ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Residents of Roane County say coal ash isn't just a story to them...It's part of their lives. They say while the story did bring more attention the problem, It didn't offer any solutions, at least not yet.

"I'm about a mile and a half from ground zero."

Sarah McCoin and her family live along the Emory River, and follow the coal ash situation closely. While McCoin thinks 60 Minutes did a good and fair job with its reporting, she doesn't feel any less frustrated.

"The story reconfirmed denial of TVA's acknowledgment of what's really going on with fly ash," McCoin told WVLT.

McCoin refers specifically to one part of the story when a TVA representative said she would swim in the Emory River.

"Would you swim in this river? Today,? asked 60 Minutes' Leslie Stahl. Yes I would."

That was then retracted..

"I mean that retraction has been going on from day one. The community is very disgusted. In fact the participation at the meetings is practically zero and I don't see it improving at all," said McCoin.

"Why wouldn't you right now this minute on 60 Minutes declare that coal ash is a hazardous material?"

A direct question asked of Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency. And her answer was something one Roane County resident wanted to hear.

"I'm glad to see the EPA owning up to the fact that studies haven't been done but that they are doing them," said Steve Scarborough.

Jackson told 60 Minutes "No later than December we will make a regulatory proposal in respect to the material."

Randy Ellis watched 60 Minutes, learning that coal ash byproducts are used commercially to make things like kitchen counters and carpeting. And according to the report, it's even used in agriculture.

"That's a big surprise to us. If the EPA does classify this stuff as hazardous in December, look at the economical and the overall clean-up and the impact that it's going to have," Ellis, said.

We asked TVA to respond to the 60 Minutes story. They offered a written statement saying in part "We are working with community leaders and residents. Extensive state and federal environmental monitoring has found air and drinking water in the area meet government standards. As a precautionary measure we are providing independent health screening to local residents."

After the 60 Minutes story, TVA released the following statement:

TVA is making steady and significant progress cleaning up the Kingston ash spill. We are working with community leaders and residents. Extensive state and federal environmental monitoring has found air and drinking water in the area meet government standards. As a precautionary measure we are providing independent health screening to local residents. We are complying with regulations to make sure our ash-handling operations are safe, and we are restoring the affected area. We provided extensive information on all these efforts to 60 Minutes. It is unfortunate that 60 Minutes chose to leave these important facts out of their story.

To see footage from immediately after the accident and how the area looks today, see http://152.85.42.31/progress.wmv

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Here's information regarding health screenings:

Oak Ridge Associated Universities
1299 Bethel Valley Road
Building SC-200
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
Phone: 865.576.3146
Fax: 865.241.2923
E-mail: communications@orau.org
Web: www.orau.org