Comments: take with another grain of site:
ASSESSMENTOFTRACE--‐ELEMENT IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURAL USE
OF WATER FROM THE DAN RIVER FOLLOWING THE EDEN COAL ASH SPILL
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UNC Superfund scientists study effects of Dan River coal ash spill
By Sarah Yelton
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Duke Energy crews prepare to take water quality samples in the Dan River. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 
Coal ash was deposited on the banks of the Dan River, just downstream of the spill location. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) 
Shea, standing, and the team analyze samples in the lab. (Photo courtesy of UNC SRP) In response to this environmenal challenge, a team of NIEHS-funded scientists led by Damian Shea, Ph.D., (http://ea.cals.ncsu.edu/who-
Shea is a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Superfund Research Program (SRP) researcher and a professor of biological sciences at North Carolina State University (NCSU).
What chemicals are present?
Shea and his lab team at NCSU are currently working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to collect and properly store samples of coal ash, water, bottom sediments, and organisms such as fish and mussels from a number of sites along the river, for lab analysis.
“There is limited information on how quickly the metals and other chemicals are released from the coal ash to enter the water and food chain,” Shea said. Using ash from the containment pond, Shea and his team will conduct experiments to determine how quickly metals, PAHs, and other chemicals are able to enter the water column.
Evaluating the potential for exposure
With passive sampling devices that remain in the river for 30-day intervals, Shea and his team are assessing the type and amount of chemicals people may be exposed to over the long term, as well as the percentage of those chemicals that are bioavailable, or absorbed by an organism.
“One of the goals of our program is to apply university resources to help governments and the public make informed decisions about reducing risk from hazardous chemicals,” said Kathleen Gray, one of Shea’s SRP colleagues and leader of the UNC SRP Research Translation Core. “Damian’s sampling and analysis is serving a critical need for information on how this contamination may affect health in the future.”
(Sarah Yelton is an environmental education coordinator with the Environmental Resource Program at UNC and UNC SRP Research Translation Core leader.)
http://sph.unc.edu/superfund-
Legal Action re: Coal Ash Spill
Contacts:
Kathleen Sullivan, SELC, 919-945-7106 or ksullivan@selcnc.org
Frank Holleman, SELC, 864- 979-9431 or fholleman@selcnc.org
Representing:
Tiffany Haworth, Dan River Basin Association, 336-627-6270 or thaworth@danriver.org
Michael Ward, Roanoke River Basin Association, 276-634-2540 or mward@co.henry.va.us
Ulla Reeves, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, 828-254-6776 x2 or ulla@cleanenergy.org
Dan River Groups Seek Cleanup of Duke’s Coal Ash Pollution
CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—The Southern Environmental Law Center today filed motions to allow four conservation groups working on the Dan River to participate in the state court enforcement action against Duke Energy for its illegal coal ash pollution of the Dan River and groundwater drinking supplies. SELC filed the motion on behalf of groups that monitor and protect the Dan River– the Dan River Basin Association, the Roanoke River Basin Association, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and Waterkeeper Alliance. They identified numerous illegal discharges ignored by the state in the aftermath of Duke’s disastrous coal ash spill last month.
“The tragic Dan River spill and the revelations of uncomfortably close ties between Duke Energy and DENR make it all the more important that citizens and local conservation groups have a seat at the table,” said Frank Holleman, the senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represents the groups in court. “We will work to make sure that the Dan River is protected and that Duke Energy cleans up the Dan River site.”
The groups seek to stop and clean up unpermitted streams of contaminated surface water that have been discharging from the dikes of the Dan River coal ash lagoons since before the spill and are continuing today, as well as persistent groundwater pollution leaching from these unlined impoundments that documentation shows Duke Energy and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources have known about since the early 1990s. The illegal discharges at Dan River include high levels of coal ash pollutants such as arsenic and lead.
“It is important that local citizens in the Dan River Basin have a voice in the cleanup of Duke Energy's coal ash pollution and DRBA can represent that voice,” said Allison Szuba, president of the Dan River Basin Association (DRBA) Board of Directors. “DRBA has been serving the North Carolina and Virginia communities in the basin for over a decade and we will continue to do so by doing what is necessary to prevent this from happening again.”
