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Coal Ash Spills Too Dangerous To Reveal To Public, Says DHS

huffingtonpost.com — Coal Ash Spills Too Dangerous To Reveal To Public, Says DHS - huh!?

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 13, 2009

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  • Moonspirit48, on 06/12/2009, -0/+102There is NO SUCH THING as clean coal. It's something that the coal companies want you to believe so they can stay in business, destroying our mountainsides and creating dangerous conditions for coal miners and their families.
  • mobedda, on 06/12/2009, -1/+53Um, so is coal clean yet?
  • JFallon126, on 06/13/2009, -1/+43Forget the "clean" coal vs dirty coal debate...this is a perfect example of why the federal government needs to be scaled back. "Too dangerous"? How the hell does not telling citizens that tons of toxic waste is heading their way make any goddamn sense? No...how the hell is that remotely moral? Jesus Herbert Christ...
  • twiztidsinz, on 06/13/2009, -1/+41Yes.... Keep it a secret will prevent storms from finding it.
    Meanwhile, if a storm DOES manage to displace it, and it spreads across a populated area, those people will have NO IDEA until they're breathing it in.
  • pintomp3, on 06/13/2009, -1/+36Clean coal is like safe cigarettes.
  • stonebear, on 06/13/2009, -0/+20Terrorism is just shorthand for "Were going to do whatever the hell we please, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it," just like communism used to be.
  • coit, on 06/13/2009, -6/+25LOL at your ignorance. Nuclear is the best option.
  • m3arvk, on 06/13/2009, -0/+17It's like something out of a bad futuristic science fiction movie. The 9/11 era foreshadows this world's fate; an era of lessening freedoms and an ever lower standard of living. Our education system is failing, our culture is what marketers say it is, people worship materialism and I struggle to give a ***** about most of it.

    Prosperity leads to complacency leads to poverty.
  • bepeace, on 06/12/2009, -3/+19Title a little misleading... (not submitter's fault, this is the huffpo title)

    FTA: Sen. Barbara Boxer's... committee can't publicly disclose the location of coal ash dumps across the country.
    The pollution is so toxic, so dangerous, that an enemy of the United States -- or a storm or some other disrupting event -- could easily cause them to spill out and lay waste to any area nearby.
  • TINZUSA, on 06/13/2009, -0/+15I'll tell you about something more dangerous than coal ash spills. It's a vast angry mob of Americans looking for justice after a disaster on their doorsteps that was kept secret from them and could have been averted.
  • SPNKrPunk, on 06/13/2009, -1/+16"The pollution is so toxic, so dangerous, that an enemy of the United States -- or a storm or some other disrupting event -- could easily cause them to spill out and lay waste to any area nearby."

    Well i can see how a tornado or strong wind storm might be a problem, but can someone clarify how a terrorist can muster enough destructive force to actually turn this into a problem?
  • sychodan, on 06/13/2009, -0/+15this is some silent hill *****
  • c0mputar, on 06/13/2009, -1/+14Once we can extract energy from coal without using up any of the coal, then yes.
  • Loki101, on 06/13/2009, -0/+13Proof that it is propaganda?
  • RaccoonStatic, on 06/13/2009, -0/+13It's asshats like this that spend time and money on ***** that is totally ineffective. It's like a tow hitch on an airplane.
    First of all: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Califor ...
    Secondly, anyone with access to google earth and a lot of time on their hands could find these anyway.
    The DHS really needs to retain a geek as a "protection from ignorance" role.
    Seriously, this is the department that is in charge of gathering "intelligence" and they think this will work?

    There seem to 2 reasons for this.
    1-The DHS ppl in charge of this are actually soccer moms and have never heard of Google.
    2-They are just corporate shills that are getting paid to not reveal public endangerment.

    Has the DHS ever actually done anything "verifiable" to protect the public? Seriously if you can site some examples I want to know.
    The FBI has (framed by some accounts) some completely delusional would be terrorists, but the DHS?
  • IcedKasz, on 06/13/2009, -0/+13He knows a guy who knows a guy
  • DeadPain, on 06/13/2009, -2/+15is it NJ?
  • twiztidsinz, on 06/13/2009, -1/+13Too late for an edit, but I should clarify, I'm not being negative at bepeace, but what was quoted. The idea that keeping it a secret will protect us is a load of crock.
  • logist, on 06/13/2009, -1/+13 Volcanic ash is primarily made up of silica based materials such as glass shards, and small rock fragments. While it can cause major problems with machinery and is dangerous when inhaled as it can create a cement in your lungs - it is not inherently toxic. Cole Ash on the other hand can cause the same problems as volcanic ash, plus it is highly toxic as it includes high levels of chemicals such as arsenic, beryllium, boron, chromium, lead, manganese, and mercury just to name a few. It is also highly radioactive.

