The toxic TVA coal ash mountain grows higher every day at the Arrowhead Landfill in Alabama’s Black Belt as millions of tons make their way down in train after train from one of the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history at Kingston, Tennessee…

A closer view of the growing coal ash mountain in Perry County…

After the coal ash is offloaded onto trucks for the mile and a half trip around to the other side of the landfill, the train cars are washed down, spilling the toxic coal ash residue onto the ground.

From the ground, the coal ash loaded with a deadly stew of chemicals and heavy metals, including arsenic and uranium, runs into an adjoining drainage ditch and then into Tayloe Creek. It ultimately makes its way into the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers, which converge nearby…

According to the permit granted to the landfill by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the landfill owners and managers are bound to bury the coal ash separately from household garbage, which is also dumped into the ground there in Perry County very near people’s homes. This angle clearly shows that coal ash is being mixed with household garbage, which can contain dangerous substances by itself. According to expert sources, it may be unprecedented for a landfill to combine these elements in one place, and there is no sound science showing the cumulative effects. Add that to the problems the landfill has had getting rid of the liquid waste that drains out of the coal ash, and you have the makings of a massive environmental justice disaster on a scale no government agency has even begun to come to terms with.

A lock on the Alabama River just south of where the Cahaba River flows into it, only a few minutes east of the landfill by air…

Pilot Dan Fitzgerald of Huntsville volunteered his time to conduct flyovers of the landfill Monday as a field trip for the Alabama Rivers Alliance conference in Montgomery.

Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen of Tuscaloosa snapped more than 1,000 aerial images on our flight, plus some of the best video he’s shot since the controversy started, he said.

Related Coverage

Waterkeeper Alliance Calls for Halt to Coal Ash Shipments

TVA Coal Ash Cleanup Hits Snag in Alabama

Another Lawsuit Threat Faces Arrowhead Landfill

Perry County’s Arrowhead Landfill Going Bankrupt?

A Call for EPA Takeover of Alabama’s Water Program

Coal Ash Spill Anniversary as Forgotten as Disaster Itself

TVA Dumps Toxic Coal Ash in Poor Alabama Town

TVA to Begin Coal Ash Spill Cleanup March 20

© 2010 – 2012, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved. The Locust Fork News-Journal, LocustFork.Net

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