Why the Nation's Biggest Environmental Distaster May Be About to Get Worse

By Kelly Hearn, The Nation. Posted May 20, 2009.

Among scientific experts, Payne is far from alone. "The folks in charge feel they don't have the luxury to consider other ways to clean the river out," said Joseph Skorupa, a biologist and selenium expert with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. "But they should understand that letting loose selenium is a momentous decision."

Back Door Bills

Shockingly, with toxic questions hanging over the dredging, the coal industry and the Tennessee legislature have been pushing to give selenium a free pass in the state's waterways. Two bills proposed in February -- one in the Tennessee House and the other in the Senate -- sought to deregulate selenate by exempting it from emission limits. Experts were dismayed. "There is absolutely no scientific reason for this," said Skorupa. "Who benefits from this?"

Still, Joe McCord, a Tennessee state representative and sponsor of the House bill, saw fit to include the selenate exemption in the proposed law. Reached on his cellphone April 9, McCord said he did not know about the exemption and that he would have to speak with experts before commenting. He added that the legislation had been suggested by the state's coal mining industry and that a subsequent amendment had actually struck the selenate provision from the bill. "People might think that the TVA is the ghost in the weeds on this one," he said. "But I haven't talked to a single person at TVA about this." He added: "We're just trying to bring Tennessee's standards in line with the scientifically proven standards of the EPA," he said. (The sponsor of the companion Senate bill, Senator Ken Yager, did not respond to interview requests.

EPA Business

But EPA standards are at the heart of the problem, according to Lemly. The EPA originally published recommended water-contamination standards for selenium in September 1987, but the agency never codified them. In December 2004, the EPA proposed revising the agency's recommended criteria to make them less strict. Those proposed revisions were "based on a review of new data on the toxicity of selenium to aquatic life," said Tulis of the EPA.

But Lemly and at least three current or former government scientists have publicly said that the EPA's "review of new data" was anything but solid. In fact, Lemly has accused EPA regulators of grossly misusing one of his studies to justify the change in the proposed selenium standards, which is favorable to selenium-polluting industries but does nothing to protect fish, wildlife and, ultimately, human health. "The EPA's proposed standards are grossly underprotective," he said.

"The EPA has fallen down on selenium," said Brian Paddock, a water-quality consultant who represents the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club. "But the Kingston spill means it is finally going to get its day. The EPA will be under pressure to do something."

Hard EPA regulations seem anything but imminent. Tulis said the agency expects to make available a revised draft of selenium standards this summer. Experts say they are hopeful that the revised standards will be more protective than current ones.

See more stories tagged with: water, water pollution, tva, coal spill, selenium

Kelly Hearn is a correspondent to National Geographic News and The Christian Science Monitor. His work has been funded by The Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting and The North American Congress on Latin America. A former UPI reporter, he has published in The Nation, Grist, High Country News, The Washington Times and World Politics Watch. He is a frequent contributor to Alternet.

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