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Coal Sludge Spill Satellite Images
January 5, 2009 | Earth Observatory



“In the early morning hours of December 22, 2008, the earthen wall of a containment pond at Tennessee’s Kingston Fossil Plant gave way. The breach released 1.3 million cubic meters (1.7 cubic yards) of fly ash—a coal-combustion waste product captured and stored in wet form. The spill infiltrated the Emory River, buried some 120 hectares (300 acres) in sludge, and even knocked a nearby home completely off its foundation.

The Thematic Mapper on NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite captured these images of the Kingston Fossil Plant and its surroundings on November 20, 2008, a month before the spill (right); and December 22, 2008, immediately after the spill, (right). In the November image, walls visibly contain two adjacent slurry ponds at the plant—one in the northwest and one in the southeast—but in the December image, the walls of the northwestern slurry pond have given way. In this image, light blue slurry covers the ground to the north and east of the plant. Sediment also clogs the nearby Emory River, evident from the waterway’s relatively light blue color.

Estimates of the time required to clean up the spill ranged from weeks to years.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory story.

Links to other reports on this incident…. Coal Sludge Dam Break, Sludge Spill Now 1 Billion Gallons, Heavy Metals from Sludge Spill.


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