SocraticGadfly: Arsenic and old coal ash - now touring Tennessee

December 29, 2008

Arsenic and old coal ash - now touring Tennessee

From the Environmentally Piddling Around (EPA) of BushCo...

We now have the EPA updating the size of the spill from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston, Tenn. coal ash sludge tailings pond spills from 360 million gallons to 1 billion and admitting that arsenic levels may be above its less than the most stringent standards.

At the same time, the EPA says the contaminated water contains several other heavy metals, but, oh, don't worry, they're all at below EPA's human toxin/carcinogen levels.

But, the EPA has never tested things such as pesticides in combination, and also heavy metals. Like pesticides or other chemicals, we don't know if heavy metals in combination have synergistically negative effects, and neither does EPA.

Nor do we know what the uranium or thorium level is in this sludge, and if the low-level radioactivity would exacerbate heavy-metal poisoning, either.

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