Time Magazine has a story about a request by the Army Corps of Engineers that the EPA and FEMA not disclose the location of coal ash ponds. It seems that the EPA and FEMA were assessing the hazard posed by these ponds after a spill in Kingston, Tennessee that covered 300 acres in sludge and destroyed or damaged 40 homes on December 22, 2008. Since then, it has been concluded that 44 of these ponds across the country, used to store waste from coal fire power plants, pose a high hazard to the surrounding public. After making this assessment public, the Corps of Engineers requested that the EPA and FEMA not disclose the location of these ponds, much as the National Dam Inventory had been removed from public access after 9/11. The reason for both of these moves is, of course, to make it more difficult for terrorists to identify good targets.
The problem with this approach of making hazards confidential is that it does nothing to remedy the original threat. The high hazard coal ash ponds and dams are still out there and people are still vulnerable with or without the aid of terrorism. Will anyone be moved to do anything about these hazards if the public does not know the danger they are already in? Admittedly, the high hazard status does not necessarily mean that these structures are an imminent threat to fail, but necessary supervision and maintenance is much easier to put off if the public is not aware of its importance. Doesn’t this more mundane and everyday threat trump the extraordinary one of terrorism? Moreover, would public knowledge lead to construction of fewer of these high hazard structures in the first place, thus making the terrorism concern moot in the first place? It’s something to consider.
Tags: Army Corps of Engineers, civil engineering, coal, dam, EPA, failure, FEMA, pond, Time Magazine
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