KINGSTON, Tenn. (AP) — The CEO and president of the nation's largest public utility vowed to clean up a community encased in sludge after a major coal ash spill, where many residents fear toxic elements could seep into their drinking water.

Harriman, Tennessee - Millions of yards of ashy sludge broke through a dike at TVA's Kingston coal-fired plant Monday, covering hundreds of acres, knocking one home off its foundation and putting environmentalists on edge about toxic chemicals that may be seeping into the ground and flowing downriver.

In a single year, a coal-fired electric plant deposited more than 2.2 million pounds of toxic materials in a holding pond that failed last week, flooding 300 acres in East Tennessee, according to a 2007 inventory filed with the Environmental Protection Agency.

A wall holding back 80 acres of sludge from a coal plant in central Tennessee broke this week, spilling more than 500 million gallons of waste into the surrounding area.

DuPont Co. has found high levels of the toxic chemical C8 in the blood of workers at a new Teflon plant in China, despite company promises to greatly reduce exposures and emissions.

On Friday, June 27th, the United States Supreme Court issued an order rejecting all further appeals of the $20,709,000 pollution verdict entered against the Continental Carbon plant in Phenix City, Alabama, and against its parent company, China Synthetic Rubber Corporation of Taiwan.

Starting this month, officials from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) will begin recruiting participants for the East Metro Perfluorochemical (PFC) Biomonitoring Study. The study will directly measure the amount of the PFCs in 200 participants who live in the east metro area, where the drinking water has been found to contain the chemicals.

The city of Columbus was awarded $3.4 million Tuesday for its share of punitive damages in its lawsuit against a Phenix City plant. The city of Columbus, local boat dealer John Tharpe and south Columbus resident Owen Ditchfield won their suit against Continental Carbon in 2004. They had said their homes, businesses and buildings had been damaged by carbon black dust emitted from the plant.

Continuing concern about possible contamination from chemicals produced at 3M's Cottage Grove facility has state health officials seeking volunteers for a study of perfluorochemical levels in residents near the plant and several landfills.