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Pollution from the massive coal ash impoundments at Asheville Power station has triggered two lawsuits. Instead of disposing of the toxic trash properly, Duke/Progress is simply moving the problem.
By John Boyle/Asheville Citizen-Times
May 18, 2013
Asheville — Between the Duke Power plant and Asheville Regional Airport, construction crews are literally moving mountains — of coal ash.
For the past five years, excavators and dump trucks have been emptying nearly all of the 91 acres of two ash ponds at the Duke Energy/Progress plant in Skyland and moving the material two miles to the airport, where it’s being used as fill to create dozens of acres of flat, usable land.
In some places at the airport, the ash fill reaches depths of 60 feet. At the Duke plant, the old fill that’s being cleaned out is 90 feet deep in places.
Kentucky-based Charah Inc. so far has moved some 2.5 million tons — 5 billion pounds — of coal ash to the airport, where it’s placed over soil, a clay liner, a polyethylene liner and a drainage liner, then capped with another layer of heat-sealed polyethylene and a six-foot virgin soil cap.
Duke, airport and state officials say it’s state-of-the-art technology, offering maximum protection for groundwater, the nearby French Broad River and a small nearby neighborhood where many residents rely on wells for drinking water.
But environmentalists harbor concerns about coal ash, the leftover material when coal is burned to generate electricity. The black powdery substance looks like fine soil and packs down easily, making it an excellent filler.
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The Waccamaw River Walk in the heart of Conway.
May 9, 2013
Charleston, S.C. – The Southern Environmental Law Center has filed comments demonstrating that Santee Cooper’s closure plan for its coal ash at its Grainger facility in Conway, S.C., is unlawful, is based on a mistaken geologic assumption, leaves arsenic and coal ash in Conway, and is destined to fail. The comments were submitted to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on behalf of the Waccamaw Riverkeeper, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and SELC.
Santee Cooper has dumped 1.3 million tons of coal ash into unlined pits in a wetland next to the Waccamaw River in the center of Conway. Santee Cooper has known for years that the coal ash is polluting the Waccamaw River system with arsenic. In recent years, the arsenic pollution has reached 3228 ppb, over 300 times the legal limit. In 2009, DHEC determined that Santee Cooper is violating the S.C. Pollution Control Act because of its coal ash arsenic pollution at Grainger.
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By David Wren/The Sun News
Conway’s Waccamaw River Walk
May 6, 2013
Conway, S.C. — The Conway City Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution opposing any plan by state-owned utility Santee Cooper to leave coal ash and its residual pollution – including groundwater contaminated with arsenic – at the site of the idled Grainger electric plant adjacent to the Waccamaw River here.
“This is not an attack on Santee Cooper, but this is toxic waste that needs to be removed from our back yard,” said City Councilman Tom Anderson, who urged other council members and the public to call the utility’s board of directors to voice opposition to any proposal that would leave the coal ash in place. “We don’t need this here.”
Santee Cooper, which owns the Grainger plant, has proposed combining two coal ash ponds on the property into one pond and then encasing the pollution within a cement-fortified vault topped with a synthetic cap. The utility says leaving the coal ash in place will cost about $40 million – nearly half the estimated $78 million it would cost to haul the coal ash to an off-site, lined landfill.
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Citizens concerned about the future of coal ash at the Grainger Generating station gave comments at a public hearing on April, 23, 2013
By Brad Dickerson/The Sun News
April 24, 2013
Conway, S.C. — There was an overriding theme among community members who spoke Tuesday night at a meeting to discuss a proposed plan to enclose the coal ash ponds at the now-closed Grainger electric plant:
Haul the stuff away instead.
They were not convinced by Santee Cooper, which wants to permanently encase the coal ash ponds in a cement-fortified vault capped with a synthetic liner that is designed to prevent contaminants, including arsenic, from seeping into nearby groundwater.
More than 70 people turned out for the nearly two-hour public comment meeting.
Michael Corley, with the South Carolina Environmental Law Project, said Conway will continue to change and evolve over the years, but the coal ash will be a permanent fixture in the downtown area, potentially polluting the nearby Waccamaw River.
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Submit your public comments opposing Santee Cooper’s coal ash closure plans by May 9, 2013.
By Sue Sturgis/Institute for Southern Studies
April 16, 2013–A national water protection advocacy group has released its annual list of the 10 most endangered U.S. rivers, and it includes four in the South at risk from coal and poor water management.
Coming in as the second-most endangered on American Rivers’ list, following the drought-stricken Colorado, is the Flint River in Georgia, which is imperiled by outdated management. The Flint provides water for over 1 million people and 10,000 farms, but it’s going dry to excessive agricultural withdrawals and increasing municipal demands.
“Despite being in a historically wet are of the country,” American Rivers says, “in recent years many Flint River tributaries dried up completely.” The group calls on the state of Georgia to take action to better protect the Flint, particularly during droughts.
The third-most endangered river is the San Saba in Texas, also at risk from excessive agricultural withdrawals.”Through wasteful water use and unregulated pumping, irrigators are transforming a vibrant, pristine river into a dried up riverbed,” according to American Rivers. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality should enforce existing laws to protect the San Saba, the group says, and the Texas legislature should appoint a watermaster on the river’s upper stretch to better manage flows.
Coming in at fifth-most endangered, after the fourth-place Little Plover in Wisconsin, is the Catawba River, which runs through the Carolinas. The risk to the Catawba is toxic coal ash from Duke Energy’s Riverbend power plant near Charlotte, N.C. The ash is stored in massive ponds that are leaking pollution into the waterway.
“North Carolina’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources must require Duke Energy’s Riverbend power plant to ensure the coal ash ponds are sufficiently maintained in perpetuity to safeguard the river and water supply for future generations,” American Rivers says.
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