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TVA hires DOE environmental cleanup expert

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By DUNCAN MANSFIELD, The Associated Press 7:16 PM Monday, September 28, 2009

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Valley Authority has hired a veteran environmental cleanup expert from the U.S. Department of Energy to manage TVA's huge coal ash spill recovery project in Tennessee, the federal utility said Monday.

Steve McCracken will be responsible for all aspects of TVA's role in the $1 billion cleanup of 5.4 million cubic yards of ash that breached an earthen dike, flowed into a river and flooded lakeside homes near the Kingston Fossil Plant.

"I think it is doable, and I think the work is really moving well," McCracken said in a telephone interview Monday after touring the Kingston site. "What we need now is to really work hard with everyone to keep it going in a way that people are satisfied with."

McCracken, a native of nearby Oak Ridge and a University of Tennessee graduate, has worked in environmental restoration at the Department of Energy for nearly three decades. He headed major cleanups at Weldon Spring near St. Louis, Mo.; the Fernald site near Miamisburg, Ohio; and for the past six years he has been cleanup chief at DOE's nuclear weapons and research complex in Oak Ridge.

The 60-year-old McCracken was planning to retire, but changed his mind with the TVA offer at Kingston.

"It is my intent to be here until the job is done," McCracken said, noting that means "done to the satisfaction of the community."

How long will that be? "I would think three years, tops," he said confidently.

McCracken will relieve TVA's top environmental executive, Anda Ray, from daily on-site remediation responsiblities, though she will remain involved in regulatory aspects of the project and TVA's chief cleanup spokesperson.

Ray said McCracken's experience and reputation as a "nationally recognized leader on cleanup and remediation projects" will be a "valuable asset" to the undertaking.

TVA expects to get the ash out of the Emory River by spring 2010 and to have the remaining 2.4 million cubic yards spilled on site collected two years or so later.

McCracken has spent a career removing hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials from large industrial sites, excavating the sludge, treating the water and restoring the landscape.

"Here, the type of material is different, but the concerns are the same," he said. "What is the impact to both the environment and to people, and make sure you are covering all those bases."

McCracken said he learned from his first major project for DOE at Weldon Spring that success requires building trust and cooperation with the local community.

"I think it will be the same here," he said.

The spill has drawn congressional attention to the lack of regulation and potential hazard of coal ash retention ponds around the country. As a result of the Kingston disaster, TVA, the nation's largest public utility serving nearly 9 million consumers in Tennessee and six surrounding states, has committed to spending about $2 billion over the next eight years to convert all 11 of its coal-fired power plants from wet ash to dry-ash storage systems.

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September 28, 2009 11:14 PM EDT

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