Tennessee Coal Sludge Disaster Essay - 1906 Words

Tennessee Coal Sludge Disaster What Happened? The largest environmental disaster in U.S. history occurred on December 22nd, 2008 when a 84-acre pit containing toxic coal combustion residue at the Tennessee Valley Authority Fossil Plant in Kingston, Tennessee gave way. According to a report by AECOM, the firm hired to perform the root cause report, a â€Å"combination of the high water content of the wet ash, the increasing height of ash, the construction of the sloping dikes over the wet ash, and the existence of an unusual bottom layer of ash and silt were among the long-evolving conditions that caused the ash spill at Kingston Fossil Plant† (TVA, 2010). The resulting slide sent a wave of over a billion gallons of sludge out on the†¦show more content†¦On top of emitting 1.9 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, coal-fired power plants in the United States also create 120 million tons of toxic waste. That means each of the nations 500 coal-fired power plants produces an average 240,000 tons of toxic waste each year. A power plant that operates for 40 years will leave behind 9.6 million tons of toxic waste† (2009). Coal Combustion Residue despite containing toxic metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, selenium, and cadmium that are proven to cause cancer, kidney problems, birth defects, and wreck havoc on the nervous system. Coal Combustion Residue can is disposed by either being land filled, used to reclaim mine shafts, or are stored in pits on-site of coal burning plants. Even without a spill these contaminants can leach into the ground and pose a health risk if they are not disposed of properly. What was dangerous about this spill? The Tennessee Coal Valley plant in a press release detailing the extent of the disaster showed the sheer magnitude of this spill, â€Å"In just one year, the plant’s byproducts included 45,000 pounds of arsenic, 49,000 pounds of lead, 1.4 million pounds of barium, 91,000 pounds of chromium and 140,000 pounds of manganese. Those metals can cause cancer, liver damageShow MoreRelatedunnatural disaster coal1169 Words   |  5 Pages Glg 111 Unnatural Disaster? Coal project Research Questions 1) Explain the following: Coal an Unnatural Disaster? An unnatural coal disaster is one caused by human error or negligence, there have been many unnatural coal disasters from past to present such as Turtle Mountain in Canada .Normal erosion due to weather changes played a part in this unnatural disaster but the biggest factor was inadequate support beams .which in turn caused gigantic slab of limestone rock weighing 75millionsRead MoreThe Hazards of Coal Use683 Words   |  3 PagesThe Hazards of Coal Use: Coal has been combusted for fuel for thousands of years. However it was not until the last few decades that the consequences of coal use have been fully realized and effort has been taken to lessen the severe environmental harm that can come from the combustion of coal. The fact of the matter is no matter how much we may dislike coal and the detrimental effects of it we, as a nation, depend on coal to live our lives. When we flip a switch and a light turns on we don’t giveRead MoreThe Effects Of Drinking Water On The Water1989 Words   |  8 Pagesisn’t a topic that it’s given that much attention even though there have been events and statistics that have impacted our drinking water. There have been important events such as the chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia and the ash sludge in Kingston Tennessee in 2008, these kind of events even though they have happen a few years ago still have an impact on our drinking water today. Lauren Russell is an importa nt person because she stated that climate change is another factor that can affectRead MoreWater Pollution2810 Words   |  12 Pagesmany groundwater sources in the US. Animal studies suggest that ingestion of MTBE causes gastrointestinal irritation, liver and kidney damage, and nervous system effects. Mercury Mercury finds its way into water primarily through air pollution from coal-fired power plants and some other industrial processes. In the water, the elemental mercury is converted to methylmercury by certain bacteria, after which it moves up the food chain of fish gobbling each other up. In then end, the larger fish may end

Environmental Disasters The Oil Spill - 1587 Words

The world has been affected by many environmental disasters, these events have impacted many of our ecosystems including the lives of many species, as well as human life. Because of past events, economists have learned from mistakes to continue to work on an improved environmental life as well as looking for solutions to improve it. The Deepwater Horizon spill, better knows as the â€Å"BP Oil Spill† was an eighty seven oil spill effecting the entire Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill which occurred in 2010 is still the largest accidental oil spill in the history of petroleum industry (CNN). Economists are still working to this day to diminish the severity of the oil spill, and the long-lasting problems that have came with it. Since then prevention became the key component solution to prevent accidental oil pollution. With over 4.2 million barrels being spilled into the Gulf, environmental disasters such as the oil spill make citizens aware of the costliness of the environment that plays hand in hand with an environmental luxury such as oil. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill led us to review our marine pollution control policy and to plan ahead to stay prepared for any events that happen in the future. By doing this, oil companies will provide a correct means to strategize, compensate, and prevent oil spills and economical damage that follows. Among the public segments that were affected the most by this oil spillShow MoreRelatedThe Exxon Valdez Oil Spill1581 Words   |  7 Pagesfor dealing with environmental hazards resulting from previous resource use and environmental standards that are no longer acceptable today. 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Decision Making- a Primary Task of the Manager free essay sample

