Saturday, August 22, 2009

Uniontown, Alabama. "End of the Line":
Uniontown is a small rural community located in southwest Alabama twenty-five miles from Selma. Eighty-eight percent of the population is black with a per capita income of $8268. Current unemployment runs sixty to seventy percent.

In my last post I wrote about the approval of the EPA to allow the TVA to transport coal ash from Kingston, Tenneesse to the Arrowhead Landfill in Uniontown.
A study just released from Duke University researchers suggests exposure to dust and river sediment containing toxic metals and radioactivity from the Kingston ash could pose health risks. The study shows samples from the spill contains radium, arsenic, and mercury. An August 15 study in the journal Environmental Science & Technology states: "high probability the dry ash containing fine particles enriched with these elements will be in the air as dust and could have a severe health impact on individuals who come in contact with it".

I have just returned from Uniontown. Here is the story of its people and their "unheard voices" regarding the impact of coal ash being dumped into and onto their community.

be strong, be safe, Carlan