SWAN POND RESIDENTS PRESS CONFERENCE

THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE TVA COAL ASH SPILL

I would like to thank everyone for attending today. My name is Randy Ellis I currently serve on the Roane County Long Term Recovery Committee and as Vice Chairman of The Roane County Community Advisory Group. But today I stand before you not as a member of any committee but as a concerned member of this Community and Roane County. I am joined here today with several members of the Swan Pond Community. The Community that was first affected by the ash spill on Dec. 22, 2008 and the same community that to this date has been over looked and forgotten by not only the TVA but also the State of Tennessee and Roane County.

The people with me today are not only members of this community but are brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers and grandparents. The Swan Pond Community prior to Dec. 22, 2008 was a normal but beautiful community, with neighbors that have been neighbors for 50 plus years, we had the beauty of the mountains and the river. This time of the year you could drive through our community and see the Christmas lights and the different families gathering at homes to celebrate the holidays. Neighbors sitting on their porches talking about the weather or how good or bad the VOLS are playing this year. And now as you can see around us what people are left are surrounded by empty houses bought by the TVA. Our once beautiful and quite neighborhood was turned upside down on Dec. 22nd 2008.

Twelve months into the clean-up which had an initial promise from Mr. Kilgore of “…six to eight weeks and we will have your community and rivers back to how they were before and better…” Obviously, the project had a projection deadline which was grossly overstated as there are years of work to deliver us back to where we were, if that is even possible. To date, the Emory River remains closed to public traffic within a few miles of the cleanup efforts, the sloughs remain clogged with several feet of coal ash, the air smells, the coal ash dust blows, the wildlife is visibly damaged, the fish are unsafe to eat, we were advised by EPA not to swim in the river, train load after train load with ash being transferred to Alabama, the coal ash has relocated miles downstream, there is no water in the ponds (except the very small one known as Church Slough which TVA has as the poster child on their Recovery Website). Our community has been wiped out as TVA settles and buys property, and mental anguish remains with many who are left behind due to choice and/or lack of TVA’s promise to help any and all community residents.

The people that have been left behind feel as though their lives have been drastically altered forever. They have no neighbors left at all! They feel like they are being held hostage by the TVA in their own homes and Community! Let’s not forget that the TVA caused this mess and turned our lives upside down. The people gathered here have asked the TVA to buy their homes because of the situation they have been forced into and others have just asked to be relocated for health concerns till after the cleanup is complete. In most cases the TVA has made offers to property owners that will not even begin to replace what they currently have or have bought homes all around some and not even made offers on others. But yet the TVA has cut all commutations off completely with these people in regards to relocation or purchasing their property. These people are left in a void not knowing what the TVA will do with their community in the future since they now own the majority of it. Or if the TVA will take their property through eminent domain. Residents here have letters from Pulmonologists, Cardiologists and family Doctors stating that they need to move or be relocate until the cleanup is complete. Their concerns and health are being totally ignored by the TVA.

TVA has dedicated $43,000,000 dollars to Roane County– Wow that is a lot of money! And there is a lot of damage - and, we still wonder how the $43,000,000 was calculated? Based on cubic yards of coal ash in our rivers? Based on some other factor? Who knows yet there has been no direct support between TVA and the Roane County Government and the residents left residing or owning property in either the Swan Pond Community or the communities on the rivers that are affected by this coal ash environmental disaster. TVA has granted the money directly to Roane County, a generous offer, no doubt but the offer falls short of the total damage incurred and forced upon the people of this community.

And, within a week after the announcement of the $43 million, there was the “ash-snow”. Testing emission in September, 2009, whereby TVA released an unknown volume of “ash-snow” throughout our community, the same community which is the exact ground zero location of the 12/22/2008 Coal Ash Disaster. When the “ash-snow” was observed in September, 2009, local TVA Management and our Public Officials had no idea what it was, had no idea if it was hazardous, and to slap our community even more severely, it was finally revealed that TVA had acquired a special permit from TDEC to burn the coal which resulted in the “ash-snow”.

What is the result of testing of the “ash-snow?” Believe it or not, “officials” state there was not a significant amount of the “ash-snow” available to test but when asked directly if it could harm us, the resulting statements included words such as “if you can see it, it won’t hurt you” and “We don’t know if it is harmful or not”. There is evidence, however, that the “ash-snow” damaged automobile paint and severed holes in the pansy flower gardens.

We are victims and we welcome anyone interested in viewing ground zero of the Coal Ash Disaster. Please keep in mind the words of almost every person who has personally viewed the site, “…this is much worse than one could even image based on photo and television images…” And, it is true – our landscape has been destroyed, our waterways, community, and environment forever challenged.

And, we must admit, it is tough to view the disaster site, something we must do every day of our lives. And, our Southern Hospitality welcomes anyone willing to help us continue to survive this huge environmental disaster.

We trust our health will not be sacrificed as the TVA puts it while watching out for their stakeholders.

Thank You

Randy Ellis and the remaining Swan Pond Residents

865-335-7981

randyellis@gmail.com