Duane W. Gang

dgang@tennessean.com

The Tennessee Valley Authority will pay $27.8 million to settle 63 lawsuits from more than 850 people stemming from the massive 2008 coal-ash spill at its Kingston power plant.

TVA announced the agreement on Friday, after nearly two years of negotiations ordered by U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan in Knoxville. TVA said the agreement is a significant milestone for the utility.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 22, 2008, a dike failed at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tenn., sending 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash into the Emory and Clinch rivers and over 300 acres of land.

The breach released a gooey, slow-moving wave of coal ash and polluted water into the river. It snapped trees and knocked homes off their foundations. It destroyed three houses and damaged dozens of others. It was the largest coal-ash spill in U.S. history.

In the wake of the accident, TVA embarked on a $1.2 billion cleanup effort. That work, TVA said Friday, is expected to be complete by 2015. The agency also bought 180 properties and 960 acres from private landowners in the communities surrounding the power plant.

Stephen Smith, executive director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said Friday he was pleased to hear the case has been resolved.

"That is long, long overdue," Smith said. "This should close out a very important chapter. A lot of people, their lives were flipped upside down."

Reach Duane W. Gang at 615-726-5982 or on Twitter @duanegang.