15. Worst Coal Ash Disaster in U.S. History: The Kingston Coal Ash Spill

Jamie Satterfield is an investigative journalist specializing in law and crime with the Knoxville News Sentinel. She’s been a journalist for 28 years and has been crucial in exposing the truth with everything involving the Kingston Coal Ash Spill. The Kingston Coal Ash spill, it is the worst coal ash disaster in U.S. history. In 2008, a levee ruptured at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Coal Power Plant releasing 1.1 billion gallons of coal ash smothering some 300 acres and spilling into two rivers. With the clean up more than 40 workers have died and more than 250 are still sick or dying. Jacob’s Engineering, who is the contractor for this coal plant and was in charge of the clean up are being sued by the workers. With Jamie, we talk about the background on this coal spill, what the clean up processes has been like, ways to properly store coal ash, now over 10 years later what is happening to the workers who are seeking justice, and then what you can do to support the workers. Contact and connect with Jamie: [email protected] or Twitter: @jamiescoop Read some of Jamie’s articles on Kingston Coal Ash: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2019/02/05/kingston-coal-ash-spill-timeline-lawsuit/2767409002/ https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/11/07/verdict-reached-favor-sickened-workers-coal-ash-cleanup-lawsuit/1917514002/ https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/local/tennessee/tvacoalash/2019/10/01/kingston-coal-ash-disaster-workers-fight-keep-coal-ash-safety-rules/2435579001/ RECENT NEWS: TN Regulators deleted and altered radiological tests and Duke Study on Coal Ash: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2020/05/17/duke-testing-shows-kingston-coal-ash-uranium-triple-report-levels/5209169002/ https://www.knoxnews.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.knoxnews.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Flocal%2Ftennessee%2Ftvacoalash%2F2020%2F05%2F15%2Ftennessee-regulators-deleted-and-altered-radiological-tests-kingston-coal-ash-spill%2F4928047002%2F Keep up to date with Jamie and her personal efforts: Twitter: @jamiescoop Audio clips at beginning of the episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGAvO91fDe4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j21U6gTjEZc&t=25s Background Music Credits: https://www.youtube.com/c/mbbmusic https://soundcloud.com/mbbofficial https://www.instagram.com/mbb_music