don't worry, fish with three eyes is the new normal.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee environmental officials say toxin levels in fish sampled after a massive coal ash spill in the Emory River are generally safe, though testing is continuing, additional results are pending and conditions could change.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's test results are the first to be reported from fish caught after the Dec. 22 spill of 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash sludge from a storage area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, about 40 miles west of Knoxville.

The TDEC report released Thursday said results from the state's Environmental Protection Agency-certified laboratory are not definitive, but there is "no justification, at present, to modify" limits on consumption of fish caught in the Emory and downstream Clinch River that existed before the spill.

Analysis of bass, catfish and sunfish caught from January through April found the level of metals "below human health protection standards," with the exception of two catfish with slightly elevated mercury.

The report said levels of selenium were well below EPA toxicity standards for protection of fish and other aquatic life.

Earlier this month, independent researchers from Appalachian State and Wake Forest universities said their own sampling found much higher levels of toxins, particularly selenium. They said that fish populations in the Emory were at a "tipping point" for survival and that their ability to reproduce was in jeopardy.

The ash spill from a retention wall breach flooded into the Emory River and a lakeside neighborhood, damaging homes and covering 300 acres. TVA estimates the cleanup, with ash as much as 30 feet deep in the river, could take up to three years and cost $1 billion.
While tests to date show no sign of increased health risks to people and aquatic life, "they are not predictors of the future," the TDEC report said.