The spill of over 1 billion gallons of toxic coal sludge in Eastern Tennessee before Christmas was not only one of the biggest environmental disasters in history -- it also exposed the myth of "clean coal."

From this week's edition of the Institute's Facing South email newsletter. To get a copy delivered to your inbox, sign up in the box in the upper right hand corner or visit here.

Size of the coal ash sludge pond that broke
at TVA's Kingston power plant on Dec. 22:
40 acres

Estimated amount of coal ash sludge that
spilled from the pond: 1.1 billion
gallons

Rank of the incident among U.S. environmental
disasters in terms of waste spilled:
1

Land covered by the sludge: 300
acres

Depth of the sludge at its highest point:
6 feet

Number of properties damaged: 42

Factor by which arsenic levels found in
samples taken two miles downstream from the
spill exceeded safe drinking water limits:
30

Days it took before authorities issued a
notice advising residents not to touch the
waste or drink water from affected wells and
springs: 7

Number of breaches in the same ash pond over
the past six years: 2

Tons of coal combustion waste produced each
year by U.S. coal plants: 129
million

Rank of coal combustion waste among top waste
streams in the U.S.: 2

Number of federal regulations governing coal
combustion waste: 0

Year EPA last considered regulating coal
combustion waste: 2000

According to EPA, number of times the risk of
getting cancer from coal ash lagoons exceeds
safety standards: 10,000

Number of sites around the country that the
EPA says have proven damage from coal ash:
24

Number of U.S. power plants dumping more coal
waste into ponds then the one that failed at
Kingston: 22

All sources on file with the Institute for
Southern Studies; for more information,
e-mail sue@southernstudies.org.