TVA, Compensate Sick Kingston Coal Ash Cleanup Workers!
- by: Susan V
- recipient: Tennessee Valley Authority CEO William "Bill" Dean Johnson
A 2008 dike failure at Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant left a billion gallons of coal ash to clean up. Now some of the workers involved in that cleanup are sick, and some have died.
The Center for Public Integrity documents adverse health effects suffered by some former workers, including Craig Wilkinson, who now needs a double lung transplant. After experiencing respiratory and other health problems for years, Wilkinson finally got evaluated by a clinic specializing in toxic exposures and “ tests revealed a frightening stew of chemicals in his urine."
Most workers seeking compensation said they were never notified of the job’s hazards or provided any protective wear. In fact, said one worker, they were told that eating two pounds of the ash a day wouldn’t hurt them.
Attorney Roy Mason, who has filed wrongful death suits against one cleanup contractor told CPI that “worker exposure to coal ash remains 'very much under the radar.'” and he suspects thousands have been made sick by it. However, companies TVA hired to handle the cleanup are claiming immunity from lawsuits because they were contracted by a government agency, says CPI.
These workers or their families should not have to sue to get health care and compensation for illness caused by coal ash exposure. Sign this petition to insist TVA compensate all Kingston cleanup workers whose illnesses can be linked to coal ash exposure..
To Tennessee Valley Authority CEO William "Bill" Dean Johnson:
As a former student of Public Health, an advocate for workers' rights to protections from health hazards and a victim of workplace exposures, myself, I am writing on behalf of those who were injured due to exposures to coal ash at the Kingston spill site.
[Your Comments]
According to the report by the Center for Public Integrity, one attorney for former workers seeking compensation for coal-ash related illnesses, Jim Scott, has been keeping track of the health conditions these workers are suffering. He told CPI that, "according to his latest tally, 32 of 43 clients have respiratory and pulmonary problems including sinus infections, chronic bronchitis and lung diseases." Scott also says there are an unusually high number with cancers - 10 out of the 43 - and one victim has died after enduring “five bouts of pneumonia and a heart attack while working as a truck driver at the TVA spill site from 2009 until last year, when, at age 51, he was diagnosed with lung cancer."
Very disturbing are the numerous claims that workers were provided little to no protection, and that they were misled about the hazards. Craig Wilkinson told CPI that he specifically remembered asking “about the ash at orientation,…and was told not to worry, it was safe.”
But even more disturbing is the ordeal these ill workers are having to go through to try to get what they deserve, while some face death, and others have died already. In 2014, their original complaint was dismissed by a federal court that sided with the company's claim to immunity, "because it was acting under the auspices of TVA — a governmental entity shielded from such claims, " reports CPI. Then, even though that ruling was overturned last year, the company appealed to the US Supreme court, which sent the case back to the federal court. Since then, the company has filed to dismiss again, this time citing TVA affidavits claiming TVA took “work site health and safety… very seriously,” claiming they had no knowledge that the company it hired for cleanup had “inappropriately discouraged or prohibited appropriate use by site workers of equipment,” or “intimidated [workers] from reporting ... concerns.”
Even if the companies TVA contracted to do the cleanup are immune, this does not excuse TVA, whose CEO Wikipedia notes is “ is the highest paid employee in the United States federal government," from failing to ensure that cleanup workers were protected. And it does not release TVA from its responsibility to compensate them or their families now for the illnesses they suffered on the job.
Therefore I, the undersigned, insist you arrange for TVA to compensate these workers and their families for the illnesses suffered from on-the-job exposures to coal ash at the Kingtons spill site.
Thanks for your time.
[Your Name]
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.