“This spill demonstrates the dire need to remove coal ash from impoundments adjacent to our lakes and rivers and into dry, lined storage,” said Gene Addesso, president of the Roanoke River Basin Association. “We cannot allow these same negligent actions to continue polluting our water and putting at risk the citizens and businesses within the Roanoke River Basin that depend on this precious natural resource.”
Previously, the North Carolina court allowed other groups to intervene with respect to Duke’s coal ash sites on Mountain Island Lake, north of Charlotte; on Lakes Wylie and Norman along the Catawba River; Duke’s Asheville site; and its Sutton site near Wilmington on the Cape Fear River.. Seven conservation groups around the state have additional motions to intervene currently pending before the court.
“The Dan River site is an ongoing disaster, with illegal discharges pouring out of the coal ash lagoons everywhere you look,” said Waterkeeper Alliance’s Pete Harrison. “Our rivers should be protected from the scourge of coal ash, and we should make sure that the Dan River is never again subjected to coal ash pollution and a catastrophic spill.”
The Southern Environmental Law Center represented conservation groups in South Carolina in several recent legal challenges, leading to South Carolina utilities SCE&G and Santee Cooper committing to remove 13.4 million tons of coal ash from unlined lagoons at four sites throughout the state. All the South Carolina coal ash will be moved to dry storage in lined landfills or recycled.
“The Dan River spill shows all the things that are wrong with the primitive storage of coal ash in unlined, polluting pits next to our waterways,” said Ulla Reeves of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. “It is long past time that the Dan River site was cleaned up, and moving all the Dan River coal ash away from the river to dry, lined storage should become the model for safe disposal of coal ash.”
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About the Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Environmental Law Center is a regional nonprofit using the power of the law to protect the health and environment of the Southeast (Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama). Founded in 1986, SELC's team of nearly 60 legal and policy experts represent more than 100 partner groups on issues of climate change and energy, air and water quality, forests, the coast and wetlands, transportation, and land use. www.SouthernEnvironment.org
About the Dan River Basin Association
The Dan River Basin Association was created by residents to protect and promote the natural and cultural assets of the 3,300 square mile Dan River basin in Virginia and North Carolina through education, recreation and stewardship. www.danriver.org
About the Roanoke River Basin Association
The Roanoke River Basin Association is a non-profit organization based in Danville, Virginia, whose mission is to establish and carry out a strategy for the development, use, preservation and enhancement of the resources of the Roanoke River system of lakes and streams in the best interest of present and future generations. RRBA consists of hundreds of members, primarily located within the 410-mile-long Roanoke River basin in Virginia and North Carolina, including local governments; non-profit, civic and community organizations; regional government entities; businesses and individuals. http://prod.rrba.org/.
About the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is a nonprofit organization that promotes responsible energy choices that create global warming solutions and ensure clean, safe, and healthy communities throughout the Southeast.
About Waterkeeper Alliance
Founded in 1999 by environmental attorney and activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and several veteran Waterkeeper Organizations, Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patrol and protect over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa.
Dan River group wants in on lawsuit against Duke Energy
By Taft Wireback taft.wireback@news-record.com | Posted: Thursday, March 20, 2014 11:52 am
The Dan River Basin Association joined with three other conservation groups Thursday to intervene in a lawsuit state officials have filed against Duke Energy to stop pollution from the power company’s coal ash ponds.
DRBA, Roanoke River Basin Association, Waterkeeper Alliance and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy want a state judge to admit them so they can push for a full cleanup of the Feb. 2 spill at Duke Energy’s retired Dan River Steam Station in Eden. The spill sent huge amounts of toxic coal ash and polluted wastewater into the Dan River.
“It is important that local citizens in the Dan River Basin have a voice in the cleanup of Duke Energy’s coal ash pollution, and DRBA can represent that voice,” said Allison Szuba, the president of the Dan River Basin Association’s board of directors.
The lawsuit was necessary to keep pressure on both Duke Energy and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources to end coal ash pollution at Duke Energy’s spill site in Eden and elsewhere across the state, said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents the citizen groups.
“The tragic Dan River spill and the revelations of uncomfortably close ties between Duke Energy and DENR make it all the more important that citizens and local conservation groups have a seat at the table,” Holleman said.
“The Roanoke basin group joined DRBA and the others to make sure that Duke cleans up all remnants of the Feb. 2 spill, move any remaining stored ash away from the river and into a secure landfill and to do so as quickly as reasonably possible,” said Mike Ward, a resident of Martinsville, Va., who serves on that group’s board of directors.
