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Duke discloses eight more corrugated metal pipes at coal-ash plants
3-5-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
Duke Energy has found eight more corrugated metal pipes at its power plants, after telling state regulators that the pipe that collapsed at its Dan River facility in early February was the only one made of the weaker material.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources officials said Wednesday that the utility informed them of the additional pipes on Friday. Previously, Duke Energy had said the 48-inch concrete and corrugated metal pipe that collapsed beneath the Dan River facility's coal ash pond was the only one.
In response, DENR on Wednesday demanded the utility come up with a schedule within 10 days to inspect the insides of all of its pipes – beginning with the ones made of corrugated metal – and provide those videos to regulators. Priority should be given to the Cliffside plant in Rutherford County, where state inspectors found a leaking corrugated metal pipe last weekend.
In addition, DENR will conduct detailed inspections of all 14 of the company's coal ash plants next week. The agency is also asking the company to provide engineering and emergency action plans and maps for all of the facilities. read more
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Neighbors unaware of earlier spill at Duke Energy coal ash dump
3-4-14 | WCNC-TV Charlotte | By Stuart Watson
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A neighbor of Duke Energy's massive Cliffside coal-fired power plant on the Cleveland-Rutherford county line is raising new concerns about water flowing out of coal ash ponds into the Broad River. Guy Hutchins is the operator of the Rivermist Resort, a series of cabins on the serene Broad River. Hutchins says water gushed from monitoring wells at the foot of the earthen dam holding back the coal ash.
Hutchins also says neighbors were unaware of a 5 million gallon spill from the Cliffside steam station in October 2005, which was reported in the fine print of legal advertisements in local newspapers but largely unnoticed.
This week state regulators at NCDENR, the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources, cited Cliffside and four other Duke Energy coal plants for storm water releases. read more
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Duke Energy receives 5 citations weeks after N.C. coal-ash spill
3-4-14 | Los Angeles Times | By David Zucchinol
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – After weeks of downplaying a huge coal-ash spill, North Carolina regulators issued violation notices Monday to five more Duke Energy power plants, in addition to two citations late last week at the site that polluted the Dan River a month ago.
Also Monday, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources described the Feb. 2 spill as an "environmental disaster."
The latest five citations focused on Duke Energy's coal-ash storage basins in five counties, where regulators say the giant utility failed to secure proper permits for storm-water discharges. Regulators say more enforcement actions are possible as they look into the handling of coal ash at all 14 Duke-owned power plants in North Carolina.
The violations carry potential fines of $25,000 per day per violation, pending the outcome of an agency investigation.
Environmental groups have accused the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources of ignoring years of coal-ash seepage at 32 Duke Energy coal-ash storage basins. The agency cooperated closely with Duke Energy in the days after the spill, joining the utility in issuing statements that downplayed its severity.
But the agency backed down in the face of public pressure. It also backtracked on initial statements about safe surface-water levels, acknowledging a week after the spill that it had detected unsafe levels of arsenic. And after the agency assured residents there was no danger to humans or wildlife, state health officials warned people to avoid contact with the Dan River and not eat fish taken from its waters. read more
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Utility Cited for Violating Pollution Law in North Carolina
3-3-14 | New York Times | By Trip Gabriel
North Carolina regulators said Monday that five power plants owned by Duke Energy have been cited for violating water pollution laws, three days after announcing a similar action against Duke's plant in Eden, N.C., where 39,000 tons of coal ash fouled the Dan River last month.
The citations, which charge Duke with failing to obtain storm-water permits under federal law, could lead to fines of $25,000 per day for each of the six plants.
The enforcement actions by the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources came after weeks of public outrage about the spill. But according to documents in recent court proceedings, regulators within the agency have tried for several years to force Duke to bring its plants into compliance, only to be frustrated time and again.
"Over the last year and a half, we repeatedly asked for a status and direction on these, and we have been given none," an environmental engineer in the department wrote to colleagues in September, referring to efforts to require storm-water permits.
