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SW: →Kingston Fossil Plant coal ash spill: - add section
The 40-acre pond was used to contain ash created by the coal-burning plant.<ref name="knox"/> The water and ash that were released in the accident are filled with toxic substances. Each year coal preparation creates waste containing an estimated 13 tons of mercury, 3236 tons of arsenic, 189 tons of beryllium, 251 tons of cadmium, and 2754 tons of nickel, and 1098 tons of selenium.<ref>[[Coal waste]]</ref>
TVA has estimated the cleanup will cost $1.2 billion. The utility is self-funding, so ratepayers in the seven-state region are paying the tab with higher electric bills.<ref>Bill Poovey, [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PP2BQG0.htm "Trial starts on damage lawsuits in TVA ash spill"] BusinessWeek, Sep. 15, 2011.</ref>
===Legal actions===
In December 2009, hundreds of people filed lawsuits against TVA before the one-year deadline, adding to several hundred others who had already filed suit over the Kingston spill. More than 20 separate cases were filed on Tuesday, December 22. TVA has said it should be immune from the lawsuits, because it was providing a government service.<ref>[http://www.cleanskies.com/articles/hundreds-beat-deadline-tva-spill-lawsuits "Hundreds Beat Deadline for TVA Spill Lawsuits,"] Clean Skies, December 23, 2009.</ref>
On September 14, 2011, six claims covering hundreds of people regarding TVA liability went to bench trial before U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan, and is expected to last about two weeks. As a federal utility, TVA contends it is protected from some liability claims. It also maintains that under Tennessee law it has no legal duty to keep its reservoirs and shorelines safe for the plaintiffs' recreational use and enjoyment. TVA has said plaintiffs have not shown that [[coal ash]] particles were transmitted to their properties in "concentrations sufficient to cause property damage and/or personal injury or to constitute a taking."<ref name=bp>Bill Poovey, [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9PP2BQG0.htm "Trial starts on damage lawsuits in TVA ash spill"] BusinessWeek, Sep. 15, 2011.</ref>
More than 40 other lawsuits are set for a Nov. 1, 2011 trial that will individually decide any damages.<ref name=bp/>
===Alabama Proposes Coal Ash Regulation===