“We want reassurance more than just saying, ‘We’re going to do it,’ ” Ward said.
The lawsuit is part of a series that several other environmental groups initially sought to file last year, contending that state government was doing nothing about groundwater pollution from Duke
Energy’s ash ponds at 14 active and retired coal-fired plants across the state.
The DENR stepped into the lawsuits belatedly to sue Duke for the alleged environmental violations and supplant the original environmental groups.
Last year, the original citizen groups assumed the role of intervener's, side parties to the lawsuit that are allowed to participate because they have significant interests in its outcome.
DRBA and the three other conservation groups are the first to request interveners status in the case involving the Dan River facility, Holleman said.
More about Duke Energy
More about Environmental
- ARTICLE: Utilities Commission subpoenaed in Duke Energy probe
- ARTICLE: Judge tells Duke to clean up ash ponds
- ARTICLE: Taking an environmental journey
EPA knew of faulty pipes at Dan River ash basin in 2009
By Taft Wireback taft.wireback@news-record.com | Posted: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 9:40 pm
As federal officials convene a grand jury this week to investigate the Dan River coal ash spill, they might want to look in an unlikely spot before pointing fingers of blame.
The mirror.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to seize an opportunity in September 2009 that might have prevented last month’s disaster near the retired Dan River Steam Station in Eden, the third-worst coal ash spill in U.S. history.
The spill on Feb. 2 occurred after a drainage pipe ruptured under the ash basin for the closed coal-fired plant. It’s one of two such pipes mentioned as potential problems in a detailed report prepared almost five years ago by an EPA consultant.
EPA later sent Duke Energy and state officials an “inspection letter” about the plant in Eden that never mentioned recommendations by its own consultant for both pipes to be checked regularly, said Steve McEvoy, North Carolina’s chief dam-safety engineer.
That stymied state regulators, keeping them from addressing the pipes in their later examinations of the site, said McEvoy, whose program is part of the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
“As due diligence, we relied on a review of the EPA inspection letter that did not mention the storm drains, even though they were mentioned in the detailed report (by the federal agency’s consultant),” McEvoy said in an email. “I do not know why the EPA did not consider the drainage pipes in their final recommendations.”
McEvoy’s office in January 2010 assumed supervision of the dams protecting coal ash ponds across the state, inheriting a job the N.C. Utilities Commission had held for 35 years. But the EPA serves as the ultimate regulator for the nation’s environmental laws.
At least five other studies of Dan River for the state’s utilities board between 1981 and 2006 also mentioned the pipes as a potential problem that deserved attention. Those reports, however, went to a utilities board whose members lacked expertise in dam-safety engineering. They turned informally to the DENR for advice in interpreting the reports and then relied on the various power companies to carry out any recommendations.
The EPA sent the inspection letter from its Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response directly to Duke Energy on Sept. 14, 2009, about four months before ash-pond scrutiny passed from the utilities commission to McEvoy’s office. McEvoy and his staff took the EPA letter as their marching orders for the site at Dan River, supervising work for several years to shore up the ponds’ earthen dam walls, stop polluted water from seeping out and fend off burrowing animals.
In general, a consulting firm hired by the EPA, Paul C. Rizzo Associates of Columbia, S.C., rated the Dan River ash basin in good condition during 2009 “with a few areas of concern, chiefly seepage and shallow surface slides. ...”
The EPA told the News & Record that it didn’t single out the pipes for extra attention five years ago because the agency’s engineering consultant believed they already were being checked adequately by Duke Energy, in line with “standard industry practice.”
“Issues related to the structural stability of the two stormwater pipes that pass under the primary (ash pond) were assessed by the EPA’s contractor and determined to be adequate at the point in time during which the assessment took place,” EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said in an email.
EPA commissioned the 2009 study as one of many across the region after a catastrophe in December 2008 involving coal ash in Kingston, Tenn.,
Coal ash contains a variety of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals that can be harmful to people, wildlife and fish.
The Dan River ash basin includes two ponds where Duke Energy stores the remains of pulverized coal once burned to generate electricity at a shuttered plant that was replaced several years ago by one that runs on natural gas.
Decades ago, Duke engineers enlarged the old plant’s main ash pond over the two drainage pipes designed to carry relatively clean stormwater from land behind the basin, beneath the basin of polluted ash water and then out to the river.
In addition to citing the submerged pipes as potential problems in 2009, Rizzo Associates found several shortcomings in the Dan River facility’s earthen dam and its upkeep. Federal regulators included those items in their subsequent inspection letter, though not the submerged pipes, and McEvoy’s state office supervised Duke Energy’s efforts to deal with them, including the seepage of polluted water from the dam.
McEvoy reported to EPA last August that “final approval of the repairs” at Dan River had been issued by the state government.
His staff never checked the two stormwater pipes because EPA did not list them as items of concern and also because “historic drawings provided by Duke Energy described the pipes as reinforced concrete,” he said.
In fact, part of the pipe that collapsed and caused the spill was made of less-durable corrugated metal, a factor in the collapse that Duke and government officials disclosed in the days immediately after the spill.
A check of the second drainage pipe after the spill on Feb. 2 showed that it also leaked in numerous places, allowing polluted water from the ash pond above to enter that second pipe and then flow out to the river.
Duke plugged both pipes last month.
Duke officials declined to comment on whether their company was careful enough in following recommendations in various past studies that suggested different ways of monitoring the two submerged drainage pipes.
But spokeswoman Paige Sheehan noted that Rizzo’s report for the EPA recommended that the utility check water coming out of the pipes for “turbidity,” cloudiness that would suggest they were leaking.
“We followed the recommendation,” Sheehan said.
The EPA would not say whether U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors in Raleigh have subpoenaed any of its records in their coal ash probe, which apparently focuses on both the Dan River spill and whether state regulators cut Duke Energy too much slack generally in enforcing the anti-pollution laws that affect the utility’s 30-plus ash ponds at 14 active and retired coal-fired plants across the state.
“EPA and the DOJ (Department of Justice) regularly coordinate our collective efforts to enforce environmental law and protect the public. Due to the ongoing investigation information shared between the two organizations is confidential,” Jones said last week.
DOJ investigators from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Eastern North Carolina subpoenaed numerous coal ash documents and witnesses from the state DENR along with reports and other material from the N.C. Utilities Commission, mostly from the its last 15 years of ash-pond regulation. Duke Energy officials also have acknowledged having been served subpoenas, but they have declined to say who or what was summoned.
A spokesman for Rizzo Associates referred questions about the report to the EPA.
But Rizzo executive Conrad Ginther said in a recent telephone interview that none of the firm’s data or documents related to the facility in Eden have been subpoenaed by the grand jury, which began its probe Tuesday.
“The EPA has all our records that were based in the report,” Ginther said.
http://www.news-record.com/news/article_a21bd962-afd0-11e3-80a2-001a4bcf6878.html
Related Stories
Previous news on the coal ash spill impact Dan River coal ash spill impact Continuing coverage of the Feb. 2 spill of coal ash from a Duke Power steam station into the Dan River
2009 EPA report on Dan River Steam Station (Rizzo Associates)
A report from Paul C. Rizzo Associates about the Dan River Steam Station to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2009.
Related Collections
Previous news on the coal ash spill impact Dan River coal ash spill impact Continuing coverage of the Feb. 2 spill of coal ash from a Duke Power steam station into the Dan River Related Documents
2009 EPA report on Dan River Steam Station (Rizzo Associates) A report from Paul C. Rizzo Associates about the Dan River Steam Station to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in September 2009.
- Duke Energy Ash Ponds EPA Assessment Update September 4, 2013
- Coal ash EPA inspection letter September 2014
Federal grand jury looks into Duke Energy spill
MICHAEL BIESECKER and MITCH WEISS The Associated Press | Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 7:46 am
RALEIGH — A federal grand jury planned to convene Tuesday as part of a widening criminal investigation triggered by the massive Duke Energy coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River with toxic sludge.
The session at the federal courthouse in Raleigh comes as environmental groups amp up pressure on regulators and lawmakers to force Duke to clean up the leaky, unlined ash pits polluting North Carolina's waterways. Prosecutors have issued at least 23 grand jury subpoenas to Duke executives and state officials.
Thomas Walker, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, declined to comment, citing the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.
The subpoenas seek records from Duke, the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the state Utilities Commission. They include reams of documents, including emails, memos and reports, related to the Feb. 2 spill into the Dan River and the state's oversight of the company's nearly three dozen other coal ash dumps spread out at 14 power plants.
Those called to testify include Tom Reeder, the state's water quality director.
The first batch of subpoenas was issued Feb. 10, the day after an Associated Press story raised questions about whether North Carolina regulators had helped shield Duke from a coalition of environmental groups that wanted to sue under the U.S. Clean Water Act to force the company to clean up its coal ash pollution.
Their efforts were stymied by the state environmental agency, which used its authority under the federal act to intervene. The state quickly proposed what environmentalists derided as a “sweetheart deal” where the $50 billion Charlotte-based company would have paid just $99,111 to settle violations over toxic groundwater leeching from two of its plants with no requirement that it stop the pollution.
That proposed settlement was put on hold indefinitely after last month's spill.
Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for the state environmental department, declined to comment beyond saying the agency is cooperating with the federal probe.
Environmentalists had long complained about the level of coordination between Duke and North Carolina's regulators and lawmakers.
Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, worked for Duke for more than 28 years before retiring to campaign for the state's highest elected post.
Following the spill, McCrory and state environmental secretary John Skvarla asked Duke for details about company plans to clean up the coal ash dumps.
Duke President Lynn Good responded last week. She said it would take the company at least two years to clean up the Eden dump, which spilled the ash into the Dan River. She said the company will move its remaining ash away from the river to either a lined landfill or a “lined structural fill solution.”
Good said the company will be responsible for cleaning up after the disaster, though it is not clear how the miles of contaminated river bottom might be restored or how long that might take. Public health officials have advised people to avoid contact with the water in the Dan and not to eat the fish.
She said the company will also move ash dumps in the Asheville and Charlotte area, and is looking at options for the Sutton pits near Wilmington.
Good said the company will continue to work on long-range plans for 11 other sites where the company has leaky unlined ash pits.
Skvarla called the plan inadequate, saying he wanted more answers from Duke.
He said regulators plan to modify permits at Charlotte and Asheville area ash pits to stop pollution from seeping into public waterways. Skvarla said regulators want to stop all unauthorized discharges from those leaky ash dumps, and possibly move the waste.
But Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Frank Holleman said the state is dragging its feet. He said the agency had the power to force Duke to clean up the sites.
Meanwhile, more North Carolina lawmakers are calling on Duke to take action.
State Senate Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican who lives near the spill site, said he wants the General Assembly's Environmental Review Commission to look into the issue to make sure that it “never happens again.”
“As a resident of Eden, I have personally experienced the impact and understand the gravity of the recent coal ash spill,” he said.
He noted that Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca announced last month he is drafting a bill to require Duke to clean up the other coal ash ponds.
The co-chair of the commission that would consider the legislation, Republican Rep. Mike Hager of Rutherfordton, is a retired Duke Energy engineer who ran the five coal-fired generators at the company's Cliffside Steam Station.
In another development, North Carolina regulators say they are investigating whether Duke Energy broke the law when workers pumped contaminated water from a coal ash dump near the Cape Fear River.
Related Stories
Posted on: March 19, 2014
Virginia agencies provide update on coal ash spill
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality led a public meeting Tuesday in Danville regarding the coal ash spill and the response from Virginia agencies. Officials said they will continue to assess conditions in the Dan River and monitor remediation efforts.
"We're in this for the long-haul, we're going to make sure the right thing is done for the river and the right thing is done for the citizens," said David Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
In assessing conditions, agencies are analyzing water quality data from water samples collected along the river. Agencies also are studying tissue from fish samples collected.
Paylor told a packed City Council chamber that initial tests on the river’s fish showed no immediate contamination by heavy metals found in coal ash, though the fish continue to test positive for mercury and PCBs — as they have for many years.
State agencies have reposted warning signs along the river regarding fish consumption limits. “Those signs were there before,” Paylor said. “They are only for the PCBs and mercury, but they are back in place.”
While the first tests on fish show no build-up of heavy metals in their tissue, Paylor said agencies will continue to test fish tissue to make sure the heavy metals do not build up in their flesh over time.
Danville’s drinking water continues to be safe, Paylor said.
Remediation efforts currently are focused on removing large deposits of coal ash from the river. Duke Energy has completed the removal of the deposit created below the discharge point at its Eden, N.C., plant. Duke Energy next will remove a deposit left near the Schoolfield Dam in Danville. Duke Energy is in the process of securing permits for removal of that deposit.
