"IN-THE-BORO" News, Video and Commentary: January 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

That is Not What Mr. Webster stated. More Dog and Pony Show Politics from Our County Commission.

Jackson County Commission donates a garbage truck to the City of Bridgeport. Was a crime committed in this deal?

In this mornings Scottsboro's Daily Sentinel, Mr. Webster, Director of Jackson County Waste Management, is credited with stating: "Webster said the 1992 truck is not needed and is of no value to the department." http://www.thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=95e7fd309f6ad4f0 That is not what Mr. Webster stated. He stated it was the "tipper" portion of the truck that had the most value and it would be removed. It was the County Commissioners in a group agreement that stated the vehicle had no value after the Commissions Attorney, Mr. John Porter, pointed out that they could not donate the vehicle to the City of Bridgeport unless it was declared as having no value, state law requires government property must be sold for fair market value. The county commissioners then agreed to state the vehicle has no value which is untruthful.

Unfortunately, I believe the Jackson County Commissioners conspired to commit a crime in this deal, now the local newspaper comes forward and compounds the problem and the lie. The truck runs, it has an estimated value of approximately $5000.00. Once again, the Jackson County Commission in their decisions willfully violate the laws of the state.

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The reasonable resolution to the problem would have been to LOAN the vehicle to the City of Bridgeport, requiring the City of Bridgeport to maintain the vehicle while in their possession.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Scottsboro City Council Meeting and Work Session

Tonight was a joint work session and regular council meeting. I will list all that was covered in the work session and indicate which items were approved in the regular council session.

1) City Website proposals reviewed and discussed. Aldrich Publication proposal; R&D Solutions proposal, this company currently supplies Scottsboro with their current web site design and operation. R&D Solutions proposal was stated at $1900.00; Aldrich Publications cost was not to exceed $4000.00. 2) Alabama Airport Safety Act presentation. Rudder Williams made the presentation for the support of this act. A Resolution in support of the Alabama Airport Safety Act was approved. 3) Roads on the Goose Pond Island new homes development have not been accepted into the city streets inventory. Discussion was presented and the roads will be accepted into the inventory by letter from the Mayor. 4) Surplus property discussion and approval in the regular council meeting. 3 cars belonging to the General Administration Section were declared surplus; the Street Department had a 2006 Case Tractor and bush hog declared surplus. All equipment will be sold on GovDeals.com. 5) Alcohol Beverage License Request and hearing for B&M Quick Stop, 18582 John T. Reid Pkwy., former MoJo's, license approved. 6) Discussion and approval of Court and Jail Fund expenditure for the furnishing of 2 offices and lobby at the new Justice Center Complex. $5250 for a furniture purchase was approved. 7) City Engineer job description discussion. The current City Planner will be retiring at the end of April. The city is considering hiring an engineer instead of a planner. It was reported the Mayor had advertised an engineers position in the local news media. The salary range was described between $55k-$65k. The City Council has not previously approved any job description or the advertising for the position. 8) The Mayor announced bids will be acquired for 8 Emergency Defibrillators to be placed in city facilities.

TVA and the Environment

Hazardous Waste Spill from the Widows Creek Fossil Fuels plant waste pond spilling into the Tennessee River near Stevenson Al.

Massive hazardous Waste Spill due to a waste holding pond dam collapse, Kingston Fossil Fuels Plant, Harriman, Tn.

Members of the Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team, BEST, a local Chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, BREDL, at Bellefonte Landing.

TVA Board, the Quarterly Board meeting will be in Bristol, Va. in February 2009.

January 25, 2009
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Open Letter to TVA Board
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The word is out that the TVA Board may consider taking away the funding for TVA's energy efficiency programs to pay for the Kingston Coal Ash Disaster.
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TVA's proclaimed mission for decades has been cheap power to energize Valley development.

