<jkotcon@wvu.edu>

I am pretty sure that we have all heard about the TVA spill in Tennessee, but we
have our own little issue developing right here in West
 Virginia.  Thanks to Jim
Sconyers for pulling together the details on this, but the Mitchell plant in
Marshall County is requesting a revision of their water permit to allow them to
add concentrated sulfuric acid to their effluent going into the Ohio River.  It
seems that their effluent is exceeding the allowable pH level, so to bring it
down, they want to add sulfuric acid to the discharge to neutralize the
alkalinity.  

I propose that we ask DEP to require a "dry press" method so that
they have a solid fill of waste instead of another liquified fly ash impoundment
like the one at TVA.

Whaddya Tink?

JBK

>>> "Paul Wilson" <pjgrunt@gmail.com> 1/7/2009 11:36
AM >>>
Can we forward this around to get more signees?  thanks, paul

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Greg Haegele, Sierra Club <membership.services@sierraclub.org>
Date: Tue, Jan 6, 2009
 at 5:47 PM
Subject: A Tragic Reminder of the Clean Coal Myth
To: pjpaulgrunt@gmail.com 

  Dear Paul,

Coal is not clean. Period. Need proof?

On December 22, one billion gallons of coal ash sludge and contaminated
water, the waste product of coal-fired power plants of the Tennessee Valley
Authority, broke through a containment area into the rivers of Harriman,
Tennessee.

  *Help Prevent Future Coal
Disasters From Occurring

*[image: ruined house from coal
spill]<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=HIipXxC4ygOA5koX05vL6w..>

*Tell President-elect Obama to Enact
the Clean Slate Agenda
*[image: Button - Take Action - White on
Purple]<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=DAiuFr68j8eHfDUJcLubug..>

The volume of the spill is bigger than the Exxon Valdez disaster, 50 times
bigger. Forty-five homes in the surrounding area were affected by the
sludge, three
 completely condemned and the water in the area now contains
dangerously high levels of pollutants such as arsenic.

This disaster is another stark reminder of the environmental, health and
economic hazards of our over-reliance on coal as an energy source.
*
Please contact President-elect Obama today and urge him to adopt our Clean
Slate Agenda, which will help us move beyond coal and avoid other disasters
like this from happening in the
future.<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=9u-DYcFusX5iVbzjKao3vw..>
*

The Sierra Club is taking immediate action in Tennessee to ensure proper
cleanup and remediation and that the responsible parties compensate local
residents.

But there are literally hundreds of these sludge impoundments near coal
plants and mountaintop removal coal mining sites across the U.S., and that
number will grow if we continue to increase our use of coal.

This is why we
 must start with a Clean Slate in 2009: We must stop building
new coal plants and end mountaintop removal coal mining.

*Please contact President-elect Obama today; click here to get started.
<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=uoZPkqpxACIYExSnyHBEQw..>*

Over 33,000 people have already contacted President-elect Obama on our Clean
Slate Agenda. Obama and his advisors Obama can jumpstart a clean energy
economy and start reducing global warming pollution immediately by doing the
following:

   - Direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to grant a waiver that
   will allow California and over a dozen other states to limit global warming
   pollution from cars.
   - End the rush to build dirty coal plants by directing the EPA to require
   all new and existing power plants limit their global warming emissions.
   - Direct the EPA to end irresponsible mountaintop removal coal mining by

 stopping coal companies from dumping rock and waste into valleys and
   streams.
   - Restore America's international leadership in the fight to end global
   warming by publicly committing the U.S. to cut its CO2 emissions by at least
   35% by 2020.

*Click here to contact President-elect Obama today and ask him to adopt the
Clean Slate
Agenda<http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=2cmgS1UurPKYrcTmnkZ45g..>
*.

Thanks for all that you do to protect the environment.

[image: Signature Greg Haegele]

Greg Haegele
Director of Conservation

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