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Memphis landfill 'looks like the best choice' for coal ash despite council objection, TVA CEO says
Samuel Hardiman Memphis Commercial Appeal
November 10, 2021, Updated November 12, 2021
The head of the Tennessee Valley Authority indicated Wednesday that the 3 million tons of coal ash from the Allen Fossil Plant will almost assuredly be buried in Southeast Memphis.
"Where I sit, the South Shelby landfill in Capleville still looks like the best choice. Now we have some additional work to do here yet," TVA CEO Jeff Lyash said during an interview Wednesday.
Lyash's comments come after TVA has undergone what it has called a 'pause' to gather further community feedback about the plan to move tons of coal ash from ponds near the retired Allen plant off of McKellar Lake. The ash, at present, represents a risk to the area's drinking water supply. The longer it sits in the two ponds, the more risk there is to contaminants in the coal ash impacting the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
The Center for Applied Earth Sciences and Engineering at the University of Memphis' research has uncovered potential areas near Allen, which is in Southwest Memphis, where runoff from the ash ponds could get into the aquifer...