TVA's rule of thumb that environmental protection is unaffordable has consequences:
• TVA encouraged Tennesseans to build all-electric buildings - both residential and commercial - without regard to energy efficiency. Tennessee is second only to Alabama in the amount of electricity used per person.
• TVA consistently resisted environmental regulations and delayed compliance with them through the courts. Without the benefit of regulatory oversight, TVA's decision not to fix the Kingston dredge cell is just an example of its cutting environmental protection corners.
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Tennesseans want TVA to be environmentally responsible and a dynamo of energy efficiency. Including the costs of environmental protection, energy efficiency, and renewable energy into the cost of producing power will increase our rates but our bills will be lower because we will consume less. Unleashing the power of energy efficiency will allow TVA to reduce its production of coal ash.
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TVA must keep its energy efficiency and demand response programs on track to help every ratepayer. TVA needs to heal the environmental damage it has inflicted on the Valley. For an agency in search of a mission, certainly these two - energy efficiency and environmental protection - should keep TVA occupied through the rest of this century.
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Louise Gorenflo
BEST Member
Solar Valley Coalition
Cookeville, TN

Absolutely Louise, thank you.

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More on the TVA from the "Tennessean" on the Toxic Waste Destruction at Kingston. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090119/GREEN02/901190358

Thursday, January 22, 2009

More Dog and Pony Show Politics from the County Commission

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Jackson County Courthouse<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

As I read our local paper, Scottsboro's Daily Sentinel, a glaring fact has stood out to me. Our local politicians seem to have their heads buried up their collective posteriors. Have they been eating loco weed, smoking dope or do they not have a clue?

Why you may ask this very negative commentary from me? Buy this mornings The Daily Sentinel, cost 50 cents, most can afford the 50 cents at this time, that soon may change. Read the article titled "Seeking To Improve," Government business leaders voice concerns in monthly meeting. Maybe it should read, "they Ain't got a clue." (Here is the Daily Sentinel's story: http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ca343d0a4376f5be

Not one of the business or governmental "so called" leaders were capable of identifying the #1 problem of not only Jackson County but our nation. A loss of our industrial manufacturing capabilities which equates to jobs. Apparently our elected leaders and so called business leaders fail to identify this problem. (Mr. Tom Lackey is not a business leader, he is a governmental employee of the Jackson County Health Care Authority.) There is a difference between government and business, however local socialistic influences tend to cloud that fact. The Chamber of Commerce executives are also not business leaders. A sizable portion of their income is provided by government.

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This statement really takes the cake. "Bias said the county is missing out on grants, such as the $2.5 million grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation that Cullman received to build a vehicle park for horseback riding. ATV's and mountain biking. Jackson County has been looking into building a similar facility."

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How many people will this idea feed? How many permanent jobs will this $2.5 million dollars of state pork waste money provide in building a government "horse trail, bike trail?

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It is no wonder that we are in such a dire financial fix in this nation, ideas that government built recreation areas will solve the rapidly growing unemployment in Jackson County is an example of reality denial. We need jobs, we need industry in our industrial parks, we do not need more waste and ridiculous spending ideas by alleged leaders who do not have a clue. Yet, the hundreds of thousands of dollars being poured into the Economic Development Authority accomplishes naught, except government jobs for the 3 or 4 employed at the EDA.

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Fewer jobs equates to less tax revenue, less government spending, a Socialists nightmare. The local Socialist Bourbon Democrats will have a meltdown with no money to spend on more government. Locally the unemployment rate is 7.4% and climbing ( That does not reflect the accurate rate of unemployment which is approximately 10+%, some of the unemployed are not reported.) due to more job layoffs and business closings. The county commissions priorities are stated as building a recreation facility. Maybe Mr. Clemmons would care to cover the costs and build this facility on his property instead of costing Jackson County citizens more taxes.

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It should be obvious, tax and spend socialist politicians are right here at home. JOBS, JOBS and more JOBS is what we need locally and in our nation. Manufacturing industry brings jobs. Ideas to spend money thru more government sponsored recreation programs for the select few does not bring more jobs.

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(What about the bridges of Jackson County, some are falling apart?) It becomes obvious many local politicians are intent on increasing tax revenue thru Federally sponsored organizations such as the TVA and DOD thru BRAC, and any other scheme to benefit tax and spend politicians. Bringing jobs to town which would benefit the current local working man and woman does not appear on their list. Lots of lip service about how BRAC and the TVA will bring jobs to town is full of deceit. These plans will not furnish current residents with good paying jobs but will bring more residents, a sales tax revenue increase and property tax increase via resident Federal Employees and Contractors.