Current and former employees of the environmental agency have said that under the administration of Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, and the Republican-controlled legislature, regulators were told to play down enforcement of pollution laws in favor of spurring economic activity and jobs. read more
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Ash Spill Shows How Watchdog Was Defanged
2-28-14 | New York Times | By Trip Gabriel
The site in North Carolina where an accident at a coal ash pond spilled tons of coal ash and wastewater into the Dan River. Credit The Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability
RALEIGH, N.C. — Last June, state employees in charge of stopping water pollution were given updated marching orders on behalf of North Carolina's new Republican governor and conservative lawmakers.
"The General Assembly doesn't like you," an official in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources told supervisors called to a drab meeting room here. "They cut your budget, but you didn't get the message. And they cut your budget again, and you still didn't get the message."
From now on, regulators were told, they must focus on customer service, meaning issuing environmental permits for businesses as quickly as possible. Big changes are coming, the official said, according to three people in the meeting, two of whom took notes. "If you don't like change, you'll be gone."
But when the nation's largest utility, Duke Energy, spilled 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River in early February, those big changes were suddenly playing out in a different light. Federal prosecutors have begun a criminal investigation into the spill and the relations between Duke and regulators at the environmental agency.
Critics say the accident, the third-largest coal ash spill on record, is inextricably linked to the state's new environmental politics and reflects an enforcement agency led by a secretary who suggested that oil was a renewable resource and an assistant secretary who, as a state lawmaker, drew a bull's-eye on a window in his office framing the environmental agency's headquarters.
Last year, the environment agency's budget for water pollution programs was cut by 10.2 percent, a bipartisan commission that approves regulations was reorganized to include only Republican appointees, and the governor vastly expanded the number of agency employees exempt from civil service protections, to 179 from 24. read more
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Violations issued against Duke for coal ash spill
2-28-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Michael Biesecker, The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina regulators issued notice to Duke Energy on Friday that the company will be cited for violating environmental standards in connection with a massive coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River with toxic sludge.
Two formal notices issued by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources cite Duke for separate violations of wastewater and stormwater regulations. The agency could levy fines against Duke for the violations, but the amounts have not yet been determined.
The violation notices were issued three days after The Associated Press filed a public records request for a copy of Duke's stormwater permit for the Dan River plant, which the company was required to have to legally discharge rainwater draining from its property into the river.
Such a permit may have required testing and inspections that could have given early warning something was wrong before the collapse.
The agency responded that no such permit existed. read more
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Pipe at another NC ash dump is leaking groundwater
2-28-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Michael Biesecker, The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — State regulators expressed concern Friday about another leaking pipe at a Duke Energy coal ash dump, this time in western North Carolina.
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources said groundwater is trickling from a pipe at the Cliffside Steam Station in Rutherford County. The pipe drains an emergency storm-water basin built on top of an old coal ash dump, but is only supposed to drain water in severe storms.
State officials said the corrugated metal pipe is heavily corroded and taking in groundwater, which is draining out at a rate of more than 1,100 gallons a day. Duke staff is sampling the potentially contaminated groundwater coming from the pipe for toxic metals associated with coal ash.
The pipe empties into rocks a few feet from the Broad River, but the agency said there is no indication the flow has reached the waterway. . read more
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Spill alters reality
2-28-14 | Smithfield (NC) Herald | By Scott Mooneyham
An environmental calamity as massive as Duke Energy's coal-ash spill into the Dan River inevitably leads to finger-pointing.
Someone has to pay.
In media coverage and public response, Duke Energy becomes a massive polluter. That it is also the state's major electricity provider, powering homes and businesses, fades into the background.
The environmental regulators who were on the job when the spill occurred get drilled and grilled. That previous regimes of regulators, and current and previous policymakers, allowed the circumstances that led to the spill becomes a footnote.
As cries grow to do something, explanations that solutions might involve complex calculations get lost in the din.
Regulated and regulator would do well to understand that this is the world they now live in. Complaining about it is not going to change it, nor should it.
The regulators, for their part, don't seem to get it. read more
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As NC debates, other states empty coal ash dumps
2-28-14 | By Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss, The Associated Press
MONCKS CORNER, S.C. — Inside pits containing 1.7 million tons of coal ash at the Jefferies Generating Station, the hydraulic arm of a big orange excavator scooped up the toxic gray sludge and dropped it into the back of a dump truck.
