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News & Events
In The News
Coal ash spill costs at $15M for Duke Energy
4-17-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Bruce Henderson
The Feb. 2 spill of coal ash into North Carolina's Dan River has cost Duke Energy $15 million so far, the company reported Thursday.
The figure, reported in a securities filing, reflects costs through March 31.
Duke said total costs of the spill, which dumped up to 39,000 tons of ash into the river near Eden, are not expected to be "material" to the company.
"Material" refers to costs that are expected to have a significant impact on Duke's earnings. Duke earned $2.7 billion in 2013. read more
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Gov. McCrory wants broader authority over ash
4-16-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Bruce Henderson
Gov. Pat McCrory will ask legislators for broader authority over coal ash disposal, but his plan does not envision eliminating all 33 of Duke Energy's ash ponds.
The proposal, released Wednesday, calls for site-specific closures. Ash could be removed from some ponds but left in others, drained and capped to keep water out.
Duke has previously said it would weigh similar options. read more
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Communities along Dan River demand quick cleanup
4-11-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
Communities along the Dan River on the North Carolina-Virginia border north of the Triangle are calling on Duke Energy to immediately employ a fleet of vacuum dredgers to clear the waterway of coal ash.
Earlier this week the Warren County Board of Commissioners issued a resolution that supported scouring the river and connected streams to remove the coal waste. It also calls on the company to remove the material from the 13 ponds at all of the utility's plants in the Dan basin. Those ponds are at the Belews Creek Station, Roxboro Power Station, Mayo Power Station and Dan River Power Station. read more
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Judge rules Duke Energy can't have blanket protection for its records
4-4-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
RALEIGH — Duke Energy cannot have a blanket order keeping its coal ash records out of the hands of environmental groups that are suing it over water pollution violations, a Wake County superior court judge ruled Friday.
Instead, Judge Paul Ridgeway said he will consider the utility's concerns over specific kinds of documents as the case progresses, and might permit them to be filed under seal but still shared with attorneys for the environmentalists.
Duke Energy, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the state attorney general's office will meet within the next month to begin sorting out what kinds of records the company will provide. An attorney for the utility said millions of records have been requested. read more
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Duke Energy appeals judge's order in coal-ash pollution case
4-3-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
Duke Energy on Thursday filed notice that it will appeal Wake Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway's order of March 6 declaring that the utility could be required to immediately stop the source of its coal-ash pollution.
The judge ruled that the state erroneously applied a groundwater pollution rule when it didn't require an immediate halt to the pollution. Duke asked the judge to delay his order until the company decided whether it would appeal, but Ridgeway denied that request. read more
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Duke Energy will keep cooperating with state probes, CEO says
4-2-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Bruce Henderson
Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good defended her company's response to the February coal ash spill into the Dan River, saying Duke will "continue to cooperate" with inquiries into the event.
Good did not stray far Wednesday from Duke's previous public statements. She sidestepped questions that probed the differences between those statements and Duke's legal positions.
Duke calls the Feb. 2 Dan River spill an accident for which it takes responsibility.
But Duke responded to four state lawsuits over ash contamination at its North Carolina plants this week by saying other discharges from its ash ponds were allowed by state permits. read more
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Duke Energy wants citizens group out of ash action
4-1-14 | Associated Press | By Mitch Weiss
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Duke Energy is asking a judge to prevent citizens groups from taking part in any enforcement action that would make the company clean up nearly three dozen coal ash pits across North Carolina.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources filed a complaint against Duke last year. Several citizens groups got involved in the case, saying the waste dumps polluted groundwater.
But Duke filed a motion Monday to remove the citizens' groups from the case.
The company said the groups have an "independent right" to file claims and seek relief. But they are "prohibited from expanding this enforcement action beyond the claims asserted and relief sought by" the state environmental agency.. read more
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Duke: Disposal of coal ash impossible if EPA declares it hazardous
4-1-14 | Raleigh News & Observer | By Craig Jarvis
As underlined by an environmental group last week, there are no clear answers about where the more than 100 million tons of Duke Energy coal ash is supposed to go to make it safe and secure.
The Sierra Club, the Catawba Riverkeeper and the Southern Environmental Law Center say it should be hauled off to lined landfills. That's what's happening in South Carolina on a much smaller scale. But the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League says that's a bad idea; instead, it should be contained in super-secure structures on the same property where it is now.
Duke Energy, in a recent court filing, elaborates on the dilemma: "There is no adequately sized lined landfill available to receive this quantity of ash at any Duke Energy facility or at pre-existing offsite landfills within North Carolina (or within a reasonable distance from North Carolina," Duke attorney James Cooney III writes. "Locating, permitting and constructing any type of landfill in a community is a difficult, lengthy and uncertain process in the best of circumstances; locating a coal ash landfill could be even more difficult." read more
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In court filings, Duke denies NC's coal ash allegations
4-1-14 | Raleigh News & Observer
RALEIGH — Duke Energy has denied in court documents filed Monday the environmental violations alleged in the state's coal ash lawsuits against it.