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The job solution rests in private investments into alternative energy. Fill our industrial parks with alternative energy jobs, energy systems manufacturing jobs, renewable energy manufacturing jobs. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/04/alternative-energy.html There has been no effort involved in recruiting these industries. Industries of the future, the opportunity is now. Unfortunately our local industry recruiters seem to be resting their efforts on the possibility that a non-approved nuclear reactor will be built by the TVA who can't afford to build 1 reactor much less 4. The TVA at this period in time, in the Tennessee River Valley, is a large contributor to the growing socialist state and the Federal Debt.

Update, Jan. 26, 2009: Censorship continues on al.com. This post's link was removed from the site. Previously, last week, the poster was permanently banned but reinstated. Now he has been temporarily banned but the post removed. The local Socialist Bourbon Democrat Tyrants and their media pawns at work for you, censoring opposing political speech and destroying individual rights. Their motto: "Treat citizens like a mushroom. Keep them in the dark and feed them crap."

Monday, January 19, 2009

North Alabama Now Forum--A Highly Recommended Discussion Forum.

One of the reasons this blog was formed was due to the consistent, unreasonable censorship of responsible political speech on al.com. There is an established discussion forum which I gladly recommend to all, "North Alabama Now" http://northalabamanow.com/ There are several topic areas to include politics and local areas of interest. Stop by and check it out, I think you will find the moderation is much more reasonable and responsible than the current unreasonable censorship trends by the editorial staff of al.com.

The site is under going construction, the community forums are intact and working fine. You will find many former and current al.com posters within this discussion community.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Change in Scottsboro, or the Update: Freedom From the Repression of Truth by the Press

Wiki has a good bio of President Elect Obama. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

"Scottsboro Boys" under the armed escort of the Alabama National Guard (1931). Link to the Scottsboro Boy's History: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTrials/Scottsboro/SB_acct.html

Dr. Gary Speers, City Councilman, Educator and Ass't Principal Collins Elementary School (seated left); Mr. Thermon Bell, City Councilman, U.S. Army, Retired and Scottsboro Power Board Employee (center); Mr. Terry Thomas, Councilman, Special Agent Alabama Bureau of Investigation (right).

>>>>>>>Dr. Speers during his campaign at a debate.

A phenomenal cultural Event has occured in our nation. The election of a Black Man as President of the United States. President Elect Barrack Obama's election is a milestone in Race Relations for our nation.

Much may be said about Scottsboro's change concerning race relations in a positive fashion. Our city's advancement through the debilitating, destructive attitude of Jim Crow; from the Scottsboro Boys Case, the begining of the 2oth Century's Civil Rights movement, to our current historical moments of change. Not much has been said about our local community in this historical moment. President Elect Barrack Hussein Obama truly represents a change of our national culture, leaders such as Dr. Gary M. Speers, Educator and Scottsboro City Councilman represents a positive change for Scottsboro.

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*Update, 6PM: This postings link was removed from al.com's Scottsboro Forum. Very obviously the local editors of al.com Scottsboro Forum, Advance Internet, support censorship. Now it appears their censorship goes much deeper, into the realm of racial bigotry and discrimination. There were other posts from this blog that had been linked over several days but not removed until this one was posted. When this posting was linked, it was removed and the poster has received a posting ban. The prejudicial and bigoted actions of Advance Internet's al.com's editors is reflective of an attitude of tyrany and now intolerance of African American History and Truth. What can be said about a media's empire whose values display that of bigotry and tyrany?? What is so disappointing, The Huntsville Times, The Birmingham News and the Mobile Press Register are part of that media empire. Freedom of the press or freedom from the press and their repression of the truth and responsible discussion of events?

Friday, January 16, 2009

Hydrilla and the Roseberry Rescue Group

Hydrilla, the culprit of choking the lake. TVA refuses to meet its legal responsibilities of River and Lake Stewardship in controlling this aquatic nuisance species.