Once loaded, the truck drove down a muck-covered road from the Santee Cooper power plant located about 30 miles north of Charleston to a nearby factory where the water-logged ash is dried out and used to make concrete.
Just across the state line in North Carolina, where a massive Feb. 2 spill from a Duke Energy dump coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic sludge, top officials have suggested this very type of ash-removal operation in South Carolina and other states could be dangerous.
Experts say that is not the case.
At sites across the country, coal ash dumped decades ago is dug up and recycled to make concrete, asphalt and other building products. In Wisconsin, for example, the utility We Energies is recycling ash for use in an interstate construction project.
Following a massive coal ash spill in Kingston, Tenn., five years ago, the U.S. Environmental Agency has been developing regulations for how coal ash can be disposed of. The agency is set to issue those rules in December.
For decades, utilities have looked for commercial uses for coal ash, a byproduct of coal-fired electricity generation that includes poisons such as arsenic, lead and mercury. About half of the more than 100 million tons of coal ash created each year in the United States is recycled for uses federal officials have deemed safe as long as the toxic materials are encapsulated in the finished products. read more
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McCrory turns up heat on Duke Energy over river pollution
2-26-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
Gov. Pat McCrory on Saturday said coal ash ponds should be moved farther from rivers in North Carolina, and the ash should be placed in lined facilities.
The governor on Wednesday increased the pressure on his former employer, Duke Energy, to quickly come up with plans to clean up the Dan River spill and make sure its 13 other coal-ash sites in North Carolina are not also environmental disasters waiting to happen.
Gov. Pat McCrory spoke to reporters before touring the industrial giant Siemens' offices in Cary, bluntly
criticizing Duke Energy for how it handled the early stages of the spill of coal ash near its Rockingham County plant on Feb. 2.
"Frankly, I've been very concerned about the lack of information that we initially received on the Dan River incident regarding what infrastructure was actually below the coal ash," McCrory said. "They did not seem to know until the accident occurred that they had some infrastructural breakdown. ... To me, that raises a lot of issues, not only at that plant but what else is occurring at other potential sites that currently have coal ash?"
McCrory worked for Duke Energy for 29 years. He has said – and repeated Wednesday – that his only financial stake in the company is a retirement account. His tough words help distance the governor from his former employer, while allowing him to take a popular stance against pollution.
N.C. coal ash by the numbers
- 14 Number of coal ash sites Duke Energy has in N.C.
- 32 Number of lagoons Duke operates in N.C.
- 106 million Tons of coal ash Duke stores in N.C.
- 84 million Tons of coal ash soaking in lagoons
- 39,000 Tons of coal ash Duke says spilled into Dan River.
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Lack of coal-waste oversight is under fire after giant spill
2-26-14 | McClatchy DC | By Sean Cockerham, McClatchy Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — A massive North Carolina coal waste spill into a major river is increasing pressure on the Obama administration to start policing the more than 1,000 such waste storage sites across the nation.
The federal government doesn't regulate the disposal of "coal ash," the dustlike material that's left over when pulverized coal is burned to fuel electrical power plants. Pennsylvania leads the nation in coal ash production, followed by Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.
Coal ash can contain toxic materials such as arsenic and selenium, but the Environmental Protection Agency has left it to the states to decide what rules to put in place. The result has been an inconsistent patchwork of regulations that the EPA acknowledges is full of gaps.
The agency promises to come out with long-delayed rules by the end of the year, but it's likely to leave the enforcement in the hands of the states. read more
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NC could force Duke to move dump away from river
2-25-14 | AP News| By Michael Biesecker, Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina regulators say they may force Duke Energy to move a pair of leaky coal ash dumps, more than three weeks after a massive spill coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic gray sludge.
The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Tuesday it plans to reopen Duke's wastewater discharge permit and consider changes that would require the company to remove its remaining coal ash from the site at Eden near the Virginia line to a lined landfill away from the river.
