Chatham Citizens Against Coal Ash Dump
For people on private wells, race and income often determine whether water is safe to drink
Roughly 2.4 million North Carolinians rely on private wells for their drinking water. But unlike public water systems, private wells are not regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Instead of a utility being responsible for ensuring the drinking water is free of contaminants, residents on private wells are the stewards of their own […]
Under court settlement, no coal ash for Colon mine in Lee County
Coal ash will not be disposed of in a former clay mine in Lee County, according to a settlement between three environmental groups, Charah, Inc., and the NC Department of Environmental Quality. After a five-year legal battle, Charah has agreed that it would not deposit ash in the Colon mine, five miles north of Sanford, in […]
NC appellate judges send Chatham, Lee coal ash case back to lower courts; new EPA emails could be pivotal
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Carl Fox and Administrative Law Judge Melissa Lassiter both made legal errors in separate decisions on a coal ash case, prolonging the matter into its third year. A three-judge panel of the NC Appeals Court today ruled unanimously that Lassiter improperly dismissed the case, which concerns the disposal of coal […]
Where to put NC’s coal ash? Court of Appeals asked to rule on legality of high-profile option
It has been nearly four years since Feb. 2, 2014, when 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of contaminated water spilled from a failed impoundment at Duke Energy’s Dan River plant in Eden. And on Wednesday — Day 1,453 since the disaster that forever changed the state’s environmental landscape — a flight of lawyers appeared before a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
After another legal setback, Charah will ask state appellate court for temporary stay in coal ash disposal suit
For a second time, Chatham County Superior Court Judge Carl Fox told Charah to talk to the hand. Fox yesterday rejected Charah’s request for a stay of his original order to stop disposing coal ash in parts of the Brickhaven mine while the case wends through the higher courts. Charah, the Kentucky-based coal ash disposal […]
Chatham, Lee residents head to court over disposing coal ash in abandoned mines
If it looks and acts like a landfill, is it a landfill? Superior Court Judge Carl Fox will weigh that question on Monday. Three environmental groups are asking Fox to review a legal decision that allows coal ash to be dumped in old slate and clay mines in rural Lee and Chatham counties. At issue […]