Hydrilla in the back end of Dry Creek in December of 2008. The Roseberry Rescue Group proposes to control the hydrilla and milfoil from approximately 1/4 mile south of the Randall's Chapel Bridge on Hwy. 35 to Roseberry Creek entrance on the Tennessee River.

Hydrilla choking a cove off to native aquatic species. In areas such as this, there are very few fish present.

Alabama Representative Jeff McLaughlin, Democrat, Marshall County, Chairman of the Tennessee River Caucus has met with the TVA in a closed door session in Guntersville recently over TVA's control of Aquatic Nuisance Plant Species . (Ms. Sadie Bias, Chairman of the Jackson County Commission is to his left. This picture was taken during the press conference held in Scottsboro City Hall on the aquatic weed issue. During the press conference it was stated by State Rep. John Robinson, Democrat Jackson County, that he had heard Agent Orange was going to be brought in to control the weeds.")

Last night the Roseberry Rescue group made a public presentation at the Council for Aging facility concerning the aquatic nuisance plants in Roseberry and Dry Creek. There was a full house, standing room only. Mayor Potter and Councilman Smith were present along with County commissioner Jack Allen. There might have been others but I did not see them. There were no representatives present from the Alabama Department of Conservation, ADEM or the TVA at last nights meeting.

The mission statement of the group was expressed as follows: "Encourage the TVA to meet their legal and moral obligations to stake holders. Supplement TVA work to eliminate exotic, nuisance species of aquatic plants." Roseberry Rescue Group is a 501 (c), not for profit organization. The organization of concerned citizens spokesman, retired Judge Wallace Haralson, stated the group was formed as a result of TVA's recent statements concerning aquatic plant control. The TVA has recently stated they will only control nuisance aquatic plants around public boat docks and keep the navigation channels open. They will not control the nuisance plants around private boat docks and areas of private or commercial concern. (Unfortunately, the TVA is once again displaying its negligence and deceit as they are not keeping secondary navigation channels in tributaries open. They are not meeting their stewardship responsibilities.)

It was reported recently that TVA had offered matching funds to assist in any aquatic nuisance species control project. This was stated to be unacceptable by State Representative Jeff McLaughlin of Marshall County in a recent closed door meeting with the TVA in Guntersville. Mr. McLaughlin is the Chairman of the Tennessee River Caucus of the Alabama House of Representatives.

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It has been estimated the control project will cost approximately $200,000. Judge Haralson has approached the Jackson County Commission and requested $60,000 and the City of Scottsboro's request was for $90,000. Judge Haralson also commented that the Jackson County Legislative Delegation would be requested to provide funds for this project.

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It was reported that area fisherman and guides had been consulted in this project.

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Mr. Terry Goldsby, previous TVA contractor for this area for aquatic plant control, and Mr. Craig Smith, Aquatic Products Manager, spoke concerning the application procedures and testing during application. It was reported that 5-20 parts per billion, ppb, was the desired application level to control weeds. Mr. Goldsby stated that the procedure would not harm other aquatic flora and fauna. He further stated this is a very controlled application and not all areas of the Roseberry and Dry Creek area would be treated. Apparently TVA does not use the product, Fluidone, which will be utilized for the Roseberry Creek control project. Fluridone is not effective in bodies of moving water nor will it be utilized on broad scope application for this project.

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Dr. Joe Cooney spoke concerning mosquito control and aquatic plants. Dr. Cooney is retired from the TVA as an Entomologist. He stated the control of the nuisance species would have a positive result in controlling the mosquito population in the lake area of treatment.

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Information was presented concerning lakeside home owner tax contributions. It was stated that lake shore home owners pay 10 times more property taxes than others. Also stated, lakeside property owners "deserve" the contributions by the city ($90K) and county ($60K)governments for aquatic plant control as they had paid their taxes year after year and pay more taxes than others. One citizen did not agree with their philosophy on the groups deserving the contributions from local government. The citizen spoke during the question and answer session, stating that, "we need jobs in Scottsboro before aquatic plant control." The concerned citizen stated $150,000 would go along way to bring jobs to Jackson County.

