![]() More than 40 million tons of coal ash have been dumped into Rattlesnake Lake, a 420-acre unlined impoundment formed by damming Rattlesnake Creek in 1953. Gorgas is the oldest coal-burning power plant in the state, originally constructed in 1914. Gorgas Steam Plant is situated on both sides of Baker Creek along the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior, near the community of Goodsprings in Walker County, AL. Plant Miller | CCR Closure Permit 37-51 | SELC, ARA, BWRk Comments | 10/27/20Īlabama Power’s Plant Miller on the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River. Toxic Coal Ash : CCR Compliance Data | Inundation map | Emergency Action Plan Alabama Power plans to de-water the facility from 2020 through July 2025, with a final closure date estimated May 2027. On average during 2018, the maximum daily discharge of coal ash wastewater from Miller’s ash pit into the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior River was approximately 11.51 million gallons. The toxic ash pond was built on top of two streams that feed into the Locust Fork. Miller’s 19.5 million tons of coal ash are stored in a 321-acre unlined storage pond along the river behind a 170 foot tall earthen dam. Miller is the largest coal-burning power plant in Alabama and has the dubious distinction of being the #1 CO2 emitter in the United States. Miller Steam Plant is located right next to where Village Creek flows into the Locust Fork of the Black Warrior, near the town of West Jefferson in Jefferson County, AL. It contains high concentrations of heavy metals, including mercury, arsenic, selenium, chromium, and radium, which are hazardous to human health, wildlife, and waterways. Coal ash is the toxic waste that remains after coal is burned. All three at one point burned coal to produce electricity, so they have onsite waste storage pits for the resulting coal ash. This building can be built when the region has iron resources.Three major steam power plants are located in the Black Warrior River watershed: Miller Steam Plant, Gorgas Steam Plant, and Greene County Steam Plant. For sensitive people like Blake they truly were a vision of a new Hell on Earth, destroying lives in the search for profit. No matter where the mills and factories were built, they changed the landscape, poisoned rivers and skies, and brought new slums in their shadows. The “dark Satanic mills” that William Blake (1757-1827) wrote about and drew in his epic work “Jerusalem” (worked on 1804-20) really were shocking to everyone who encountered them. ![]() Because the heavy work is now done by machine, it is also possible for women and children to make a contribution to the workforce. Either way, he does more work for his wages, and the mill owner feels the benefit. Once an operator no longer provides mechanical power for a machine, he can either supervise many machines, or his job can be made less skilled. Anything that once relied on muscle power can be connected to a steam engine by a cunning contrivance of pulleys and drive shafts. Steam engines can drive all manner of machines, from trip hammers to crushing mills, spinning machines to looms, lathes, drills and a hundred other devices. ![]() Powered machinery allows enormous factories of all kinds to be built, and for profitable work to go by day and night. ![]()
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