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Facts
TVA’s Coal Ash Spill at Kingston Fossil Fuel Plant
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston coal ash spill was one of the largest environmental disasters in United States history.
Here’s what happened…
On December 22, 2008, a coal ash spill occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston fossil fuel plant in Harriman, Roane County, Tennessee.
After the spill, TVA worked in close coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and other government agencies to provide for the safety of area residents, to contain released ash and minimize its downriver migration and to monitor and assess air and water quality.
In 2009, TVA hired Jacobs to provide program management services to assist TVA with its cleanup. Separately, TVA hired various other contractors to perform the post-spill cleanup, removal and recovery of fly ash at the Kingston Site. Jacobs had no involvement with the plant prior to the spill.
Jacobs has a strong track record of safely managing some of the world’s most complex engineering and environmental challenges, and the scope of the TVA coal ash spill cleanup was enormous. TVA and the EPA's On-Scene Coordinator oversaw the worker safety programs, approving all actions in consultation with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. TVA maintained rigorous safety standards throughout the cleanup, even in the face of America’s worst coal ash-related disaster, and Jacobs worked closely with TVA in following and supporting those standards.
Jacobs is committed to worker safety and environmental sustainability and is well known as an industry leader in workplace management. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recognizes Jacobs for excellence in worker safety and health as a Voluntary Protection Program corporate participant. Jacobs is one of only five corporations operating in the U.S. to hold this recognition.
During the six years of the Kingston cleanup, hundreds of thousands of air, water, soil, ash, groundwater, and animal and plant life samples were taken, analyzed and shared with stakeholders, including state and federal environmental agencies.
View a TVA video of aerial footage from Kingston after the cleanup. For more information, please see the EPA's TVA Kingston site case study.
In 2013, several contractors' workers at the Kingston site filed workers compensation claims against their employer. These workers alleged that conditions at the site caused them to experience various health issues that were a result of excessive exposure to coal ash.
Many of these claims were found to be unsubstantiated and were rejected. Many of the same workers then filed lawsuits against Jacobs (more on that below.) Jacobs stands by its safety record, and that it did not cause any injuries to the workers. For additional information, please see the findings from the Tennessee Department of Health's "Public Health Assessment: Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Kingston Fossil Plant."
Setting the Record Straight
There have been misleading and inaccurate news reports concerning the Kingston spill lawsuits in the Knoxville News Sentinel. The reporter who was covering the spill, who has since left the Sentinel, has even admitted to being “involved in helping the lawyers representing the plaintiffs.” The Sentinel has since corrected its reporting about the testimony at trial, the verdicts of the jury, and the safety measures that were in place at the Kingston Site for the protection of the workers.
In Tennessee and around the world, Jacobs is working to build strong, safer, more resilient communities, and every day we engineer critical solutions for a more connected, more sustainable world.
The Lawsuits Against Jacobs
Litigation against Jacobs initiated by cleanup‐worker plaintiffs have pended in federal court for over ten years. These plaintiffs were not Jacobs employees.
In 2023, to avoid further litigation, the parties chose to enter into an agreement to resolve the cases. The terms of this settlement are confidential.