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I asked a question concerning permissions from the TVA, ADEM, and Alabama Department of Conservation. It was reported by Mr. Goldsby that no permits or permissions are required. This is contradictory to literature found concerning the Safe Drinking Water Act. In order to comply with this Federal Law a discharge permit is required as stated in the act. Citizens of Jackson County and the City of Scottsboro have not heard any comment from the Alabama Department of Conservation, ADEM concerning this proposed project. I hope our local governmental leadership checks with these agencies to determine if there is a problem. Judge Haralson commented that Ms. Sue Robertson of the TVA stated to him that no controls/permits are required or necessary.

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The TVA is slated to make a final decision as to Aquatic Nuisance Plant control by the end of this month.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Test Results from the TVA Widows Creek Hazardous Waste Spill

Fair Use Rights not for profit usage - photo by Hurricane Creek Keeper John Waltham - South Wings Aviation.

photo by G. Morgan

Update: Jan 16, 2009, Report in today's Scottsboro newspaper, The Daily Sentinel http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=a1965ed1095d412c , has a quote by Mr. Roy Light, Manager of the Scottsboro Water Sewer and Gas Board, "...All of the tests are still within water limits. We just aren't seeing any impact from the spill." Hmm, have you looked Mr. Light? Are you also going to state that the grey sludge pictured, the fly ash and cenospheres pictured are not an impact from the spill. "No impact, from the spill," does that make TVA negligence ok? Still within water limits? I take it you mean permissible EPA limits of toxic contaminants, or do you? Yes the spill was and is in the limits of the water.

The article goes on to say the TVA is returning the solid materials to holding ponds on the site. That makes me feel much better, how about those materials suspended in solution, such as the Arsenic and Thallum, is TVA going to perform a feat of miraculous proportion and return those to the pond? Also, the report in the article says, "elevated levels of metals have been found on site," "these elevated levels pose no threat to the public or employees." The statement, "elevated levels of metals pose no threat to the public or employees," is not the truth, it is typical of the Culture of Deceit on the part of the TVA's management and propaganda wing.

The following test results of the hazardous waste spill into the Tennessee River at Widows Creek indicates elevated levels of the following hazardous materials ( The TVA describes testing samples upstream were taken 1000yards upstream from the steam plant, downstream samples were taken downstream along the shoreline 1000yards from the spill): Arsenic-upstream .0005mg/l, downstream .0010mg/l; Mercury-upstream .oo18mg/l, downstream .0019mg/l; Thallium- upstream .0008mg/l, downstream .001mg/l; Magnesium-upstream 4.02mg/l, downstream 4.96mg/l; Manganese- upstream .019mg/l, downstream .119mg/l; Zinc-upstream .012mg/l, downstream .017mg/l; Titanium- upstream .026mg/l, downstream .035mg/l; Cobalt- upstream .0005mg/l, downstream .001mg/l; Chromium- upstream .002mg/l, downstream .0023mg/l.

Arsenic, Mercury, Thallium, Magnesium, Manganese, Zinc, Boron, Titanium, Cobalt and Chromium were all found in higher levels downstream than upstream as a result of the hazardous materials release. An elevated level of aluminum was also reported as a result of the spill in downstream sampling. Aluminum levels upstream 1.21mg/l, downstream 1.71mg/l.

Another question apparently not answered is the ph level of the river water. Has there been a noticeable change in the ph of the water downstream from the spill?

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Interpretation of test results http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/WQ/WQ-5.html A permissible level of a hazardous material may not be a safe level.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

HYDRILLA and The ANS Task Force, TVA Denies Responsibility to Control Aquatic Nuisance Species

Hydrilla has the potential of "choking off" bodies of water. Cover is necessary for a healthy fishery. Unfortunately hydrilla becomes the only plant present sub-surface, becoming so thick fish and other aquatic species can't exist.

