The Tennessee Valley Authority was fined more than $11 million Monday by environmental regulators for the Kingston coal ash spill in 2008.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has been waiting for the spill site west of Knoxville to be stabilized before assessing fines. Officials have also been trying to get a full picture of the damage.
The $11.5 million in penalties cover violations of the Tennessee Water Control Act and Solid Waste Disposal Act. State regulators say they reserve the right to assess natural resource damages in the future and defend the fines as “appropriate” in response to an “unprecedented event.”
In December of 2008, 5.4 million cubic yards of ash sludge stored near a TVA coal-fired power plant spilled into the Emory River.
TVA officials say they will pay the fine. So far, roughly three-fifths of the coal ash has been recovered in what’s expected to be a billion dollar clean-up.
TDEC has put TVA on a payment plan through 2012, with the first installment coming next month. Part of the total fine will come in $2 million worth of projects that benefit the environment.
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