UPDATE, April 12: Duke says it will appeal administratively the order requiring the addition nine ponds to be excavated, Sean Reilly reports for Environment & Energy News.
The state of North Carolina has ordered Duke Energy to excavate millions of tons of coal ash from six power plants, Bruce Henderson reports for The Charlotte Observer.
"Ash has been mixed with water and stored in open, unlined ponds at Duke’s coal-fired power plants for decades," Henderson notes. "A 2014 ash spill into the Dan River, near the Virginia line, exposed the potential for heavy metals in ash to contaminate water, including the groundwater." That prompted "lawsuits and a new state law that ordered Duke to phase out its ash ponds, with the timing and method of closing the ponds dependent on their risks to nearby water supplies."
The electric utility, one of the nation's largest, "had already begun or finished ash excavations at 22 other N.C. ponds under state law requirements, legal settlements or the company’s own decisions," Henderson notes. Now the state has decided that all 31 of the company’s ponds in North Carolina will be drained, "with the ash dug up and removed as environmental advocates have long demanded. But Duke warned that the DEQ order will extend the job of cleaning up its ash by decades and add billions of dollars to the cost, with customers likely paying the bill."
Duke said in a statement that it will review the DEQ decision and “continue to support solutions that protect our customers and the environment.” It also said the work would take decades.
The state of North Carolina has ordered Duke Energy to excavate millions of tons of coal ash from six power plants, Bruce Henderson reports for The Charlotte Observer.
"Ash has been mixed with water and stored in open, unlined ponds at Duke’s coal-fired power plants for decades," Henderson notes. "A 2014 ash spill into the Dan River, near the Virginia line, exposed the potential for heavy metals in ash to contaminate water, including the groundwater." That prompted "lawsuits and a new state law that ordered Duke to phase out its ash ponds, with the timing and method of closing the ponds dependent on their risks to nearby water supplies."
The electric utility, one of the nation's largest, "had already begun or finished ash excavations at 22 other N.C. ponds under state law requirements, legal settlements or the company’s own decisions," Henderson notes. Now the state has decided that all 31 of the company’s ponds in North Carolina will be drained, "with the ash dug up and removed as environmental advocates have long demanded. But Duke warned that the DEQ order will extend the job of cleaning up its ash by decades and add billions of dollars to the cost, with customers likely paying the bill."
Duke said in a statement that it will review the DEQ decision and “continue to support solutions that protect our customers and the environment.” It also said the work would take decades.
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