Paylor said only large deposits of coal ash would be removed from the river. “In other areas, the coal ash is so dispersed it would cause more harm to try to remove it. You would collect more mud than ash.”
Paylor said state and federal officials are in the process of setting up a natural resource damage assessment program. The assessment will try to put a dollar amount on the ecological, recreational and economic damage caused by the spill.
“We will then hold Duke Energy responsible for that,” Paylor said.
A pipe under the main coal ash pond at Duke Energy’s shuttered Dan River Steam Station located 20 miles upstream from Danville broke on Feb. 2 and spewed up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the river.
Paylor addressed whether a coal ash spill could happen in Virginia. He said Virginia has 11 ash coal pits, and they have all undergone state and Environmental Protection Agency inspections to ensure a similar environmental mess won't occur. He said five of the impoundments are scheduled to be retired.
The meeting was held in the City Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building. In addition to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the agencies included representatives from the state Health Department and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
http://www.danville-va.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1602"We're in this for the long-haul, we're going to make sure the right thing is done for the river and the right thing is done for the citizens," said David Paylor, director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.
In assessing conditions, agencies are analyzing water quality data from water samples collected along the river. Agencies also are studying tissue from fish samples collected.
Paylor told a packed City Council chamber that initial tests on the river’s fish showed no immediate contamination by heavy metals found in coal ash, though the fish continue to test positive for mercury and PCBs — as they have for many years.
State agencies have reposted warning signs along the river regarding fish consumption limits. “Those signs were there before,” Paylor said. “They are only for the PCBs and mercury, but they are back in place.”
While the first tests on fish show no build-up of heavy metals in their tissue, Paylor said agencies will continue to test fish tissue to make sure the heavy metals do not build up in their flesh over time.
Danville’s drinking water continues to be safe, Paylor said.
Remediation efforts currently are focused on removing large deposits of coal ash from the river. Duke Energy has completed the removal of the deposit created below the discharge point at its Eden, N.C., plant. Duke Energy next will remove a deposit left near the Schoolfield Dam in Danville. Duke Energy is in the process of securing permits for removal of that deposit.
Paylor said only large deposits of coal ash would be removed from the river. “In other areas, the coal ash is so dispersed it would cause more harm to try to remove it. You would collect more mud than ash.”
Paylor said state and federal officials are in the process of setting up a natural resource damage assessment program. The assessment will try to put a dollar amount on the ecological, recreational and economic damage caused by the spill.
“We will then hold Duke Energy responsible for that,” Paylor said.
A pipe under the main coal ash pond at Duke Energy’s shuttered Dan River Steam Station located 20 miles upstream from Danville broke on Feb. 2 and spewed up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the river.
Paylor addressed whether a coal ash spill could happen in Virginia. He said Virginia has 11 ash coal pits, and they have all undergone state and Environmental Protection Agency inspections to ensure a similar environmental mess won't occur. He said five of the impoundments are scheduled to be retired.
The meeting was held in the City Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building. In addition to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the agencies included representatives from the state Health Department and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
DEQ Addresses City Council and Public On Coal Ash Spill
WSET.com - ABC13
Posted: Mar 18, 2014 10:03 PM EDT
Danville, VA - The DEQ Director addressed concerns Tuesday night from City Council and the public. The DEQ says they plan to learn a lot about what could happen to the wildlife and environment from the Tennessee ash spill that happened years ago. Crowds packed Danville's Council Chambers to hear updates from state agencies. In the audience, loaded with questions and concerns, North Carolina resident, Morris Lawson came to the meeting hoping for answers.
"It makes me feel better that they are going to be out there. But until I see them dredging or pulling stuff out, that will make me really feel better," said Lawson.
DEQ Director David Paylor led the conversation alongside representatives from the state Health Department and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"We're in this for the long-haul, we're going to make sure the right thing is done for the river and the right thing is done for the citizens," said Paylor.
Paylor says the most recent calculations show 39,000 tons of coal ash entered the river. He says they tried to collect the ash near the spill site.
"22 tons was captured below immediately below...pretty small amount," said Paylor.
Paylor explained that they plan an additional ash recovery upstream from the Schoolfield Dam starting within a month. Meanwhile, he says the DEQ has been collecting several samples, everything from drinking water to fish tissue. He says water is still safe to drink.
"There are really no levels of concern of fish tissue right now. Can you eat the fish?...There are no additional problems as of yet as a result of this," said Paylor.
Paylor says they plan to keep testing the fish for years to come.
After the meeting, Duke Energy representatives spoke to City Council. They apologized again about what happened and said they take full responsibility, including financially. Representatives said they plan to move the Dan River ash pond in the next 24 to 30 months.
http://www.wset.com/story/25011821/deq-addresses-city-council-and-public-on-coal-ash-spill
National and regional coverage of the Dan River spill and its aftermath
In early February, as 39,000 tons of toxic coal ash from a retired Duke Energy power plant poured through a ruptured storm-water pipe and into the Dan River just outside of Eden, NC, the pressing dangers of coal ash burst into the national consciousness. The spill also brought nationwide attention to SELC’s continued efforts to clean up the mess, which began before the incident. Click here for a comprehensive write up of the issue.
Tweak to NC Law Protected Duke's Coal Ash Pits
ABC News, March 17, 2014
DENR rejects Duke's coal ash plan, amid accusations of leniency
News & Observer, March 13, 2014
Duke’s coal ash plan needs to show urgency
Charlotte Observer, March 10, 2014
Utility Cited for Violating Pollution Law in North Carolina
The New York Times, March 3, 2014
Judge Orders Duke Energy To Stop Groundwater Pollution At Coal Ash Dumps
Huffington Post, March 6, 2014
Coal Ash Spill Shows How a Watchdog was Defanged
New York Times, February 28, 2014
As NC debates, other states empty coal ash dumps
The Washington Post, February 28, 2014
DENR actions on coal ash raise questions
Raleigh News & Observer, February 22, 2014
NC Coal Ash Spill Investigation Widens As Federal Prosecutors Subpoena State Records
Huffington Post, February 20, 2014
Regulatory Favoritism in North Carolina
The New York Times, February 16, 2014
Duke plans to dredge river as coal ash deal dumped
Washington Post/AP, February 11, 2014
NC regulators shielded Duke’s coal ash pollution
York Dispatch/AP, February 9, 2014
Sharp disagreement over effects of North Carolina coal ash spill
Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2014
Audio and Video:
Feds probe relationship between N.C. regulators and Duke Energy after spill
CBS News, March 18, 2014
On the Record: Coal ash debate heats up (VIDEO)
WRAL.com, March 1, 2014
Toxic Chemical Spills in West Virginia and North Carolina
The Diane Rehm Show, February 24, 2014
Toxic Leak Taints North Carolina Coal Plants, And Regulators
NPR, February 20, 2014
Warnings ignored ahead of toxic NC spill
The Rachel Maddow Show, February 10, 2014
Subpoena looks for dirty deal in toxic spill
The Rachel Maddow Show, February 13, 2014
Interactive Maps:
Drinking water intakes downstream from the Dan River spill: http://cdb.io/1azMQSH
Drinking water intakes downstream from coal ash pits across the region: http://cdb.io/1neAekg
http://www.southernenvironment.org/national-and-regional-coverage-of-the-dan-river-spill-and-its-aftermath
http://appvoices.org/rww/dan-river/
Here is a selection of some of the news coverage about the spill and SELC:
Print:Tweak to NC Law Protected Duke's Coal Ash Pits
ABC News, March 17, 2014
DENR rejects Duke's coal ash plan, amid accusations of leniency
News & Observer, March 13, 2014
Duke’s coal ash plan needs to show urgency
Charlotte Observer, March 10, 2014
Utility Cited for Violating Pollution Law in North Carolina
The New York Times, March 3, 2014
Judge Orders Duke Energy To Stop Groundwater Pollution At Coal Ash Dumps
Huffington Post, March 6, 2014
Coal Ash Spill Shows How a Watchdog was Defanged
New York Times, February 28, 2014
As NC debates, other states empty coal ash dumps
The Washington Post, February 28, 2014
DENR actions on coal ash raise questions
Raleigh News & Observer, February 22, 2014
NC Coal Ash Spill Investigation Widens As Federal Prosecutors Subpoena State Records
Huffington Post, February 20, 2014
Regulatory Favoritism in North Carolina
The New York Times, February 16, 2014
Duke plans to dredge river as coal ash deal dumped
Washington Post/AP, February 11, 2014
NC regulators shielded Duke’s coal ash pollution
York Dispatch/AP, February 9, 2014
Sharp disagreement over effects of North Carolina coal ash spill
Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2014
Audio and Video:
