Settlement reached in ash spill cleanup lawsuit

After a decade working its way through the court system, Jacobs Engineering Group announced Monday that it has settled a lawsuit filed by workers who cleaned up after the TVA Coal Ash Spill in Roane County in 2008.

Jacobs Engineering is the contractor TVA brought in to clean up the spill that dumped over 5 million cubic yards of toxic coal ash sludge into the Emory and Clinch Rivers as well as over 300 acres of land in December of 2008.

Cleanup workers, and in some cases, their surviving families, sue Jacobs, alleging they were never given proper protective equipment despite the toxic nature of coal ash, and that as a result, many became sick, and others died. 

Over 200 workers or their surviving family members filed suit over their treatment.

Terms of the settlement are confidential, according to attorneys. The settlement was reached after mediation between the two sides that began last year and has been approved by the plaintiffs.