Cleanup work at the Kingston Fossil Plant, pictured above, continues despite the federal government shutdown. Workers are cleaning up the largest ash spill in U.S. history. Roughly 5.4 million cubic yards of ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell failed.
Work to clean up the ash spill at the Kingston Fossil Plant continues despite the federal government shutdown, a spokesman said Wednesday.
The partial government shutdown shouldn’t affect the Tennessee Valley Authority, which owns and operates the plant, because the public utility doesn’t receive federal funding, spokesman Duncan Mansfield said Wednesday.
Agencies involved in the cleanup project, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Corps of Engineers, have furloughed some workers. But there are still many workers at the Kingston ash spill site, Mansfield said.
“The majority of the work is being performed by contractors,” he said.
The six-year, $1.2 billion cleanup project started after roughly 5.4 million cubic yards of ash spilled in December 2008 when a storage cell failed. It was the largest ash spill in U.S. history.
Officials celebrated several project milestones in June, including the end of ash excavation around the storage cell that failed, and the recovery work is expected to be completed by early 2015.
