Sludge is a 2005 documentary film by Appalshop

Appalshop

Appalshop is a media, arts, and education center located in Whitesburg, Kentucky, in the heart of the southern Appalachian region of the United States....

 filmmaker Robert Salyer chronicling the Martin County Sludge Spill

Martin County sludge spill

The Martin County Sludge Spill was an accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when the bottom of a coal sludge impoundment owned by Massey Energy in Martin County, Kentucky, USA, broke into an abandoned underground mine below. The slurry came out of the mine openings, sending an...

 that was an accident that occurred after midnight on October 11, 2000 when a coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 sludge impoundment in Martin County, Kentucky

Martin County, Kentucky

Martin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2010, the population was 12,929. Its county seat is Inez. The county is named for Congressman John Preston Martin...

, broke through an underground mine below, propelling 306 million gallons of sludge down two tributaries of the Tug Fork River

Tug Fork River

The Tug Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, long, in southwestern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Kentucky in the United States. Via the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River....

. The movie documents the continuing story of the Martin County disaster, the resulting federal investigation, and the looming threat of coal sludge ponds throughout the coalfield region.

In the United States today, coal is the largest single source of fuel for energy production. Annually, the country mines over a billion tons of coal. Coal waste is a consequence of this consumption; the Mine Safety and Health Administration

Mine Safety and Health Administration

The Mine Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 to enforce compliance with mandatory safety and health standards as a means to eliminate fatal accidents, to reduce...

 has estimated that there are over 235 sludge ponds throughout the region with the potential to break into an underground mine, as the Martin County pond did in 2000.

In the wake of the December 2008 release of coal ash

Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill

The TVA Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill occurred just before 1 a.m. on Monday December 22, 2008, when an ash dike ruptured at an solid waste containment area at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Fossil Plant in Roane County, Tennessee, USA. of coal fly ash slurry was...

 at a Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

power plant, Appalshop provided a web stream of Sludge for the public http://appalshop.org/sludge/ for a limited time.

External links

• Sludge Website for the 2005 documentary about the Martin County Sludge Spill
• SLUDGE SLINGING Article about mining engineer Jack Spadaro who has dedicated his life to preventing coal sludge spills