    Politics aside - All ash is not created equal.
  • inactive, on 06/13/2009, -0/+11Now that's what I call transparency. Regardless of who is the President, this type of ***** needs to be communicated. On one hand, you have the public freaking out but on the other hand you have people needing to know what in the hell is going on in out backyards.
  • bjornski, on 06/13/2009, -3/+13Bobby Jindal said spending money on volcano detection was a waste of money.

    I guess he's right. Go the libertarian route.

    If YOU want it, YOU pay for it!

    And what does volcanic ash have to do with coal ash?
  • JustinNoland, on 06/13/2009, -1/+11Nuclear is far, far more safe and clean than even the cleanest burning coal plants.
  • inactive, on 06/13/2009, -1/+11DHS works for corporations. surprised?
  • hawkspur, on 06/13/2009, -2/+12Coal ash is actually more radioactive than most nuclear station waste.
  • publiclurker, on 06/13/2009, -1/+10So it has enough energy to make an explosive, but not enough that anyone is using it as fuel.

    Better think that one through again.
  • inactive, on 06/13/2009, -1/+10The only thing I could think of strong enough to displace large amounts of ash would be a nuke and that's stupid because A) it would vaporize the ash immediately B) why the hell would you waste a nuke on an ash pile when you could put it somewhere way worse like a city?
  • Masayume, on 06/13/2009, -0/+9My home county is a matter of minutes away from the spill in Tennessee. What are they doing about? They're trying to get it trucked into the county! The company that is applying to dump it in Cumberland County has proposed it would bring in 3 or so million dollars and "100 jobs". It's amazing what we'll do ignoring the grand scheme of things for such trivial amounts of money.
  • hawkspur, on 06/13/2009, -0/+9Coal ash = not clean. Coal plants still produce coal ash. I would much rather have a nuclear reactor in the place of every coal plant in the country, it's virtually impossible for nuclear reactors to meltdown now with the redundancies and safety triggers that can't be turned off.

    "worthless solar/wind"

    Someone works for the coal industry.

    "we don't have the technology"

    We have the technology (we can rebuild him). You're just an idiot. Photovoltaic cells are rapidly approaching the cost/watt ratio of coal. Wind is being invested in massively. Coal will hopefully be sidelined as the environmental disaster that it is.

  • stonebear, on 06/13/2009, -0/+8... who knows Rush Limbaugh.
  • casek, on 06/13/2009, -1/+9so, in effect, this "storm" is a terrorist?

    we must wage war on storms!

    i hope the govt is wiretapping the clouds that
    are protecting the storms. that way we can have
    the advantage.....

    or maybe a first strike on these terrorist clouds is the answer?



  • rblatz, on 06/13/2009, -0/+8Why is a non military agency telling our senators what they can and can't say/do about a civilian issue? It's not like they are talking about nuke codes it's about where public companies pay other public companies to store nasty stuff.
  • sassafrassmolly, on 06/12/2009, -11/+19The TVA and the EPA kept saying that the coal ash spill in Harriman, TN over Christmas last year was nothing to worry about, just a little ash and mud. Obviously they were lying, if Homeland Security and the Army Corps are saying these coal ash retention ponds are too dangerous for public knowledge. We HAVE to move away from coal into a clean energy future (and NOT nuclear, which is as polluting as coal).
  • centran, on 06/13/2009, -1/+8We did have a place to stick the spent nuclear fuel. The environmentalist and power companies didn't want it so the plan failed. It was a good plan. Stick it deep inside a mountain. Power companies didn't want to spend the money to transport it there so they lobbied and used the environmentalist groups to their advantage.
  • MtheoryX, on 06/13/2009, -0/+7Dugg for We have the technology (we can rebuild him).
  • NotSarcasm, on 06/13/2009, -0/+7yeah, but it's ok, they just let the coal ash float away into the air so it doesn't hurt anyone
  • tgc1, on 06/13/2009, -0/+7DHS = Enemy of The People of the United States. Corporate whore. Just like the other 3 letter agencies. CIA, FBI, FDA, DEA, IRS et al. All agencies dedicated to protecting corporate interests within the United States.

    Whether it means your yet to be born child dies in the womb from some complication related to the pollutants released by said companies, or you don't even get to procreate because you become sterile from these sites. The American Public should be ***** PISSED!
  • Your4Father, on 06/13/2009, -2/+8Seeing that for all of the plants almost all of the nuclear fuel they have used is being stored on site there doesn't seem to be a problem with the amount of waste nuclear produces. Heck you can recycle the old fuel and use it again if you don't mind make plutonium.
  • Kyzzyxx, on 06/13/2009, -0/+6And we won't have the tech in sufficient time unless we invest into it's development much quicker than we are now and the best way to do that is start using it especially since we don't have much time to waste, really, and SOME power being generated from solar/wind is better than none.

