TVA: Kingston Spill Will Cost At Least $525 Million

The Tennessee Valley Authority estimates cleanup from the Kingston ash spill will cost more than half a billion dollars.

In December, at a TVA coal plant in Harriman, a holding pond’s earthen dam broke, spilling over a billion gallons of ash sludge into nearby rivers and homes. TVA claimed full responsibility, and says it will do what’s necessary to clean up the mess.

Today CEO Tom Kilgore put a rough figure on the cost of that effort – between $525 and $825 million.

“The reason there’s a range there is because there’s a lot of things we don’t know yet. We don’t know exactly how many times we’re going to have to handle this ash. When we bring it out of the river we’ll need to dry it, handle it again, and hopefully take it to a permanent disposal site. … Another thing is how fast will the dredging go.”

Kilgore says the cost does not include litigation or further claims against TVA.