Gypsum Pond Leaks into Widows Creek, Three Weeks After Tennessee Valley Authority Suffered Nation's Worst Spill Ever at a Coal Plant

This is absolutely amazing. Less than three weeks after the Tennessee Valley Authority suffered the nation's worst spill ever at a coal power plant, another pond at another TVA plant has leaked gypsum-laden water into a nearby creek.

At the Widows Creek Fossil Plant, the leak from a pipe at a 147-acre gypsum pond was repaired Friday morning, TVA officials said, but not before enough water and gypsum caused a settling pond to overflow into Widows Creek, which flows into the Tennessee River.

The leak was found about 6 a.m. at one of the ponds -- about a mile from the plant -- used to store residue from the air scrubber at the Widows Creek plant. An employee found the leak during one of the twice daily walk-throughs conducted by TVA personnel, which have doubled since the Kingston, Tenn., spill, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said.

This latest leak at a TVA coal plant in such a short period of time raises some very serious concerns about the integrity of the ash ponds where, as you know, potentially toxic coal ash is dumped.