The agency's statement makes no indication whether similar permitting changes are under consideration for Duke's other 13 dumps in North Carolina…
As recently as last week, Gov. Pat McCrory and state environmental Sec. John Skvarla had suggested that requiring Duke to move its coal ash away from the state's waterways might actually do more harm than good. McCrory worked at Duke Energy 28 years before running for governor.
Pressed by the AP and others, Skvarla's agency was unable to provide a single real-world example or academic study showing that the removal of toxic coal ash was harmful to the environment. read more
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NC officials examine notification delay in coal ash spill on Dan River
2-25-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
It was going on 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, when Jeffrey Childs returned to the emergency management communications center from a break carrying a soda and the state's environmental hotline phone, which started to ring.
On the line was Allen Stowe, a Duke Energy environmental specialist, reporting a wastewater spill into the Dan River. Childs clicked through a checklist of questions on form EM-43, which is where state emergency management officials collect preliminary information to help them determine how to respond to potential disasters.
How much has been released? Childs asked. I don't know, Stowe replied. Is it a drinking water source? Not there. Any fish killed that you know of? No.
Not sensing any urgency from the Duke Energy official that would have clued him in about the scale of the spill, Childs noted the incident in a daily log and didn't alert the on-call water quality specialist. The phone call didn't meet the Division of Emergency Management's protocol to alert state environmental regulators. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources isn't required to be notified unless more than 15,000 gallons of wastewater is spilled, or if fish are killed or a public water supply is contaminated.
As it turned out, tens of millions of gallons of coal ash and water were spilled, drinking water had to be treated downstream in Virginia, and the massive coal ash leak's impact on aquatic life is not yet known.
DENR didn't find out about that for 17 1/2 hours after the spill was discovered. At that point the agency scrambled experts to the site near Eden to assess what would quickly become the third-largest coal ash spill in the country. By then, Duke was still trying to stop the leak from a broken underground stormwater pipe, and state regulators were playing catch-up.
"I just wish it had been characterized correctly so we could have responded appropriately," DENR spokesman Drew Elliot said this week.
The delay in notification was mentioned to the state Environmental Review Commission last week, but at that point DENR couldn't explain to the members why it happened. Records The News & Observer obtained from the Department of Public Safety provide that explanation. read more
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DENR head defends agency over pollution enforcement as federal probe widens
2-23-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis and Anne Blythe
RALEIGH — While criticism from environmental advocates and a widening federal criminal investigation swirled around him, N.C. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla on Wednesday defended how his agency has handled the threat of pollution from coal ash at Duke Energy power plants around the state.
Even as Skvarla spoke at the department's headquarters in Raleigh, his staff was busy complying with a new round of subpoenas they received Tuesday and disclosed Wednesday demanding 18 current and former employees appear before a federal grand jury in Raleigh next month. Those subpoenaed are required to bring any records they have of payments or items of value they might have made or received from Duke Energy or its predecessor company, Progress Energy or Carolina Power & Light.
The subpoenas also order the department to produce the personnel files of those employees, most of whom have jobs related to the regulation and oversight of water quality.
The personnel file of Tom Reeder, director of the Division of Water Resources, has also been subpoenaed, along with that of Amy Adams, a former DENR employee who is the state campaign coordinator for Appalachian Voices, a conservation group based in Boone. Neither Reeder nor Adams have been subpoenaed.
Skvarla has not been subpoenaed, according to the department. Adams, who worked at DENR from 2004 to 2013, most recently as regional supervisor for the Washington, N.C. office, issued a statement.
Lawsuits Filed
DENR last year filed the lawsuits after the Southern Environmental Law Center gave notice it was going to sue under the federal Clean Water Act. The lawsuits say 14 separate Duke Energy facilities in North Carolina are releasing arsenic and other toxic chemicals into groundwater, as well as seeping contaminated water above ground into waterways.
The pending settlement only affected two plants, because those were in the first lawsuits filed, and it called for further assessments but did not require the pollution be stopped immediately. Environmentalists contend there is an immediate threat from the coal-ash ponds, and point to DENR's own lawsuits, which say the coal ash poses "a serious danger" to public health and to the environment. read more