{"id":267927,"date":"2010-02-02T14:51:25","date_gmt":"2010-02-02T19:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/alabama-dump-taking-tvas-spilled-coal-ash-declares-bankruptcy\/"},"modified":"2010-02-02T14:51:25","modified_gmt":"2010-02-02T19:51:25","slug":"alabama-dump-taking-tvas-spilled-coal-ash-declares-bankruptcy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/267927","title":{"rendered":"Alabama dump taking TVA&#8217;s spilled coal ash declares bankruptcy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tby Sue Sturgis <\/p>\n<p>The landfill in Perry County, Ala. that has been taking coal ash<br \/>spilled from the failed waste pond at Tennessee Valley Authority&#8217;s<br \/>Kingston plant has declared bankruptcy&#8212;a move that leaves a planned<br \/>lawsuit to halt the dumping up in the air.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Arrowhead Landfill owner Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC, also known as<br \/>Perry County Associates, filed for bankruptcy last week in Mobile,<br \/>Ala., the Selma Times-Journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.selmatimesjournal.com\/news\/2010\/jan\/27\/perry-county-landfill-bankruptcy-raises-questions\/\">reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>In court documents filed with the bankruptcy petition, Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC claimed two other operations, Phillips &amp; Jordan Inc. and Phill-Con Services have withheld money paid by the TVA for accepting coal ash at the landfill located near Uniontown.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint also asked for an accounting, indicating PUV did not know where the money paid by TVA for the disposal went.<\/p>\n<p>Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC claims its three largest creditors are P&amp;J for $3.9 million, the Perry County Commission for $779,837 and the Alabama Department of Revenue for $11,000 in sales tax.<\/p>\n<p>TVA and its disposal contractor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/news\/2010\/jan\/28\/landfill-owner-files-for-chapter-11\/\">say<\/a> the bankruptcy filing won&#8217;t stop ash shipments to the facility.<br \/>However, the filing automatically brings a halt to a planned lawsuit<br \/>aimed at stopping the dumping, since no new litigation can be brought<br \/>against entities in bankruptcy proceedings.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>The coal ash is<br \/>currently being shipped by rail from the spill site in eastern<br \/>Tennessee&#8217;s Roane County, with more than 1 million tons received to<br \/>date. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is overseeing the<br \/>disposal, expects 3 million of the 5 million cubic yards of ash spilled<br \/>from the TVA plant to end up at the Perry County dump. The deal was<br \/>among the reasons cited by environmental justice advocates <a href=\"http:\/\/www.southernstudies.org\/2009\/09\/voices-investigate-epas-treatment-of-black-communities-in-the-south.html\">calling for an investigation<\/a> into the EPA&#8217;s treatment of black communities in the South.<\/p>\n<p>Some residents of Perry County&#8212;a majority African-American <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Black_Belt_%28U.S._region%29\">Black Belt<\/a> community where <a href=\"http:\/\/www.southernstudies.org\/2009\/05\/tva-sends-spilled-coal-ash-to-impoverished-black-communities-in-georgia-and-alabama.html\">more than 30 percent of residents live below the poverty line<\/a>&#8212;were planning to file a federal lawsuit against the facility. <\/p>\n<p>David<br \/>A. Ludder, an environmental attorney in Florida who has been working<br \/>with about 150 Perry County residents, submitted notices of intent to<br \/>sue to the landfill&#8217;s owners in December. The notices allege violations<br \/>of the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act and the Clean Air Act, the<br \/>Perry County Herald <a href=\"http:\/\/perrycountyherald.com\/default.aspx\">reports<\/a>. Ludder said he&#8217;s now examining their options.<\/p>\n<p>Among<br \/>those who have accused the landfill of not operating safely is<br \/>Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen, who says he&#8217;s discovered the<br \/>operators dumping liquid waste into ditches along the road in front of<br \/>people&#8217;s homes, the Locust Fork News-Journal <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.locustfork.net\/2010\/01\/26\/perry-countys-arrowhead-landfill-going-bankrupt\/\">reports<\/a>. Nearby residents&#8212;some who live literally a stone&#8217;s throw from the dump&#8212;have also <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.al.com\/birmingham-news-stories\/2009\/11\/dumping_ash_and_cash_on_perry.html\">complained<\/a> of foul odors.<\/p>\n<p>Proponents<br \/>of the dumping plan have argued that it would bring jobs to the area as<br \/>well as a much-needed economic boost to the impoverished county&#8217;s<br \/>coffers. Under the dumping deal, Perry County is supposed to get $1.05<br \/>for each ton of ash delivered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/the-people-speak-out-in-favor-of-stronger-smog-standards\/\">The people speak out in favor of stronger smog standards<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/bring-back-van-jones\/\">Bring back Van Jones<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2010-02-04-my-whiz-bang-light-rail-is-your-pain-in-the-asphalt\/\">My whiz-bang light rail is your pain in the asphalt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/click.phdo?s=d926914b84d893c7b27a9c1a6a500f9c&#038;p=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"border: 0;\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/img.phdo?s=d926914b84d893c7b27a9c1a6a500f9c&#038;p=1\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"0\" width=\"0\" border=\"0\" style=\"display:none\" src=\"http:\/\/a.rfihub.com\/eus.gif?eui=2223\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Sue Sturgis The landfill in Perry County, Ala. that has been taking coal ashspilled from the failed waste pond at Tennessee Valley Authority&#8217;sKingston plant has declared bankruptcy&#8212;a move that leaves a plannedlawsuit to halt the dumping up in the air. Arrowhead Landfill owner Perry-Uniontown Ventures I LLC, also known asPerry County Associates, filed for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":765,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-267927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/765"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267927\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}