180 new cases of dead or dying coal ash spill workers, lawsuit says

Jamie Satterfield | Knoxville

Show Caption Hide Caption Lawsuit reveals coal ash workers treated as 'expendables' More than 50 coal ash spill cleanup workers and workers' survivors are suiing Jacobs Engineering for unsafe working conditions that they allege lead to sickness and death at the cleanup site.

In the wake of a USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee series of stories about the treatment of laborers at the cleanup of the nation’s largest coal ash spill, 180 new cases of dying and dead workers have emerged, court records show.

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee in July published stories detailing its investigation into the treatment of blue-collar men and women tasked with cleaning up the 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash that smothered 300 acres of land and more than two-dozen houses in Roane County in December 2008.

The spill at the TVA Kingston Fossil Fuel Power Plant in the Swan Pond community was the nation’s worst and was deemed by TVA’s Office of the Inspector General as TVA’s fault, in part for treating coal ash — which contains dozens of toxic chemicals and metals — like it was garbage in a kitchen.

Probe shows lies, manipulations

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee discovered in its probe evidence, including secret video filmed by workers at the cleanup site, that a TVA contractor overseeing the work lied to laborers about the toxicity of coal ash, refused to provide them protective gear, threatened to fire them if they brought their own, manipulated toxicity test results and abandoned testing for the most dangerous chemicals entirely well before the seven-year cleanup effort ended.

Attorneys John Dupree, Keith Stewart and Jim Scott already had filed lawsuits in U.S. District Court against that contractor — Jacobs Engineering Inc. — on behalf of 53 dead or dying workers.

More: Kingston coal ash spill cleanup probe spurs more complaints of disease, death

But in the months since the series's publication, more workers and survivors of workers have come forward with tales of similar conditions — lung diseases, cancers, skin conditions and other ailments linked in medical research to the toxic stew of chemicals and metals in coal ash.

The attorneys have now filed a new lawsuit in Roane County Circuit Court on behalf of an additional 180 dead or dying laborers. The death toll among the workers now tops 30. Sickened workers now number at least 200.

Government contractor blamed

TVA put Jacobs, a Callifornia government contractor with a history of lawsuits over worker safety, in charge of the cleanup, including taking measures to protect workers and the community. TVA’s ratepayers paid Jacobs and various subcontractors $1.2 billion for the cleanup.

Records obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee showed Jacobs Engineering has invoked a provision in its contract with TVA that requires ratepayers to pick up the tab for its legal bills — while Jacobs’ legal teams are, at the same time, blaming TVA for the worker deaths and illnesses as part of their defense in the lawsuits.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation did testing of the coal ash at the Kingston cleanup site in early January 2009 before Jacobs took over. That testing revealed levels of arsenic 36 times higher than the level in surrounding unaffected dirt, a TDEC report showed.

During the cleanup, workers spent more than 70 hours a week for months and even years surrounded by “dust devils” of fly ash with no protective gear. The dust devils have been repeatedly captured on film.

Photographs obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee showed workers’ bodies and clothing were often covered in coal ash, and they were forced to eat atop piles of coal ash with only bottled water to cleanse their hands.

The lawsuits and records obtained by USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee show TVA — faced with lawsuits from residents over the spill — persuaded the Environmental Protection Agency to remove warnings from signage that coal ash was “hazardous.”

More: Undercover video shows air quality monitors manipulated

More: 'Just working class people' didn't know dangers they faced at ash spill

After the series published, TVA added signage to silos at the plant that warned coal ash was toxic and prolonged exposure could lead to cancers and illnesses. The signs specifically directed workers inside the solos to wear protective gear.

The lawsuits and videos and depositions reviewed by the news organization showed Jacobs Engineering site manager Tom Bock told workers they could daily eat coal ash without harm — a claim not even the American Coal Ash Association asserts.

More: Records: Safety manager at Kingston disaster destroyed proof of fly ash danger to workers

TVA’s Gary McDonald has admitted refusing to provide workers with respirators ordered by their doctors and threatening to fire at least one who persisted.

Secret videos showed coal ash was dumped from testing monitors before the devices were packaged for testing, skewing the weight-based results. Environmental scientists tasked with independent testing at various locations on the cleanup site said in interviews Bock lied to them about the dangers and confirmed other steps were taken by Jacobs to manipulate test results. Two of those scientists have now joined the newest lawsuit filed in Roane County.

Fire, delay

The federal lawsuit is set for trial later this year. It was delayed after a fire — the cause of which was not determined — at the law offices of Stewart and Dupree and an ongoing court fight with Jacobs’ attorneys over the use of experts to try to link the workers’ deaths and illnesses to their coal ash exposure.

More: TVA contractor wants ratepayers to pick up legal tab in workers' coal ash lawsuit

More: EPA bowed to TVA, contractor on worker safety standards at nation's largest coal ash disaster, records say

It’s not clear whether the new state court lawsuit will affect the federal case. Jacobs’ attorneys could seek to have it transferred to federal court, which would then delay that trial.

What is coal ash? Coal ash is produced primarily from the burning of coal in coal-fired power plants.

In the meantime, according to the state court lawsuit, sickened workers are being forced to pay for their own medical care.

“The effects of continued exposure to such hazardous substances proximately caused (the workers) to contract illnesses from which they will never recover,” the lawsuit stated. “The healthcare costs incurred by these (workers) are millions of dollars.”

More: Kingston coal ash spill cleanup probe spurs more complaints of disease, death

More: DA: Treatment of Kingston coal ash workers needs state, federal probe

Jacobs Engineering’s lead attorney, Jim Sanders of Neal & Harwell in Nashville, says in federal court pleadings the workers cannot prove a direct link between their illnesses and coal ash exposure.

Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan has ruled the workers’ attorneys must first jump that hurdle — proving causation — before the case for damages can be mounted.