Good morning, Nashville. Today marks the one-year anniversary of the TVA ash spill in Kingston, Tennessee. Since this is one news story we’re absolutely guilty of harping on here at Nashvillest, we didn’t want today to pass by unnoticed. On December 22, 2008, 5,4 million cubic yards of fly ash (or 1.1 billion gallons) spilled out of a containment area when the dike ruptured, causing enough environmental destruction to be visible from space–the before and after images of which are seen above courtesy of NASA. Nearly $231 billion has already been spent on cleanup and it could take as long as four more years to finish. Each day, workers shovel ash into 100 train cars and ship it to Perry County, Alabama. Since the spill, many residents of Kingston have seen property values plummet and complained of health problems. We’re hoping things will look better a year from now.
- Car insurance rates go up. Most major insurance companies are planning to raise car insurance rates more than usual in Tennessee in 2010 because we’ve apparently become a little more expensive to insure over the past year.
- Onward through the fog. Overnight we experienced something called freezing fog, which is basically fog that freezes on every possible surface such as your car and interstate overpasses. In other news, we hear it’s snowing in Metro Center and we feel cheated.
- Bits & pieces. Someone dumped another chunk of gold into a Salvation Army kettle … The parents of a Metro students are suing the school system because they claim their child was shocked by a pencil sharpener … The TVA is keeping an eye on yet another ash pond … Some burglars broke into the Charlie Daniels Museum on 2nd Avenue last night.
Images courtesy of NASA, mashed up by us.
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