Gallatin Fossil Plant has 43 groundwater monitoring wells, 30 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between January 20, 2010 and November 15, 2019. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of lithium, boron, cobalt, manganese, sulfate, molybdenum, arsenic, beryllium, nickel, cadmium, fluoride, mercury, selenium, lead, radium and thallium.
Site descriptionGallatin Fossil Plant is located on the north bank of the Cumberland River, about 30 miles northeast of Nashville, Tennessee in Sumner County. Open since 1953, the plant currently has four coal-fired generating units with a total capacity of 976-MW. The Ash Pond Complex and North Rail Loop Landfill are regulated under the CCR rule. The original ash pond was located immediately west of the power plant; TVA abandoned this pond in 1970 when it built the existing ash pond complex to the north of the plant. The current ash pond complex covers over 400 acres.This site is among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of potential damage cases.
You can find the industry reported data here. For more information about Gallatin Fossil Plant, see EIP's reports: TVA's Toxic Legacy and EIP's 2019 National Coal Ash Report Coal's Poisonous Legacy.
For more information about coal ash in Tennessee, see Earthjustice's fact sheet, Tennessee and Coal Ash Disposal in Ponds and Landfill.