In Kingston, Tenn. Coal Ash (Hundreds of Acres of It) for Christmas

As many Americans head off to spend the day eating, making merry and exchanging gifts today, it's worth taking a moment to remember the less fortunate, which this year include the residents around Kingston, Tenn., some of whose homes have been buried under coal ash.

A dam breached at a coal plant, and some are calling it the nation's largest coal ash spill.

It comes as the coal industry is in the midst of a massive national advertising campaign framing its product as clean and essential. It comes as environmental groups are arguing that there is no such thing as "clean coal."

Clean coal is typically used to refer to next-generation (that is, not this generation) technology that will capture the pollution -- the emissions that cause acid rain, smog and, critically, global warming -- that spews from smokestacks. It says nothing about the real world damage from coal mining, or in this case, coal incineration waste management. "Mismanagement" would be the better term in this case.

The Daily Green staff will be off enjoying Christmas today, as we hope many of you will be too. If you need a little dose of reality on this otherwise joyous day, however, you can't get a more stark view than was captured by this Knoxville News footage:

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