Researchers: TVA ash spill not affecting fish

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.— Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory say fish seem to remain healthy following the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal ash spill in East Tennessee in Dec. 2008.

The Knoxville News Sentinel quoted Mark Peterson, the leader of an ecological assessment team at ORNL, who said the research is ongoing.

The group has been checking fish from the Emory and Clinch rivers following the spill at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant, which dumped more than five million cubic yards of ash, much of which flowed into the Emory.

Peterson said the initial fish health assessment was based mostly on sampling done in February 2009, not long after the spill, on fish that hadn’t been exposed for very long.

The lab is completing analysis on another sampling that began this spring.