three days before Christmas, Tennessee

There is no "clean coal".

At 1:00am on Monday morning, a dike broke at TVA's Kingston coal power plant, releasing 500 million gallons of coal ash sludge into the surrounding area. It covered 400 acres about 6 feet deep, and - if local news accounts are accurate - is about 40 times bigger than the infamous Exxon-Valdez oil spill in Alaska. To see the footage, click here.

The sludge has spilled into the Clinch River, which flows into the Tennessee River. From the Knoxville area, the Tennessee River flows south to Chattanooga, makes a U-turn and heads towards Nashville, then into Kentucky, and then joins the Mississippi River. No need to tell you where the Mississippi River flows. It's a huge watershed that is affected.

Coal ash is what's left over after coal is burned. We've tightened restrictions on what can go into the air (a good thing), so that's meant scrubbers that can take out more chemicals from the smoke. But that doesn't mean these chemicals just disappear -- matter can neither be created nor destroyed. They must go somewhere, meaning the coal ash, which is not as regulated. Coal ash contains many toxic chemicals including mercury, arsenic, and lead. That's what's getting in the watershed.

And this is only the environmental side of things. Now let's talk politics and money, and the dirty business gets dirtier.

The Tennessean writes: "One neighboring family said the disaster was no surprise because they have watched the 1960s-era ash pond's mini-blowouts off and on for years." And it hasn't occurred to TVA that their coal ash retainment pond system doesn't work if they have to keep patching it up!?!

Tom Kilgore, CEO of TVA, said they did not yet know what caused the dike blowout. "I fully suspect that the amount of rain we've had in the last eight to 10 days, plus the freezing weather … might have had something to do with this." I'm sorry? It's winter in Tennessee: Of course there's lots of rain and freezing weather. And you haven't accounted for this in your design!?!

So when a disaster like this does occur, the coal companies and local law enforcement have been known to block roads and keep media away. The media also doesn't understand what is coal sludge, and for whatever reasons, downplays the story.

Yes, it's disgusting. I used to live in that part of Tennessee, actually along the Clinch River, and I used to drive by that plant all the time on I-40. They think some pines will hide their plant from the highway, and it does, except for the smokestacks and their fumes. You don't automatically think about coal ash when you drive by. There is no "clean coal". Don't be fooled.

Our president-elect has named "clean coal" as one way to lessen our dependence on oil. We have much better options, so let us press those forward. And also for each of us, consider a new year's resolution (or life resolution) that includes being informed about energy sources and the environmental, health, and societal impacts of those sources.