www.jacksonsun.com/article/20090212/NEWS01/90212004
KNOXVILLE Cleanup costs could run as high as $825 million after a coal ash spill considered one of the worst environmental disasters in the history of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the utility's chief executive said Thursday. Advertisement President and CEO Tom Kilgore told the TVA board of directors that the federal utility had spent $31 million on the cleanup through the end of January. It was the first board meeting since 11 billion gallons of coal ash sludge spilled from a containment pond in December, flooding homes and a river inlet near the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee on Dec. Kilgore said the estimated cost of cleaning up the spill was between $525 million and $825 million, depending upon "a number of things we don't know yet." Kilgore said those unknowns included the number of times waste will have to be moved and how fast the dredging of the Emory River can be done. Director Dennis Bottorff, chairman of the Finance and Rates Committee, said the utility will be looking at what is covered by insurance and then considering options such as disposing of assets, using debt and raising power rates "with the idea to minimize the impact on rates." Last fall the TVA board approved a 20 percent electric rate increase, the largest in nearly two decades. The rising cost of fuel accounted for 17 percent of that 20 percent increase. TVA lowered the fuel charge by 6 percent in January and announced Thursday another 7 percent cut effective April 1 TVA estimated the effect of the April 1 reduction will be to cut $4 to $9 from the average residential customer's power bill. TVA Chairman Bill Sansom previously said TVA will not ask taxpayers to pay for the disaster. TVA provides electricity to about 88 million consumers in Tennessee and parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. Kilgore said as many as 700 people were involved in the cleanup at its peak and about 500 remain active in the project. A consultant has been hired to pinpoint the cause of the mishap and that report is expected during the summer. "We will not accept anything short of complete success," TVA board Chairman Bill Sansom said after hearing the update by Kilgore. The utility has completed purchase agreements with 19 families whose properties were inundated by the sludge and has agreements pending with 18 more. The disaster brought a national spotlight to coal ash storage pools around the country, prompted congressional hearings on the need for heightened regulation.
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