Hydrilla, sounds like Godzilla, it is a monster aquatic plant, choking off waterways and lakes. This aquatic plant has the possibilities of utterly destroying a body of water. It is extremely invasive and almost impossible to kill. It is a serious problem in TVA's lakes.
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The ANS, don't you love it when government creates an alphabet agency. Alabama has just formed the Alabama Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, http://www.outdooralabama.com/education/generalinfo/ans/plan/AlANSPlan200812.pdf . A plan which involves the control and elimination of hydrilla and many other foreign nuisance species of flora and fauna on land and water. Will the newly formed agency do their job, do they have the funding?

TVA has recently stated they will no longer control hydrilla around private and commercial areas on Guntersville Lake. http://www.tva.gov/news/releases/octdec08/aquatic_plant.htm In their plan they state: " TVA continues to look for ways to minimize the impact of rising energy costs on ratepayers. One of the ways that has been identified is to discontinue certain aquatic plant management activities that support private interests." TVA's Enviromental Stewardship guru's specialty is nuclear physics, Ms. Anda Ray http://www.tva.gov/news/bios/ray.htm . She is a pro nuclear bureaucrat who seems to care not for the rivers environment. Meanwhile the "TVA crystal palace bureaucracy" and inept management grows. (TVA Debt: http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/07/close-look-at-tva-debt-by-experts.html and http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/11/tva-nuclear-energy-socialist-triad.html ) TVA's Executives #1 priority is their tunnel vision style nuclear business plan and receiving pay bonuses at rate payer expense, not lake stewardship. In the TVA Act lake stewardship is on an equal footing with electric power production. Greed seems to be overcoming better judgement on the part of the TVA Board and Executives. The TVA apparently sees their stewardship role as an unnecessary financial burden. (TVA Executives and Board Members external relationships with competition, politics, banks, debt, etc. http://arklite.blogspot.com/2008/05/know-your-tva-leadership-common.html )

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Links to Aquatic Nuisance Species Documents:

http://www.outdooralabama.com/education/generalinfo/ans/plan/AlANSPlan200812.pdf

http://anstaskforce.gov/Documents/nanpca90.pdf the law.

http://www.anstaskforce.gov/spoc/hydrilla.php the plant and the problem.

http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/plants/management/FluridoneStrategies.html fluridone

http://www.tva.gov/rrsc/readingroom/aquaplantrec.htm TVA Policy

http://www.tva.gov/rrsc/rrsc_members.htm TVA Resource Council

Cenospheres Are Your Friends or How the TVA Deceives the Public

Photo by Hurricane Creek Keeper John Waltham - South Wings Aviation.

Cenospheres, fly ash sludge may be seen along the north shore moving downstream from the Widows Creek hazardous waste spill. TVA water quality update on the spill: http://www.tva.gov/emergency/wc.htm (Update from the Daily Sentinel, Wed., Jan. 14, 2009 http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=807a6f0595f13147 )

A silvery gray sludge could be seen next to the shore at Bellefonte Landing Friday, 9 Jan. at 2PM.

Cenospheres and fly ash visible in this photomicrograph of the surface sludge at Bellefonte Landing. The crystalline and dark objects in this photo-micrograph are fly ash particles.
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In this mornings Scottsboro's newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, TVA's latest propaganda efforts are released. "Cenospheres are inert hollow balls of sand like material...are not harmful to the enviroment...materials are used in manufacturing a variety of products such as cements, flooring, epoxy fillers, bowling balls and cosmetics." http://thedailysentinel.com/story.lasso?ewcd=be942f0fc7bbbf6e Makes me want to go down to the river and "waller round" on these little miracles, or maybe not. It is what the TVA is not telling you about these little wonders of the coal combustion process that is the crux of the problem and more evidence of TVA's Culture of Deceit.

TVA makes it personal. TVA's PR Executive all but called me a liar in Nashville's Tennessean Newspaper, "TVA spokesman John Moulton said he didn't believe that whatever Morgan had pictured in photographs was ash or gypsum from either the Kingston or Widows Creek spills.
"Most of what was released into Widows Creek was water," Moulton said. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090110/GREEN02/901100348 Most was water but Moulton was very wrong concerning the cenospheres and gray sludge 17 miles downstream from Widows Creek at Bellefonte Landing on Friday, Jan. 9 at 2PM.

