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The Daily Tar Heel

Environmental watchdogs, Duke Energy clash over Florence coal ash damage

Photo contributed by Duke Energy.

Photo contributed by Duke Energy.

Update Oct. 2 at 9:48 a.m.: The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality released tests Monday confirming toxin levels at Duke Energy's H.F. Lee coal ash site were below the legal limit.


In the wake of Hurricane Florence, two stories of coal ash spills have surfaced in Eastern North Carolina. 

Both Duke Energy's H.F. Lee and L.V. Sutton sites were affected by Florence's floodwaters as the water washed over pits where discarded coal ash is stored. Damage at the Sutton site in Wilmington is still being assessed by environmental regulators, though Duke Energy stands by the effectiveness of its containment dams.

At the H.F. Lee site in Goldsboro, the battle has already begun. Matthew Starr, the Upper Neuse riverkeeper for the environmental nonprofit Sound Rivers, collected samples by boat showing arsenic levels 18 times the allowed limit in the Neuse River.

"We don't know how much coal ash left that site — these ponds were underwater for multiple days actively eroding, spilling, displacing and dumping coal ash into the flooded Neuse River, all of it flowing downstream," Starr said. "What we do know, is at the time it was happening, the Neuse River was being poisoned with arsenic and other heavy metals from the H.F. Lee inactive coal ash pond."

Tests conducted by Duke Energy, though, tell a different story.

"Regulators also agree that only a small amount of coal ash was displaced, similar to the impact in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in 2016," Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton said in an email. "Water tests taken at the site demonstrate that the environment remains well-protected, as was the case in 2016."

Starr has criticized Duke Energy of taking samples six miles downstream from the spill and therefore lowering the numbers on test results.

"It's really frustrating and disheartening to see them continuously mislead the general public, our fellow North Carolinians, about the true impact that their coal ash ponds have on our environment," Starr said. "It's irresponsible for them to try to paint a rosy picture of, 'No need to worry, everything is fine', when that is certainly not the case."

Norton said in the email that environmental watchdogs can misreport or exaggerate the impact of spills. 

"We are held accountable to regulators for what we report, and the critics aren’t — a dynamic that creates some 'interesting' claims about us," Norton said. 

Coal ash is a concern for many who live in flooded areas because the ash contains arsenic, mercury and other contaminants which can be hazardous to human health, the EPA states.

"As these floodwaters decrease, there are potential toxins and pollutants from these coal ash spills that will be left on people's property where their children play, their pets play, where people live their lives," said Drew Ball, the state director for Environment North Carolina. "There's definitely concern that this stuff is going to be around for a while."

Duke Energy pleaded guilty to Clean Water Act crimes in 2015 after spilling coal ash into the Dan River. The company is required to excavate coal ash basins for safer storage, and work has begun at the Sutton location where crews are transferring the material to a lined landfill.

At the H.F. Lee site, the company plans to handle the ash by reprocessing it into a different material with the goal of beginning excavation in 2020.

"Duke has made positive steps since the Dan river spilled," Ball said. "But unfortunately, we've known since even before the Dan river spilled that it's a danger to public health, and they're going to continue to be until we phase them out."

@abennettdth

city@dailytarheel.com

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