Conservation groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center won a major victory Monday night when a federal court ruled that they may go forward with challenges to coal ash pollution contaminating an important public fishery near Wilmington, NC and drinking water supplies for a nearby community. The court rejected numerous arguments by Duke Energy seeking to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Cape Fear River Watch, Sierra Club and Waterkeeper Alliance.
“This ruling is a major step towards protecting people who depend on nearby drinking wells for clean water and on fish from Sutton Lake for their next meal,” said Frank Holleman, the senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represented the groups in court. “The court said Sutton Lake belongs to North Carolinians and rejected Duke Energy’s attempt to avoid its responsibility for polluting groundwater and drinking water supplies and convert Sutton Lake into its wastewater dump.”
The state drew national press when it stepped in at the last minute to try to block the citizens groups’ Clean Water Act lawsuit by filing an enforcement action in state court. But the federal court rejected Duke’s argument in this case that the groups’ lawsuit was preempted, finding not only that the state is prosecuting different claims than the conservation groups but also that it would be “remiss” to bar the groups from proceeding given that “there have been allegations of possible improper influence” between Duke and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The relationship between Duke Energy and DENR is under nationwide scrutiny and a federal criminal grand jury investigation in the wake of state efforts to block citizen enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the subsequent Dan River coal ash spill.
“Sutton Lake sits on the banks of the Cape Fear River and is an important part of our local economy, so DENR cannot give Duke Energy a blank check to treat this important public resource as a private wastewater treatment facility,” said Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper. “It’s long past time for Duke to remove the coal ash and start cleaning up the lake.”
http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/10/coal-ash-litigation-duke-energy/#/BlackoutGallery/337733/6
The state drew national press when it stepped in at the last minute to try to block the citizens groups’ Clean Water Act lawsuit by filing an enforcement action in state court. But the federal court rejected Duke’s argument in this case that the groups’ lawsuit was preempted, finding not only that the state is prosecuting different claims than the conservation groups but also that it would be “remiss” to bar the groups from proceeding given that “there have been allegations of possible improper influence” between Duke and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The relationship between Duke Energy and DENR is under nationwide scrutiny and a federal criminal grand jury investigation in the wake of state efforts to block citizen enforcement of the Clean Water Act and the subsequent Dan River coal ash spill.
“Sutton Lake sits on the banks of the Cape Fear River and is an important part of our local economy, so DENR cannot give Duke Energy a blank check to treat this important public resource as a private wastewater treatment facility,” said Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper. “It’s long past time for Duke to remove the coal ash and start cleaning up the lake.”
http://ecowatch.com/2014/06/10/coal-ash-litigation-duke-energy/#/BlackoutGallery/337733/6