    Oh, btw, what part of the coal industry do you work for? Cause you have to work for coal in some way as only a greedy idiot that has something personal to gain from coal tech would suggest attempting to limit our potential power sources to one technology over another.

    Not to mention the jobs! We must think about the jobs!
  • inactive, on 06/13/2009, -2/+8This is exactly the stuff people should be informed about!
  • Zaxcomp, on 06/13/2009, -4/+10Nuclear uses far too much water to viable in many areas. We still have no idea how to contain they waste it leaves behind.

    Solar and wind powering electrolysis of hydrogen would be the "cleanest" of current technology energy generation while still meeting the capacitive needs of 24 hour power.
  • Veedek, on 06/13/2009, -1/+7I was just reading an article about that Tennesee spill in GQ. It almost made me cry and certainly made me angry to read about the damage coal power is doing to our planet. From the mountains they have to knock down to get it and the rivers and lakes that they kill doing it, to the disgusting, destructive, hazardous mess that it makes after it is burned. Oh, and of course climate change. Clean coal my ass! We REALLY need to quit using that crap and get onto clean, renewable energy or humans are going to pay with a very dificult planet to live on. Maybe after that happens people will pull their heads out and pull together as one human race. One can only hope.

    If nothing else, that will be an interesting challege to the human race and will change us unimaginably.
  • Cheezian, on 06/13/2009, -2/+8K clean the atmosphere then. Good thing nuclear messes are extremely rare.
  • hawkspur, on 06/13/2009, -0/+5You continue to show you have no idea wtf you are talking about.

    "Wind is a nice energy source however when there's little wind power goes offline. So it's not possible for large scale applications."

    They don't just throw up wind turbines wherever. They put them in wind corridors. WHERE WIND BLOWS ALL THE TIME. Not possible for large scale applications? Boy, I guess you've never heard of "wind farms" then. The Horse Hollow project operates 421 wind turbines and has a capacity of 735 megawatts in one Texas county alone.

    The massive investment in Wind/Solar mainly is to develop the infrastructure. There are so many things just factually wrong in your statement.

    "the liberal conspiracy theories show now,"

    I'm not even a liberal. I'm a libertarian. The only people that support coal anymore are the ones with too much entrenched in it to pull out now or work for the industry or have friends that do.

  • stonebear, on 06/13/2009, -0/+5DHS is the FBI as the Gestapo was to the SS.
  • Khast, on 06/13/2009, -1/+6Okay, if it's so clean, if you should ever find one of these coal ash reservoirs that is so "secret"...dive in. It's perfectly a clean energy, so you have nothing to worry about, right?
  • thants, on 06/13/2009, -2/+7Hi, NJ douche bag. Please close your web browser and go apply some more bronzer.
  • Sogladtobehere, on 06/13/2009, -0/+4Nuclear is a better option than coal, but we still need to work on perfecting solar, wind, tidal, thermal, and other energies. ANYTHING is better than coal and fossil fuels.

    However, due to the time and money that is going to have to be put into research until other energy options are available, Americans (and everyone) should be focusing primarily on power saving. Turn off your lights, computers, and EVERYTHING when they are not in use. Ban the incandescent bulbs!
    I visited America last year and couldn't believe the power wastage. You people are incredulous to your own consumption. Most Americans don't even know there are alternatives to the 120 y/o tech of incandescent lights. But hey, ignorance is bliss right?

    Use less power!
  • Sponky, on 06/13/2009, -0/+4I'm digging you down because you are wrong, Coal ash is not used to make the explosive carbonite.

    A small percentage of coal dust (not coal ash) is used in some carbonite recipes, though the majority use wood meal. The explosive energy comes from the reaction of this fuel with potassium nitrate and nitroglycerine. If you have either of those chemicals you don't need access to an ash dump to make something go bang.

    source: http://books.google.com.au/books?id=9jRIIi4M9o0C&a ...

    @ buckrogers1965: a carbide lamp is a different beastie, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbide_lamp
  • Your4Father, on 06/13/2009, -0/+4Better look out, the next concrete building you enter may be made of this Coal Ash... After testing of course.
  • throop77, on 06/13/2009, -0/+4You are forgetting that they blow off the top of a mountain to get it and that process destroys the mountain (obviously) as well as the surrounding valleys. That ain't clean, sir.
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