Groundwater near three Tennessee Valley Authority coal-fired plants is laced with arsenic, selenium, boron, beryllium, cadmium and lead due to coal ash storage ponds, according to a report released by environmental groups. TVA has fired back, telling The Tennessean that drinking water standards were used in the report, rendering the findings misleadingly grim.

Pith thinks it's worth noting that in just about every case, groundwater that was upgradient (or upstream) from the power plants was found to contain contaminants that were below detectable levels. If drinking water quality is the standard used in the report, as TVA claims, then the groundwater is generally safe before it reaches the coal ash ponds. Yet somehow the TVA spin doctors expect us to believe that the metric is unfair when, downgradient (or downstream) from the same power plants, the concentrations of arsenic were, in one case, 52 times more than acceptable limits.

Clearly, it's simply too much to expect that our groundwater be remotely drinkable. What's terrifying about this report is that it's unknown how many groundwater wells exist around these power plants, and whether or not they're filtering the water. Apparently, neither TVA nor the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation would release this information. Either they didn't have it, they claimed, or they couldn't release it due to the Tennessee Terrorism Prevention Act — you know, since obviously Osama bin Laden has rural Tennessee's water supply in his crosshairs. Allahu Akbar, New Johnsonville!

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