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TVA's comments on fly ash, "Are there toxic metals in fly ash? Yes, in small concentrations. The metals in fly ash generally will not dissolve in water or go through your skin by touching it.
What are the health effects of coal fly ash? For health effects to occur, coal ash must get inside one’s body (such as through drinking water). Contact with wet coal fly ash does not present a serious health risk. Direct skin contact may cause localized irritation."

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More about cenospheres. A cenosphere is a lightweight, inert, hollow sphere filled with inert air or gas, typically produced as a byproduct of coal combustion at thermal power plants. The color of cenospheres varies from gray to almost white and their density is about 0.4–0.8 g/cm³, which gives them a great buoyancy. The process of burning coal in thermal power plants produces fly ash containing ceramic particles made largely of alumina and silica. These particles form a part of the fly ash produced in the burning process. They are produced at the high temperature of 1,500 to 1,750 degrees Celsius through complicated chemical and physical transformation. Their chemical composition and structure varies considerably depending on the composition of coal that generated them.

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About fly ash. Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, and is one of two types of ash that jointly are known as coal ash; the other, bottom ash, is removed from the bottom of coal furnaces. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned, the components of fly ash vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline) and calcium oxide (CaO). Toxic constituents include arsenic, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, chromium VI, cobalt, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, selenium, strontium, thallium, and vanadium, along with dioxins and PAH compounds. Fly ash material solidifies while suspended in the exhaust gases and is collected by electrostatic precipitators or filter bags. Since the particles solidify while suspended in the exhaust gases, fly ash particles are generally spherical in shape and range in size from 0.5 µm to 100 µm. They consist mostly of silicon dioxide (SiO2), which is present in two forms: amorphous, which is rounded and smooth, and crystalline, which is sharp, pointed and hazardous.

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Where you have cenospheres from the coal combustion process you have fly ash and where you have fly ash you have cenospheres. The TVA is not telling the full story of the cenospheres. They want you to think all is well, after all, processed and cleaned cenospheres are used in cosmetics so why the big fuss. Take a look at the toxic substances associated with the cenospheres/fly ash: arsenic (43.4 ppm); barium (806 ppm); beryllium (5 ppm); boron (311 ppm); cadmium (3.4 ppm); chromium (136 ppm); chromium VI (90 ppm); cobalt (35.9 ppm); copper (112 ppm); fluorine (29 ppm); lead (56 ppm); manganese (250 ppm); nickel (77.6 ppm); selenium (7.7 ppm); strontium (775 ppm); thallium (9 ppm); vanadium (252 ppm); and zinc (178 ppm). This is not something I want in the mighty Tennessee River much less my drinking water.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Scottsboro City Council Meeting

This picture is of this past Labor Day's First Monday event. First Monday was a topic of discussion at tonights City council Meeting. Marketing of the event was presented as a solution to promote 1st Monday and opportunities available in Scottsboro.

Originally 1st Monday was called Horse Swappers Day and was held during the First Monday of each month as this was the County Circuit Court day.
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Old Business: Re-announcement for 2 openings on the Abatement Board. Interested citizens should inquire or submit requests by Jan. 22, 2009 to Ms. Cathy O'Shields, City Clerk, at City Hall.

New Business: 1) Vacancy on Planning Commission, interested citizens should submit requests no later than Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009. 2) Bid opening for Street Department Track Loader, Low bid was Loader Service Equipment Corporation for $96,669.93. 3) Police Department Organizational Chart discussion and approval. 2 officers to enforce outstanding misdemeanor warrants which totals an excess of $100,000.00. These officers will locate and arrest those citizens who have outstanding arrest warrants from the City of Scottsboro and reside in the State of Alabama. 4) First Monday discussion, Garry Morgan made presentation to City Council as to the benefits of First Monday. a) Reasons presented for continuing the permitting of First Monday. b) The $5 charge should be used to promote the event. 1st Monday Trade Day has not been promoted in the main stream media as it should. Car Shows and entertainment serves to promote 1st Monday and has resulted in increased vendor and visitor participation. Participation has increased over the past 4 years. c) Marketing and advertising plan submitted to the city council for consideration.