TVA Cleanup in Tennessee

[raschmid07]

As you all might have seen on the news, an earthen levee broke last Monday on a levee holding the products of a coal plant in Harriman, Tennessee. The latest estimate is 5.4 million cubic yards of "fly ash" and water that have covered roughly 400 acres. Harriman is about 40 minutes from my house in Knoxville, so a buddy of mine and I headed up there this morning to check out the effects of the landslide. Apparently, there is a ton of equipment up there, but the rent-a-cops from TVA have blocked off almost every view of the site so we couldn't see much. We did sneek on some railroad tracks and got all the way to the disaster area, but the view was limited. I figured I would share a few pictures to show the disaster area that is up there. The gray substance that you will see in all the pictures is the fly ash, it has literally covered everything in sight in the area. The excavating contractors in Knoxville are loving it, the excavating recession is no longer over.

[raschmid07]

More... In the picture of the railroad tracks, a train rain into the huge pile in the middle of the tracks and derailed after the levee broke.

[corey4671]

isn't there a coal plant there that you can see from the interstate along the river near Harriman? This isn't where this is is it?

[lifetree]

It seems like someone from TVA may have "overlooked" something in that retention pond !! I'm sure we'll be hearing about it in the months to come.

[Dirt Digger2]

wow badass....thats going to be quite a cleanup, its all mud too...i would love to be on that job...any idea of the contractor?

[raschmid07]

dirtdigger- Not sure who the contractor is, most everything I saw was either unmarked or a truck from a rental place bringing up more equipment

corey- this is the exact plant you are talking about on I40. You can't see the spill from the interstate, but you can see the front of the coal plant.

[DUSTYCEDAR]

thanks for the pics i heard about it but havent kept up with it.
some great shots go sell them to the paper.

[Dirtman2007]

Look at all the power in that mudslide, pretty amazing if you think about it. It will move whatever is in its way. I'd love to be a part of that job, don't see how it could be any worse than some of the jobs I've been on. atleast they would have enough money to buy me some nice mud mats so the machine can stay "above the mud" :)

[bobcat_ron]

So much for "clean coal"!

What a joke, not even a proper levee with an inner vetical concrete liner!

[YellowDogSVC]

So much for "clean coal"!

What a joke, not even a proper levee with an inner vetical concrete liner!

This will give the US President-elect more ammo to put coal plants out of business. It is a stated goal of Obama's. Oh Canada, can you send us some energy?

[jefftb]

Most likely the "lead" contractor on this is Phillips & Jordan. They are the only contractor locally that is already on the Federal Government payroll for disaster cleanup work and deal in bigtime jobs. They have large contracts for gulf hurricane Katrina cleanup ($500M) and other large Federal work.

They also did stuff at Ground Zero after 9/11.

[raschmid07]

I didn't even think about Phillips and Jordan, I bet you are right about them heading up everything.

[bobcat_ron]

I didn't even think about Phillips and Jordan, I bet you are right about them heading up everything.

I can smell a "rat" on this whole clean up, conspiracy theory perhaps? :laugh:

[corey4671]

dirtdigger- Not sure who the contractor is, most everything I saw was either unmarked or a truck from a rental place bringing up more equipment

corey- this is the exact plant you are talking about on I40. You can't see the spill from the interstate, but you can see the front of the coal plant.

that's what I thought...there where the two big tower looking things are on the Clinch River.

[1wezil]

We will not see this one end any time soon ! first the land clean up and then the water . you would think the water is more important then the land but that would make sense. :dizzy: