Kingston Ash Spill @ 10 Years; At Least 17 Cleanup Workers Dead; Dozens Dying - No Respirators

It was the nation’s largest coal ash spill, and it would bring a stampede of government supervisors, environmental advocates, lawyers, journalists, politicians and contractors to Kingston, Tenn.

But not one of them asked why the hundreds of blue-collar laborers cleaning up the mess weren’t wearing even basic dust masks. Or why their safety gear consisted of nothing more than short-sleeved T-shirts, jeans, work boots and vinyl reflective vests Now, nearly a decade later, at least 17 of those workers are dead, dozens more are dying, and the conditions under which they worked are being blamed.

“I call them ‘the expendables,’” said Janie Clark, wife of a worker in failing health. “These men were treated like collateral damage, and they fell between the cracks in this toxic place.”

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The EPA declared the area a superfund site full of toxic metals and chemicals. The list was long even in the early days after the spill: arsenic, beryllium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, cadmium, selenium, thallium, antimony, silver and vanadium oxide. It would grow longer. Worse, when that sludge started drying out, it turned to fly ash – dust laden with those chemicals in concentrated forms and in tiny particles that once inhaled would lodge deep in the lungs. Workers weren’t warned of the dangers, though. In fact, they were told the coal ash was perfectly safe.

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http://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/2017/07/21/kingston-coal-ash-spill-workers-treated-expendables-lawsuit-sick-and-dying-contends/451537001/