As the term implies, decision making is the process of selection of a course of action from among alternatives. All decisions made in an environment of at least some uncertainty. However, the degree will vary from relative certainty to great uncertainty. There are certain risks involved in making decisions. In a situation involving certainty, people are reasonably sure about what will happen when they make a decision. The information is available and is considered to be reliable, and the cause and effect relationships are known. In a situation of uncertainty, on the other hand, people have only a meager database, they do not know whether or not the data are reliable, and they are very unsure about whether or not the situation may change. In a risk situation, factual information may exist but it may be incomplete. To improve decision making, one may estimate the objective probabilities of an outcome by using, for example, mathematical models. On the other hand, subjective probability, based on Judgement and experience, may be used. Fortunately, there are a number of tools available that help managers make more effective decisions. All intelligent decision makers dealing with uncertainty like to know the size and nature of the risk they are taking in choosing a course of action. One of the deficiencies in using the traditional approaches of operations research for problem solving is that many of the data used in a model are merely estimates and others are based on probabilities. The ordinary practice is to have staff specialists come up with best estimates. However new techniques have been developed that gives a more precise view of risk. Virtually every decision is based on the interaction of a number of mportant variables, many of which have an element of uncertainty but, perhaps,a fairly high degree of probability. Thus, the wisdom of launching a new product might depend on a number of critical variables the cost of introducing the product, the cost of producing it, the capital investment that will be required, the price that can be set for the product, the size of the potential market, and the share of the total market that it will represent. Managers main Job is decision making and quite often they have to decide on what is to be done, who is to do it, when, where, and so on and so forth. The first step in decision making after having decided our goals and our planning premises is to develop all the possible ways of reaching the goals. If one thinks hard enough more than one way to achieve the goals can be identified. If you cannot find more than one way to the goals then I would say probably you have not thought hard enough. This is because almost always alternatives exist. There is a good statement I remember on this occasion-I quote the unknown If there seems to be only one way of doing a and boundaries within which the manager has to act. On the way to achieving the esired goals there would be more often than not something that would stand in the way, obstructing the path. This something that stands in the way accomplishing a desired goal is a limiting factor. The principle of limiting factor states as follows: By recognizing and overcoming those factors that stand critically in the way of a goal, the best alternative course of action can be selected. Steps In Decision-making Process Let us now look at the process of decision making. Having found many alternatives to the goal, the next logical step is to decide and select one of them for adoption. Obviously, you need to valuate them find the most appropriate one for implementation. In evaluating the alternatives, the managers are likely to do so: Quantitative Factors- 1. The factors that can be measured in numerical terms, 2. Qualitative Factors-factors that are intangible and difficult to measure numerically, 3. arginal analysis-that is to compare additional revenues arising from additional 4. cost effectiveness analysis-the process of selecting the best ratio of costs benefits and costs. After having evaluated the alternatives the Job is to select one of them. Here the managers can use three basic approaches: 1 . Experience, 2. Experimentation, and 3. Research and analysis Experience There seems to be no greater teacher than experience. But what is experience? It is not the numb er of years spent in a business. Many managers do not learn by their mistakes. If so what is the benefit of experience? Mostly managers either do not or fail to identify the cause for their failures. Another facet is the lessons of experience may be entirely inapplicable to the new problems. Experimentation Experiments are one way of testing a method. It is probably the most expensive one. Besides, unlike in science, there is no guarantee of repetition of the results. But one should be encouraged to do experiments-to try the various alternatives and see which is best. In view of the high cost involved, I suggest it should be used only after considering other alternatives and its implications. Research and Analysis When a major decision has to be taken, research and analysis is the most effective technique. One of the most comprehensive research and analysis approaches to decision making is operations research. We will discuss the same in detail at later. Types of Managerial Decisions separately identify two different kinds of decision making situations. The kind of ecision used for routine and repetitive work and the other is new, unexpected and non-repetitive one. The earlier one is termed as programmed decision and other non-programmed decision. You should understand that the decisions are not always necessarily be either of the two; it can be a combination of both. Most of the strategic decisions however, are non-programmed decisions and involve a certain amount of risk. Before a non-programmed decision is made the manager should calculate the amount of risk involved in the decision known as Risk Analysis, look at the major alternatives available-Decision Trees. The decision made by the manager would also be dependent on his attitude towards risk taking and this is called preference theory or utility theory. Decision making support systems use modern day gadgets and techniques to help the manager arrive at a decision effectively. Management invariably encounters situations in which uncomfortable decisions must be made. In some cases, the difficulty may be that, although certain alternative choices are clear, the consequences of these choices are not readily apparent. One possible tool for a manager in such a situation is decision tree analysis. A decision tree is a raphical diagram consisting of nodes and branches. The nodes are of two types. The first is a rectangle that represents the decision to be made. The branches emanating from decision nodes are the alternative choices with which the manager is faced. One and only one alternative can be implemented. The second type of node is a circle. Circles represent chance nodes. That is, the alternatives emanating from chance nodes have some element of uncertainty as to whether or not they will occur. The primary benefit of a decision tree is that it provides a visual representation of the choices facing the manager. Analytic Considerations The first task of the manager is to identify the