000. The greatest tragedy of the Harriman disaster may be that it could have been avoided. It is our fervent hope that our communities and governments learn from the Harriman disaster and the disasters which presaged it. Unlike the remote disasters Appalshop chronicles in Sludge and The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, the Harriman sludge spill is adjacent to an interstate highway and just west of Knoxville, one of Appalachia's largest cities; this may become, as suggested by NPR, the Exxon Valdez of coal ash.
Appalshop's Work
... Sludge eerily portends the Tennesse environmental disaster the nation is slowly tuning into in the wake of the Christmas holidays.
- National Catholic Reporter
This spill is the latest chapter in a story that Appalshop has been sharing for 40 years as we have witnessed our region's complex and changing relationship with coal - a focal point for understanding Appalachia's history and thinking about its future. Since our founding in 1969, Appalshop's mission has been to tell stories that aren't told by cultural industries and to support communities' efforts to achieve justice and equity. This is an important moment for our region and our nation to share these stories, and to help ensure that the national dialog around Appalachia's environment and economy represents the social, cultural, and economic diversity of the Appalachian region.
During the month of January, Appalshop will make web streams available for Sludge and The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man, two important films which establish a context for this current crisis. Watch streaming video of Sludge and The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man.
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