"KINGSTON, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority, long respected for providing good jobs and cheap electricity, is facing a growing backlash over its handling of a massive coal ash spill a decade ago, with potentially serious consequences for an industry often opposed to environmental regulation.
A jury in Knoxville decided within hours that the TVA’s contractor, Jacobs Engineering, breached its safety duties, exposing hundreds of cleanup workers to airborne “fly ash” with known carcinogens. The jurors said Jacobs’ actions were capable of making the workers sick. The key question of whether they caused each worker’s injuries was left for a different jury in a second phase of the civil trial.
More than 200 workers blame the contractor for exposing them to ash they say caused a slew of illnesses, some fatal, including cancers of the lung, brain, blood and skin."
Travis Loller reports for the Associated Press August 28, 2019.