decision that needs to be made based upon a given situation. Next, the manager must think of all the possible alternative actions that could be implemented which would solve the problem. These alternatives are connected to the decision node as straight lines emanating from the node. The next step is to identify all the possible consequences that could occur as a result of an alternative being implemented. This process is accomplished for each and every alternative action identified in the previous step. Since these onsequences have some element of uncertainty as to whether or not they will occur, the manager needs some way in which to evaluate the likelihood that they will (may) occur. The end goal is to obtain probabilities as to the likelihood of each consequence occurring. The best process to obtain these probabilities is to use past experience of similar outcomes. But, often there is no past experience of similar outcomes available to the manager. In these cases, the best tool is to utilize the collective wisdom of experts as to how likely it is that the particular consequence will occur in the future. Using an appropriate consensus building technique, estimates from a panel of experts can be combined or averaged to create a probability of the likelihood of the occurrence of each and every consequence. The only requirement is that the sum of the probabilities of the set of consequences emanating from a chance node must equal one. The next step is to evaluate the end result of each possible alternative in concert with the consequences identified for each alternative. were implemented. This step is accomplished for each possible alternative. Finally, the entire tree is evaluated by employing a technique known as mathematical xpectation in order to select the most beneficial alternative. Product Planning at Gerber Gerber Products, Inc. , the well-known baby products company, recently used decision tree analysis in deciding whether to continue using the plastic known as poly-vinyl chloride or, more commonly, PVC. The situation involved a number of organizations including the environmental group Greenpeace, the U. S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, the toy and plastics industries, and the general public. PVC is a composite plastic material used in numerous household, commercial, and medical products including food storage containers, toys, and medical tubing. To make PVC soft and pliable, a chemical plasticizer known as phthalates is added to soften the plastic. In the latter half of 1998, Greenpeace announced that it had conducted scientific testing on phthalates and found them to be carcinogenic in lab rats. Further, Greenpeace claimed that the chemical leeches from the plastic over time and voiced particular concern with, products that were aimed at small children and used to suck on or chew on. Although phthalates have been used in plastic for over 30 years, and there are no known cases of phthalates causing health problems, Greenpeaces press release was strategically timed to coincide with the Christmas toy season, thereby guaranteeing maximum media coverage. As expected, it was immediately picked up by the television networks and, in fact, the ABC show 20/20 did an entire segme nt on the possible health risks of phthalates. The problem grew worse for Gerber when the media focused specifically on products made for oral use by children. Gerber, the largest producer of nipples, pacifiers, and feeding products in the U. S. , produced some 75 different products containing phthalates and was under considerable pressure to respond publicly to the investigation. Decisions Gerber management had to evaluate all of the current information, weigh the consequences of each action, and proceed on the most prudent course to insure as limited an interruption in business as possible. Gerber knew that a vast body of scientific evidence indicates that phthalates are completely safe. However, once the Greenpeace announcement was publicized, the Consumer Product Safety Commission was spurred to issue a press release expressing new doubts. As the focus gradually fell on items children put in their mouths, and large toy manufacturers like Mattel and Disney began to distance themselves from phthalates, he spotlight of the CPSC fell squarely on Gerber. A month before Christmas, the CPSC informed Gerber they would issue a press release advising parents of the potential dangers of phthalates, and Gerber would be named as one of the companies involved. This is the point at which Gerber implemented a decision tree. Gerber basically faced two choices, neither of which was particularly beneficial. The firm could be reactive, wait for the announcement, and gauge consumer response before deciding on a course of action, or it could be proactive and aggressively The CSPC report suggested the agency would either issue a recall of all products ontaining phthalates (shown on the decision tree as the unfavorable response), or they would issue a report merely expressing concern in which case the public response would be minimal (shown on the decision tree as favorable). Gerber projected eight possible outcomes on its decision tree. If the firm reacted proactively by discontinuing use of all phthalates, and the CSPC report simply issued a warning, Gerber predicted an 80 percent chance that the public would react favorably to Gerbers responsiveness causing sales to increase over competitors who reacted more slowly. A potential nationwide revenue increase of $1 million was entered into he decision tree. Given a proactive response and a favorable CSPC report, Gerber also recorded a 20 percent chance that sales would decline by $1 million due to the sensationalistic nature of the press coverage. If the CSPC report is negative and a recall is issued, Gerber predicted 25 percent likelihood that it could preserve current sales through a proactive response. On the other hand, the firm placed a 75 percent probability that a recall would hurt sales by $1. 25 million. Four more alternatives were predicted in the event that Gerber waited for the CSPC report before taking action. With a favorable report and a delayed response, there was thought to be a 25 percent chance that sales would remain flat, along with a 75 percent chance that sales would decline by $2 million. The worst case scenario is if Gerber remains passive and the CSPC report calls for a recall. In that case, Gerber optimistically predicted a 20 percent probability that it could still increase sales by taking advantage of companies who were less prepared for the report and actually gain approximately $. 5 million. However, it was considered an 80 percent probability that significant volume would be lost.