Feds probe relationship between N.C. regulators and Duke Energy after spill
CBS News, March 18, 2014
On the Record: Coal ash debate heats up (VIDEO)
WRAL.com, March 1, 2014
Toxic Chemical Spills in West Virginia and North Carolina
The Diane Rehm Show, February 24, 2014
Toxic Leak Taints North Carolina Coal Plants, And Regulators
NPR, February 20, 2014
Warnings ignored ahead of toxic NC spill
The Rachel Maddow Show, February 10, 2014
Subpoena looks for dirty deal in toxic spill
The Rachel Maddow Show, February 13, 2014
Interactive Maps:
Drinking water intakes downstream from the Dan River spill: http://cdb.io/1azMQSH
Drinking water intakes downstream from coal ash pits across the region: http://cdb.io/1neAekg
http://www.southernenvironment.org/national-and-regional-coverage-of-the-dan-river-spill-and-its-aftermath
Dan River Coal Ash Spill
On Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, a stormwater pipe at a
retired coal-fired power plant in Eden, N.C., collapsed, sending an
estimated 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of contaminated water
into the Dan River. Duke Energy, owner of the coal plant and coal ash pond,
failed to report the incident to the general public for nearly 24 hours.
Today, coal ash lies five feet thick near the spill point and coats the
riverbed for miles, with traces of the toxic waste evident more than 70 miles
downstream. Duke Energy estimates it will take two years to clean up the Dan
River.
Appalachian Voices was one of the first groups on the scene, taking water
samples and documenting what would become the third largest coal ash
disaster in the nation. It ultimately took Duke six days to plug the failed
pipe, and leaks from two adjacent pipes at the same facility were discovered by
regional advocacy groups.
Water sampled from the Dan River by Appalachian Voices revealed contaminants such as lead, iron, manganese and
arsenic that exceeded state and federal drinking water standards. Duke Energy
and DENR repeatedly claimed that toxics in the river were negligible, however
five days after releasing initial water testing results, DENR admitted it had
misinterpreted the data, which showed that arsenic levels in the Dan River were
actually four times higher than state standards. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service issued an advisory not to touch parts of the Dan affected by the spill
or eat fish and mussels from the river.
[ See the sidebar above right or visit our Front Porch Blog for the latest
updates ]
A week after the spill was stopped, it became clear that neither Duke nor
DENR would be able to quickly wipe their hands of the disaster when the U.S.
Attorney’s office in Raleigh, N.C., began a federal criminal investigation,
requesting records from related to coal ash discharges including emails, memos
and reports dating back to 2010. Soon after, federal investigators requested
records from the North Carolina Utilities Commission, which, until 2010, was
responsible for inspecting coal ash dams every five years.
The tragic Dan River spill has been a wake up call for many across North
Carolina — environmental groups, social justice groups, and concerned citizens
have come together like never before to shed a light on the toxic coal ash
problem that plagues the state. Duke Energy has 37 unlined ponds at 14 power
plants in the state, with the potential to cause even more devastation than the
Dan River disaster if a dam were to fail.
Links to more information
- Incident page with independent and agency testing results, citizen reports, and more at Appalachianwaterwatch.org
- Public Policy Poll: North Carolinians want Duke to pay for cleanup
- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s timeline of the Dan River disaster
- Visit Southeastcoalash.org’s collected list of ongoing news coverage
- Fouling Our Nest: Coal Ash Roundup and Next Steps
- Emails indicate coordination between Duke Energy and DENR on coal ash lawsuits
- Aftermath of NC Coal Ash Spill Still Unfolding
- Poll: North Carolinians Favor Swift Action on Coal Ash
- Citizens Deliver Coal Ash Petition to Duke Energy
- NCDENR Defends NCDENR, Not the Environment
- Preventable Spills Yield Predictable Apologies
- Second Ruptured Pipe Spills Arsenic into Dan River
- Feds Conduct Criminal Investigation of N.C. Agency Following Dan River Spill
- Dan River Update: Citizens Warned To Avoid Water Contaminated by Coal Ash Spill
http://appvoices.org/rww/dan-river/
