By McCall Reeder
Intern
As the state continues to ramp up regulations on Duke Energy over how it handles the waste created from coal used at power plants, Wilmington residents will have a chance to learn how new rules could affect the local environment and speak out about the regulations.
On March 1, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (N.C. DEQ) will hold a hearing in downtown Wilmington, one of 14 statewide public hearings scheduled to explain the draft proposed classifications for all of the Duke Energy coal ash impoundments. One of those coals ash facilities is at the Sutton Plant, located northwest of Wilmington.
“The meetings will all be held in the month of March, which marks the beginning of a robust public participation process that will help inform the public of the proposed classifications,” said Mike Rusher, communications director for environmental protection for the N.C. DEQ.
While the N.C. DEQ is hosting the hearing, the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper, will also be in attendance. Both parties are encouraging locals to attend the hearing and engage in the public participation process.
“Everyone is welcome to attend,” Rusher stated. “Copies of the comprehensive classifications will be made available in each county with a coal ash facility at the local health department and a local library.”
The meetings come after the 2014 decision by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to close four coal ash facilities, including the Sutton facility, Rusher stated. A long string of court hearings and trials following the coal ash spill in the Dan River, located through Stokes and Rockingham counties, prompted McCrory’s decision.
The Dan River spill occurred on Feb. 2, 2014, and dumped tens of thousands of tons of wet coal ash into the river along with 27 million gallons of polluted water, prompting the N.C. DEQ to shut down the facilities responsible for the spills and runoff to rivers across the state.
However, some think the response of the state’s requirements for Duke Energy to clean up the coal ash across the state and pay for the damage done has been delayed and half-hearted.
Kathleen Sullivan, senior communications manager at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said submerged coal ash is a threat to many North Carolina communities.
“While coal ash is being removed at Duke Energy’s Sutton site to safer, dry lined storage away from Sutton Lake and the Cape Fear River, which we support, Wilmington is also downstream from Duke Energy’s Cape Fear coal ash pits along the river, and other communities across North Carolina also face the prospect of having coal ash left submerged in groundwater sitting in leaking, unlined pits next to rivers, lakes, and drinking water supplies,” Sullivan said. Sutton Lake has been contaminated with selenium that has killed about 1 million fish per year and deformed even more, she continued.
The leaking caused some groundwater contamination that threatened the public water supply, though Duke Energy moved to provide a new water line since the pollution was found.
The public hearing will take place in room N-202 on Cape Fear Community College’s downtown Wilmington campus, 411 N. Front St., on March 1 at 6 p.m.
