82,000 Tons of toxic coal ash in Dan River (NC) Lead, Arsenic, Mercury
By:Doc Swagg
Once again, another energy industry catastrophe has struck and inflicted a subsequent blow to our environment. This follows the spill in West Virginia no less than a month ago.
An energy company, Duke Energy, is responsible for a “coal ash” spill into the Dan River. This river runs from North Carolina to Virginia. The most recent reports estimate a spill of 82,000 tons of the coal ash, and 27 million gallons of contaminated water.
The spill is important because it contains environmental toxins and hazardous contaminants such as: Lead, Arsenic, and Mercury. Video footage across several nationwide and local news networks show murky discolored water. This is extremely significant, because this will affect the aquatic life in that region. Despite what TV reporters may say, there are several physiological problems with this. Lead in the blood can stay in your system for for well over a month, it can stay in your connective tissue for well over 2 months, and can remain n bone and teeth for 10 years. Lead damages sperm cells, it’s known to lead to still births, miscarriages, and multiple developmental abnormalities in babies neurological system. Lead levels down stream are 13 times higher than normal.
Below is a link about lead from an occupational safety resources:
http://www.osh.net/articles/archive/osh_basics_2001_may26.htm
Mercury also causes harmful neurological abnormalities in fetuses, babies, and young children. Below is a link from the EPA about the harmful effects of Mercury:
http://www.epa.gov/hg/effects.htm
According to the EPA, arsenic is linked to cancer of the bladder, liver, kidneys, lung, and prostate. Arsenic also can cause partial paralysis, blindness, skin and gastrointestinal problems. The Arsenic levels found downstream from the spill are reportedly 35 times higher than the Maximum Acceptable Contaminant amount in drinking water set forth by the EPA.
The EPA effects of Arsenic are below:
http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/arsenic/index.cfm
These are threats to our health because of the fish that we introduce to our food chain have the potential to harm us, and the drinking/bathing water put us at risk for all of these conditions. The spill is new, so we have yet to see what the final impact will be. I hope that the news media covers this meticulously and vigilantly. Make no mistake about this. This is very serious!
This is the Executive Summary from 2009 that the EPA already warned about the hazards of Coal Ash from Duke Energy and its destructive potential at the Dan River:
http://www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/fossil/surveys2/dan-river-final.pdf
