Valley So Low : One Lawyer's Fight for Justice in the Wake of America's Great Coal Catastrophe

A riveting courtroom drama about the victims of one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history—and the country lawyer determined to challenge the notion that, in America, justice can be bought For more than fifty years, a power plant in the small town of Kingston, Tennessee, burned fourteen thousand tons of coal a day, gradually creating a mountain of ashen waste sixty feet high and covering eighty-four acres, contained only by an earthen embankment. In 2008, just before Christmas, that embankment broke, unleashing a lethal wave of coal sludge that covered three hundred acres, damaged nearly thirty homes, and precipitating a cleanup effort that would cost more than a billion dollars—and the lives of more than fifty cleanup workers who inhaled the toxins it released. Jim Scott, a local personal-injury lawyer, agreed to represent the workers after they began to fall ill. That meant doing legal battle against the... A riveting courtroom drama as victims of a manmade environmental disasterthe survivorspursue justice in a Tennessee court led by a country lawyer challenging the notion that, in America, justice can be bought. For more than 50 years, a power plant in the little town of Kingston that was operated by Tennessee Valley Authority burned some fourteen thousand tons of coal a day, creating a mountain of ashen waste 60 feet high and covering 84 acres, contained only by an earthen embankment. On December 22, 2008, that embankment broke, unleashing a lethal wave of sludge that covered hundreds of acres, damaged nearly 30 homes, and precipitated a cleanup effort that would cost more than $1 billionand the lives of more than 50 workers.Jim Scott, a local attorney, after meeting with workers who had developed respiratory problems, decided to take on TVA, a colossal, federally-owned utility and a cornerstone of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal. Scott and the team he hastily assembled gathered massive evidence of threats against workers; retaliatory firings; disregarded safety precautions; and test results, either hidden or altered, that would have revealed harmful levels of arsenic, lead, and radioactive materials at the cleanup site. At every stage, Scottoutmanned and nearly brokehad to overcome legal hurdles constructed by TVA and the firm it hired to execute the cleanup, along with the EPA, which refused to aid the sickened workers. Scott grew especially close to one of the victims, whose swift decline only intensified his hunger for justice. As more information leaked out and as the workers day in court arrived, they seemed to have everything on their side, including the truth.