Charlie Cookston, standing on a porch near the Widows Creek power plant on Saturday, took a drag off his cigarette and ticked off the reasons he distrusts the Tennessee Valley Authority. Dead mussels in the mighty Tennessee River is one reason. Dwindling numbers of fish. Big, black piles of coal ash that seem to get larger every day.
As nearby residents await lab tests on the safety of drinking water, tempers are unsettled. Who can blame them? Electric rates at the nation's largest utility have soared. A dike burst in Tennessee and destroyed several homes and on Friday, as much as 10,000 gallons of waste spilled into Widows Creek in northeastern Alabama. It is a disaster. The nation's largest utility, once was viewed as a savior to the region, bringing lights, thousands of jobs and progress since its creation as a New Deal program in 1933, has had a rocky few months.
Charlie, who is 59, runs bulldozers and other heavy equipment for a living and says they haven't trusted the TVA around there since back in the 50's. He also said their rates for power are as cheap as anybody as he looked toward the plant stacks, but he thinks there is a lot more going on down there than they will ever know. It sounds like it needs to be investigated thoroughly.
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