Jul 25, 2013
"Ashes to Ashes," via This Land
But as Tim Tanksley drove the loop, he pointed left and right and left again, indicating nearly every home we passed. “Someone there has cancer,” he said. At the next house, “There’s cancer in that one.” And the house after that, “A woman there is on oxygen.” A grandfather with a trimmed gray mustache, cowboy hat, patient demeanor, and heavy Oklahoma drawl, Tanksley is not the typical image of an activist or environmentalist. But he and other residents of Bokoshe have spent years battling a coal ash dump near their town. They believe the ash is causing serious health problems in the 450-person community.
Read the entire article, by Gene Perry, here.