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More headaches as Florence’s waters overtake toxic pits and hog lagoons

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  1. cfabbro
    (edited )
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    4 years after the previous major disaster and no lessons learned, no legislation passed to force the company to address the problem in a timely manner.... now this: Uh huh. Sure. Incidentally, I...

    Duke Energy owns all 32 coal ash disposal basins — pits, ponds and landfills — across North Carolina, even though half of the company’s 14 coal-fired power plants have been shut down and Sutton has been converted into a natural-gas-fired plant.

    The disposal sites had many flaws. Initially, the company dumped coal ash in unlined, open-air pits. Rainfall and other waste water turned many into ponds. The four disposal basins at Sutton leached metals into the lake, and from there, some flowed into the Cape Fear River. In one case, Duke paid $2.25 million and built new pipes to bring clean drinking water to a small community.

    The company long fought to fend off state regulation of the coal ash sites. But in February 2014, a Duke Energy coal ash basin flooded when a storm-water pipe cracked open, dumping 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The company later pleaded guilty to criminal negligence.

    Since then, Duke has been moving coal ash out of ponds and into landfills, but it’s been slow going. Two of the coal ash pits are closed, but the rest remain.

    4 years after the previous major disaster and no lessons learned, no legislation passed to force the company to address the problem in a timely manner.... now this:

    Tropical Storm Florence has poured so much rain on the state that the wall of a coal ash landfill near the lake has failed in several places, washing away more than 2,000 cubic yards of toxic waste, enough to fill more than 150 dump trucks.

    Duke Energy, which owns the adjacent power plant, said it doesn’t believe the landfill poses a risk to public health or the environment, according to spokeswoman Paige Sheehan.

    Uh huh. Sure. Incidentally, I often wonder how spokespeople for horrible companies like this sleep at night.

    2 votes
  2. Supernova
    Link
    I wonder how much of nothing the authorities will do this time. Dam breach reported at former N.C. coal plant, raising fears that toxic coal ash may pollute Cape Fear River...

    I wonder how much of nothing the authorities will do this time.

    Dam breach reported at former N.C. coal plant, raising fears that toxic coal ash may pollute Cape Fear River
    http://washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/09/21/dam-breach-reported-former-nc-coal-plant-raising-fears-that-toxic-coal-ash-may-pollute-cape-fear-river/?tid=pm_business_pop

    1 vote