Plant life.

I live in Kingston, Tennessee, not far from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant, one of numerous coal-fired electricity-generation plants built and operated by the federal government ("You Too Can Break Into a Chemical Plant," by Art Levine, March 2007). Not only has the TVA been given all but a complete pass by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in all these years--meaning that workers are exposed to unconscionable levels of friable asbestos, beryllium, arsenic, and other life-threatening substances--but upper management erected a large tank farm to hold tens of thousands of gallons of anhydrous ammonia. Despite warnings from lower-level employees familiar with the dangers of anhydrous ammonia, TVA management located these tanks within shooting range of a public road, and immediately adjacent to a TVA access road open to the public.

Think how much mischief could be created with a plain deer-hunting rifle and a handful of bullets on a windy day. Think how much more mischief could be created with an RPG. Our valley is enclosed by the Cumberland Mountains to the west and the Great Smoky Mountains to the east. This enclosure so effectively contains vehicle, industrial, and power-generation emissions that the east Tennessee region has some of the worst air quality in the country. A large release of anhydrous ammonia would not easily disperse. Most area residents are completely unaware this hazard exists.

Elizabeth Singley

Kingston, Tenn.