The utility also filed a motion to remove a group of environmental organizations from the lawsuits, arguing they don't have the legal authority to join the enforcement action. Alternately, the company asks if the judge hearing the cases decides the groups do have a right to join the suits, they be prohibited from expanding the claims already in the case.
The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources sued last year to enforce what it contends are unpermitted seeps or groundwater violations at its 14 plants with coal ash ponds. Soon after, the Southern Environmental Law Center intervened in the lawsuits on behalf of the four organizations.
DENR and Duke reached a proposed settlement involving two of the plants last year, but the state withdrew it earlier this month in the wake of the February spill into the Dan River and other concerns about the facilities.
The state has filed four lawsuits in Wake and Mecklenburg counties covering all 14 plants.read more
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River cleaning equipment arrives in Danville
3-31-14 | Danville Register & Bee | By Denise Thibodeau
Equipment is beginning to arrive in Danville for cleaning coal ash out of the Dan River and from concrete tanks at the water treatment plant.
During a news conference Monday, Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said equipment would begin to be set up at Abreu-Grogan Park this week that will vacuum-dredge about 2,500 tons of coal ash deposited near on the upstream side of the Schoolfield Dam.
The coal ash covers an area of about 26,000 square feet and is up to a foot thick, Brooks said.
Coal ash will also be cleaned out of the concrete tanks at the water treatment plant, where it has been accumulating since the Feb. 2 spill at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station in Eden, N.C.
Barry Dunkley, director of water and wastewater for the city, said no water with coal ash in it has been released to the wastewater treatment plant since the spill occurred. None of the biosolids created at the wastewater plant for use as fertilizers have had coal ash released to them, Dunkley said.
Pat McCabe, with Duke Energy's environmental services, said the company hired Phillips & Jordan Inc. to do the project, noting that, "Duke Energy has never had a spill of this type," while Phillips & Jordan have experience that includes cleanup at the huge Tennessee Valley Authority spill in Kingston, Tenn., in 2008.
That equipment — which includes a belt filter press to dry out the ash and tankers to move the material from the city's tanks to the press — was being set up Monday morning. read more
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EPA looked askance at DENR's proposed coal ash settlement with Duke
3-31-14 | Charlotte Observe | By Craig Jarvis
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency thought North Carolina regulators were too lenient when they came up with a settlement with Duke Energy over coal ash plants.
The EPA's questioning of the proposed settlement in 2013 surfaced in thousands of emails and other records that the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources recently made public in response to records requests by the news media, advocates and others.
The records also reveal tensions among state regulators, their supervisors and the nation's largest utility company over the past five years as North Carolina began paying more attention to coal ash storage ponds in the wake of the catastrophic spill of the material in Tennessee in 2008.
"We need to move forward with this permit," one DENR supervisor emailed colleagues in 2012, referring to a regulatory dispute at one power plant. "Duke is getting impatient."
A far smaller spill – although the third largest in U.S. history – occurred at Duke Energy's plant in Rockingham County on Feb. 2, polluting the Dan River with coal ash sludge and wastewater.
DENR has been criticized for too quickly coming up with a settlement for two lawsuits it filed last year against two Duke plants alleging violations of their water discharge permits.
The EPA, in comments submitted to DENR on the proposed settlement last year, questioned the size of the penalties of $51,500 for the Asheville plant and $36,000 for the Riverbend plant in Gaston County, in addition to cost reimbursements bringing the total liability to $99,111.
That amount "seems low considering the number of years these facilities are alleged to have been out of compliance," the EPA response states. However, since the federal agency didn't have information that DENR had incorrectly applied its penalty policy, it would be difficult to challenge the fines, the response says. The EPA also thought more testing and monitoring for pollution should be required. read more
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NC Regulators Cite Duke Energy for Crack in Dam
3-28-14 | Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina regulators say they've cited Duke Energy for a crack in a dam at a coal ash pit near the Cape Fear River. The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Friday it had issued Duke a notice of deficiency, and called on the company to take steps to ensure the earthen dam's stability.
If Duke doesn't submit a comprehensive engineering report about the dam by April 7, the company could face a fine. Duke finished emergency repairs Monday to the dam that holds back millions of tons of coal ash. Duke says no water was flowing through the dam. read more
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A coal-ash cleanup precedent
3-29-14 | Charlotte Observer Op-Ed | By Pete Andrews and Steve Wall
Richard (Pete) Andrews, PhD, is an environmental policy professor at UNC Chapel Hill. Steve Wall is a Policy Research Associate with the UNC Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment.
The daily headlines generated from the Duke Energy coal ash spill along the Dan River in early February are a constant reminder of the long-term impacts of coal-based energy production. The ongoing debate over whose responsibility it is to pay for the cleanup of the other coal ash facilities scattered across the state continues; it is a debate being played out amidst press releases, sound bites and poll results.
