Source: http://www.tennessean.com, October 23, 2015
By: Jordan Buie and Josh Cross

The water in the wells is within national drinking water standards, but the levels of hexavalent chromium were “slightly above” EPA risk levels.

Odom’s Bend is the last turn before you get to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s coal-fired power plant in Gallatin. From Albert Hudson’s nearby yard, trees hide the plant’s smokestacks, despite the close proximity.

The paint on his house is fractured into thousands of tiny flakes. One side is bare wood. And his drinking water is pulled into his house by a pump over his well.

Now that well water is raising concerns. Hudson received a letter earlier this month from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation notifying him that tests found a harmful chemical in his water called hexavalent chromium.

Although his well water meets overall national standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the levels of hexavalent chromium are “slightly above” the EPA risk levels, the state agency told Hudson.

“I drink (my well water) sometimes, but since this uncertainty came up, I’m a little leery about it now, you know,” Hudson said this week. “My paper said it wasn’t strong enough, but hell, I got bottled water in there now.”

The test results could bolster claims by environmental groups that pollution from the Gallatin Fossil Plant is spreading beyond TVA’s property.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed a motion in federal court Friday on behalf of two other environmental groups citing the tests of two water wells, including Hudson’s, and results that found the chemical in the Cumberland River near where the Gallatin water utility draws water.

Hexavalent chromium is rarely found naturally and is typically the result of an industrial process. It has been found to cause cancer in lab animals when they drink it in water and can cause lung cancer when inhaled, according to the National Institutes of Health and the EPA. It can be found in coal ash, the waste created when coal is burned to produce electricity.

TVA on Friday said the sample results from private wells show none of the elements exceed the standards for drinking water.

“The levels of Hexavalent Chromium did slightly exceed draft criteria that EPA proposed in 2010, but those standards have not been finalized by EPA,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks said by email Friday. “We support the state’s decision to retest all of the wells to confirm these low readings and we believe this data should be compared against existing background levels in the area. We also support the state in its consideration of this and will assist them however we can.”

But the Southern Environmental Law Center disagrees and says the problem is more widespread.

The group filed a federal lawsuit against TVA in April, alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act. In January, state regulators filed an action against TVA in Davidson County court. TVA has asked that a judge dismiss the federal case because of the pending state action. Friday’s motion by the law center argues a federal court still has jurisdiction and its case should go forward, particularly given the well samples.

“Recent test results confirm that contamination is serious, ongoing, and could harm the environment and people who live near the Gallatin Plant and whose drinking water is drawn nearby,” according to the group’s motion.

The state also tested water near the intake for the Gallatin Water Treatment Plant downstream of the power plant and found low levels of hexavalent chromium.

Gallatin Public Works Superintended David Gregory said Friday the city’s water treatment plant has not had any issues with hexavalent chromium in its water supply.

“We send what we treat off for testing,” Gregory said. “We have met all of the (EPA and state water) requirements and exceeded them. We’ve had no violations, and we didn’t detect anything.”

TDEC said the findings were unusual and deemed it important to notify local residents of the results.

But TDEC spokeswoman Kelly Brockman stressed by email Friday that the levels of hexavalent chromium found in the water were low, particularly those near the Gallatin Water Treatment Plant’s intake along the Cumberland River. Still, she said additional tests are needed.

“The Department plans to sample raw water intake at the Gallatin Treatment Plant as well as treated water that is sent into the distribution system for use by local citizens,” Brockman said.

Longstanding concerns

TVA has operated the Gallatin site, the closest coal-fired power plant to Nashville, for nearly 60 years. The plant burns about 4 million tons of coal a year and produces enough electricity to power the equivalent of 300,000 homes. But burning that coal produces about 235,000 tons a year of the coal ash waste, which contains arsenic, selenium, mercury and other pollutants that are all harmful to people and wildlife when found in high concentrations.

For years, TVA mixed the ash with water and stored it in unlined ponds, where the ash settled to the bottom. There are three unlined coal ash ponds on the power plant property containing over 2.5 billion gallons of coal ash and other waste that stretch for more than 1,000 acres. According to the plant’s permits, the water from the ponds is allowed to enter the Cumberland through an outfall after the coal waste has settled in the stilling ponds.

TVA is in the process of spending $1.2 billion at the Gallatin plant to reduce air pollution and will begin storing coal ash in a dry form, a far safer way to handle the material. TVA is building a new, lined landfill for the material.

Beth Alexander, a staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the group found a series of reports indicating that waste from the plant had been seeping into groundwater from the bottom of the ponds for decades. The attorneys have cited a TVA report from 1982 that suggested the coal waste could be in contact with local groundwater. The environmental group also has cited a 1977 report about leaks because of the region’s karst geology, where sinkholes and underground crevices and caves are common.

“To our knowledge, the general public has been unaware of these reports,” Alexander said in an interview.

In 2000, TDEC required TVA to start monitoring the groundwater for coal ash contamination, and by 2002, the authority had found beryllium, cadmium and cobalt at or exceeding the EPA’s maximum containment levels, according to the law center’s lawsuit. The Southern Environmental Law Center says that TVA never reported the groundwater contamination to state regulators. In 2014, the complaint argues, TVA submitted a report to TDEC requesting to reduce the frequency of ground monitoring.

Brooks, the TVA spokesman, said the federal utility takes environmental stewardship seriously. He said he could not speculate on issues that are uncertain or about pending litigation.

“I can say that TVA monitors and performs tests at its Gallatin Fossil Plant intake and outfall according to our permits,” he said. “Results are in compliance and indicate the health of the river above and below the plant is not impacted by TVA operations.”

Concerns from residents

Neighboring resident Raymond Branham, who has lived on Odoms Bend Road since 2004, has the other affected well.

While he drinks bottled water “to be kind of safe,” Branham said he is not concerned about the test results and still uses well water to bathe in and water the plants in his garden.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it since TVA has been out here,” Branham said. “As much as they are doing out there right now, and all of the traffic that is coming through here, it has created a lot of jobs. I see that.”

For Hudson, he remains concerned.

“I’ve been out here for like 40 years,” he said. “My family has been living here all of my life. It’s my family home.”

Coal ash

The material is the waste from burning coal to produce electricity. It contains arsenic, selenium, mercury and other pollutants.

At issue

Environmentalists are concerned that pollution could leak into the nearby Cumberland River and groundwater supplies. The Southern Environmental Law Center points to tests of nearby drinking water wells that have tested positive for hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen.