Despite TVA assurances... Environmental groups say that the Stevenson pond is potentially more dangerous than Harriman.
    The Environmental Integrity Project says that TVA's own data shows that they disposed more toxic metals in the Stevenson pond than at Harriman.
     And it ranks on the "worst- site" lists nationally for six toxic metals.
     The E-P-A considers these so-called wet dumps the most likely storage facitilities to leak into ground water.
     But they are not regulated.
     However, we repeat.. That TVA says no toxic material escaped today in the Stevenson leak.  

Eric Schaeffer, director, Environmental Integrity Project, said:  “The Tennessee eco-disaster and now the Alabama coal spill have cast a spotlight on what is a very serious national problem – the existence of under-regulated toxic pollution coal dump sites near coal-fired power plants that pose a serious threat to drinking water supplies, rivers and streams.    Our analysis confirms that this problem is truly national in scope and that Tennessee may end up only being a warning sign of much more trouble to come.   In addition to so-called ‘surface impoundments’ in ponds, we need to be concerned about inadequate oversight and monitoring of land-based disposal and other ‘storage’ of these toxic wastes.  We can no longer afford to ignore this problem and we certainly can’t be content to just sit around and wait for the next Tennessee-style disaster to happen.”

You can read the entire EIP report at http://www.environmentalintegrity.org.