While mitigating damage in the Dan River is an immediate priority, the larger issue of how to clean up the state's 33 coal ash facilities represents a significant and expensive challenge. However, there are viable solutions worth exploring. Fortunately, North Carolina can look to its recent past and find an example of solving a significant environmental challenge through consensus-building and compromise. read more
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Duke Energy seeks to keep records from regulators
3-28-14 | Associated Press | By Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Worried about getting a fair shake from investigators, Duke Energy is asking a judge to shield its records from North Carolina regulators and environmental groups while a federal criminal probe is ongoing.
In a court motion, a defense lawyer for Duke argued that turning over records demanded as part of state lawsuits over the company's coal ash dumps could hurt the investigation's integrity, especially if the documents were to become public.
Federal prosecutors have issued at least 23 subpoenas as part of a widening criminal probe triggered by the Feb. 2 spill at Duke's plant in Eden, which coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic sludge. Duke has received two of the subpoenas, which order the company to provide reams of documents to a grand jury that has convened in Raleigh.
Federal investigators are looking at whether the company received preferential treatment from the state environmental agency. Duke has nearly three dozen other ash pits spread out at 14 coal-fired power plants across the state.
"Duke Energy strongly denies that it has in any way knowingly violated any law or committed any crime," says the motion, filed last week. "The government of the United States has the right to investigate the matters involved in these cases and Duke Energy intends to cooperate fully in that investigation so that it may receive a fair and unbiased assessment of its actions. This cannot occur if the proceedings of the grand jury and material provided to it are made a part of discovery in these cases." read more
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Duke Shareholders Want Probe of Coal Ash Spill
3-27-14 | Associated Press | By Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss
Duke Energy shareholders called on the company's board on Thursday to launch an independent investigation into issues surrounding a massive coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of a North Carolina river in toxic sludge.
A letter sent to Duke's board of directors by a coalition of more than 20 large institutional investors says their confidence has been shaken by the Feb. 2 spill into the Dan River. The letter also expresses concern about an ongoing federal criminal probe and what the investors characterize as the company's inadequate response to the environmental disaster.
The letter comes as North Carolina's environmental agency was forced to admit state inspectors twice missed a large crack in an earthen dike holding back millions of tons of ash at a different Duke facility near the Cape Fear River. read more
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Photos show crack in Duke Energy coal ash dam at Cape Fear before inspection
3-27-14 | Triad Business Journal | By John Downey, Senior Staff Writer - Charlotte Business Journal
The Waterkeeper Alliance is questioning how N.C. officials missed a crack in a coal ash dam at Duke Energy's Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant during an "intense inspection" March 11 when it was visible in aerial photos taken the day before.
A crack in a coal ash dam at Duke Energy's Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant is clearly visible below the red pump in this picture the Waterkeeper Alliance took March 10.
photo credit: Rick Dove - Waterkeeper Alliance
Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, says none of the inspectors who went to the site March 11 reported seeing the crack. The state did not know about the crack until Duke decided March 20 to repair it and notified the state about its plans.
But he noted inspectors on the scene March 11 were with the Division of Water Quality. The dam inspection was performed Feb. 21, and at that time there was no sign of the crack, Kritzer says.
Duke (NYSE: DUK) declined to comment.
Critics unsatisfied
The damaged dam forms the largest ash pond at the Cape Fear plant. The dam was built in 1985. DENR says Duke repaired it early this week. DENR says the dam's structural integrity was not threatened by the damage. read more
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NC regulators missed crack in Duke coal ash dam
3-27-14 | Associated Press | By Michael Biesecker
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Photos taken earlier this month show that North Carolina regulators apparently failed to notice a large crack opening in an earthen dam holding back millions of tons of Duke Energy's coal ash near the Cape Fear River.
State Department of Environment and Natural Resources spokesman Jamie Kritzer said inspectors from the agency visited Duke's Cape Fear Plant on March 11 and 18, but did not see the crack.
Aerial photos taken March 10 by the environmental group WaterKeeper Alliance show the fissure, which was clearly marked by metal stakes topped with orange streamers. The dam also appears to be sagging and bulging near the crack.
The agency has said it didn't know about the crack until Duke reported it on March 20, after the company was cited for illegally pumping 61 million gallons of contaminated wastewater into the river. Duke has refused to comment on its latest environmental violation or whether the crack was in any way connected to the unlawful pumping, which had been going on for months.
Kritzer said Thursday the state agency, which is known as DENR, may now consider seeking a change to North Carolina law, which currently only requires dam owners to notify regulators when there is judged to be a likelihood the dam might fail and emergency action is proposed.
"We feel it would have been prudent for the company to have informed DENR about the crack in the earthen dam as soon as the company identified the crack," Kritzer said. "Duke Energy did not let our inspectors know about the crack until the afternoon of March 20, and at that time told our inspectors that the company had spotted the crack about two weeks earlier."
After Duke reported the crack on March 20, the state ordered the company to come up with an emergency action plan. Duke says the crack has since been repaired and that the dam was not in danger of collapse. read more