The Environmental Protection Agency says chemicals in the Emory River from last year’s massive coal ash spill aren’t harming fish populations downstream. The EPA is monitoring for effects of elements like arsenic and selenium.
EPA’s Craig Zeller oversees longterm restoration at the Kingston site, some 30 miles West of Knoxville. He says selenium can diminish fish reproduction, but arsenic poses the greater danger to humans. Both can bioaccumulate, meaning they can build up and stay in tissue.
But while ash contains both elements, Zeller says they tend not to spread in water.
“It’s like trying to make sweet tea with cold water. You can’t get the sugar to dissolve.”
Zeller says the ash’s chemical impact has caused far less damage than the massive volume of the spill itself. Some three million cubic yards spilled into the river a year ago, Zeller says literally burying many fish.
And he notes even before the spill, EPA cautioned against eating fish from the Emory, due to high mercury levels. Zeller attributes that to fumes from coal burning.
EXTRA:
Link to WPLN’s feature this week on the first anniversary of the TVA ash spill, including pictures and aerial views. A version of that story also ran on NPR.
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