Stevenson, AL – A waste pond at a coal-burning power plant in northeast Alabama has stopped leaking after some spilled into a nearby creek. It's the second accident at a Tennessee Valley Authority retaining pond in less than a month.
TVA spokesman Gil Francis said he didn't know the size of the spill at Widows Creek Fossil Plant on Friday. TVA officials blamed a leaky pipe.
Most of the discharge flowed into another pond but some entered Widows Creek.
Francis said the leak isn't toxic. The pond contains gypsum, which is captured in the plant's air pollution control devices and is used in items like wallboard and concrete.
The spill, about 30 miles southwest of Chattanooga, Tenn., follows a Dec. 22 dike burst at a Tennessee plant that dumped 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge.
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