Dan River
Coal plant operators shirking responsibilities on ash cleanup, report contends
Duke Energy facility in NC cited as among the worst contamination sites, but company pushes back In the wake of major coal ash spills from power plant containment ponds in Tennessee and into the Dan River along the North Carolina and Virginia border, the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 laid out the first federal rules for managing the ash, one of the nation’s largest waste streams, and the toxins it contains.
Five years after Dan River coal ash spill, Duke Energy settlement would add land to Mayo State Park
This story has been updated with news regarding the purchase and transfer of the 64 acres by Duke Energy. Update July 29: The dates for the public listening sessions about the plan have been announced. The North Carolina event is scheduled for Wednesday Aug. 7, 6-8 p.m., Eden Town Hall, 308 E. Stadium Drive, […]
“The spill was an instant disaster”: Reflections on the five-year anniversary of the Dan River coal ash breach
Until that winter’s day the 4-foot section of corrugated metal pipe, 48 inches in diameter, had done its job. It swallowed storm water, said to be uncontaminated, that drained from Duke Energy property, chugged the water through its gullet that ran beneath an unlined coal ash basin, and then spewed it into the Dan River near Eden. But on Feb. 2, 2014, the pipe could take no more.
Opposition heats up against MVP Southgate pipeline project; comment by Sept. 10
In the late 1700s, when the Slade family acquired its farm in central Alamance County, the use of natural gas, the manufactured kind, anyway, in the US was still 25 years away. But in 2018, the Blanchard Farm, in the family for eight-going-on-nine generations, is known on a map as a spot between Mile Markers […]
In groundwater wells near the Dan River plant, arsenic is a culprit
Policy Watch recently reviewed more than 20,000 pages of data and published a story about groundwater contamination in wells around four of Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds. We covered Marshall and Cliffside last Monday and Allen on Friday. Today, we look at the contamination at the Buck and Dan River plants. Later this week, we’ll publish […]
McCrory, Duke, coal ash in national spotlight Sunday night
Try as some people might to wish North Carolina’s massive coal ash problem away, it isn’t going anywhere soon — either physically or politically. Another chapter will begin to unfold this coming Sunday evening when the CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes examines the situation. According to the Charlotte Business Journal, Duke CEO Lynn Good will […]
More you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up coal ash news
In case you missed it on Friday, Michael Biesecker at AP had another troubling story on Duke Energy’s seemingly metastasizing coal ash mess. This is the lead: Federal environmental officials spurred North Carolina regulators to reverse a policy allowing Duke Energy to drain massive amounts of polluted wastewater from its coal ash dumps directly into […]
One giant leap for Duke, one small step for the environment
The Charlotte Business Journal reports that Duke Energy has decided to change its present course and bury the coal ash at another one of its South Carolina sites in a lined landfill. Hallelujah. As has been noted multiple times by environmental experts, moving toxic coal ash to lined landfills is the only realistic option when […]
Advocates deliver 40,000 signatures to McCrory demanding stronger coal ash action
Advocates and activists for stronger action on coal ash than is included in the new state law that officially took effect today gathered outside the Old State Capitol in downtown Raleigh this morning to deliver more than 40,000 signatures to Governor Pat McCrory. The signatures represented roughly one North Carolinian for each ton of coal […]
The message behind McCrory’s lack of action on coal ash
There have been several noteworthy reactions to Governor Pat McCrory’s strange decision to simply let the General Assembly’s coal ash legislation become law without his signature last week. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger came this close to accusing the Governor of – yikes! – improper bias toward his longtime employer when he said the […]
An August recess? General Assembly to pass budget, take a two-week vacation
There has been a lot of talk in recent years about how the North Carolina General Assembly is starting to look and sound more and more like Congress — especially when it comes to the influence of big dollars from corporate fat cats and plain old, general dysfunction. Today, we got another persuasive indicator: Legislators […]
Mission accomplished?
Steve Harrison over at Blue NC has a good catch today in a post entitled “90% of coal ash remains in Dan River after Duke ‘completes’ cleanup.” As Steve notes: If this is what they call “success,” one would hate to see them fail: “Since the operation began on May 6, approximately 2,500 tons of […]