Politicians, regulators, engineers, and commissions are trying to decide what to do with the 100-million tons of coal ash in 32 pits and ponds across…
Four TONS of toxic coal ash are dumped into Lake Michigan every time it sails The S.S. Badger is a ferry that runs across Lake Michigan from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. It is an old and outdated vessel that burns coal for fuel. Every day that the S.S. Badger makes its trip across Lake
A dozen years ago, my thatch began showing frosting signs. Now, I just call it possum-blond. Under my mostly-silver-with-a-little-brown hair is an imaginary jukebox. It’s loaded with songs, music and lyrics for all occasions. Since mid-January, the song called up most often is by Nashville artist Buddy Jewell. I carry his CD in my truck. When I need inspiration in our David-and-Goliath coal-ash battle against Republic Services, I punch the play button. Here’s a snippet of the lyrics: “I guess it started when I was a kid If you said I couldn’t, I did Always had a stubborn streak, put a wall In front of me And I’ll find a way to get around it” Buddy tells his story—which could be Wayne County’s saga in this struggle to save our environment—by singing: “I wanna thank everyone who told me no.” If you listen to naysayers, they’d have you believe there is no way that our tiny community can be victorious over Republic, a $9 billion landfill Goliath. That’s why we must rely on our stubborn streak to get around the wall of no’s. If we had wilted on the first chorus of no’s, the Corps of Engineers would have likely granted Central Virginia Properties’ permit to destroy 25 acres of wetlands to build a massive rail spur. Instead, the decision on the application continues to be delayed. Your voices were heard. I believe both the Corps and the state’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) are willing to listen even more. Thursday, I will join a group traveling to Atlanta to talk and listen as the EPD ponders how to establish new guidelines for coal-ash handling and disposal. Our state can cut and paste the federal rules into Georgia’s laws, or it can be more stringent. I will always believe the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got too cozy with Washington lobbyists, resulting in the reclassifying of coal ash as non-hazardous. Again, ask the people of Flint, Mich., what part of lead in their water is not hazardous to their health. I contend the EPA, under pressure from deep-pocketed lobbyists, fumbled the ball. That’s why the May 12 meeting in Atlanta is so important to Wayne County and all of Georgia. Coal ash, laden with toxic heavy metals, isn’t something we want in our ultrasensitive ecosystem. The EPD can recover that federal fumble and live up to its name: Environmental Protection Division. If the EPD is willing to listen, we cannot afford to miss the opportunity to speak up. The meeting is open to the public, but you need to register: http://geco.georgiaair.org/eventregistration/EventDetails.aspx?eventid=58. And before you mutter: “Atlanta is a long way … up there and back,” think about how long the contamination of toxic coal ash will haunt us. A day’s investment is nothing in the big picture of forever. Your great-great-grandchildren will reap the rewards of your invested time and energy. Yes, this is short notice. However, I remind myself—regularly—if it weren’t for the last minute, some of the best things in life would never happen. Last-minute public outcry has gotten us this far. So, no, it’s not too late to sign up and jump in a northbound carpool. But before you go, download Buddy Jewell’s “I wanna thank everyone” onto your digital gadget. Buddy has given us the perfect fight song against a wants-to-dump-coal-ash-on-us Goliath. Play it over and over as you roll up I-75. And while you are humming along, set your jaws—like a stubborn Altamaha River snapping turtle. We can’t turn loose until it thunders. [email protected]
Organizers of the event, No ACP, a chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League said their demand is an immediate repeal of the Dominion coal ash permit.
Proposed rules by Bevin administration would cut the public - and the state - out of the normal waste-permit processes
Duke Energy promotes article saying coal ash harmless, but scientist cited in report won't stand by its claims. Writer won't answer questions.
A study that sampled unlined coal ash ponds in the Southeastern U.S. finds toxic materials easily leak into surface waters and nearby groundwater.
David Merryman, charged with protecting the Catawba River, has a big job in any year. But in 2010, all 182 pollutant-discharge permits—including one for two high-hazard coal ash ponds on Mountain Island Lake (also known as "our drinking water") -- are up for renewal. It's time for the Riverkeeper to get to work
WALNUT COVE — North Carolinians who are concerned that coal-ash basins owned by Duke Energy pollute water and negatively affect their health and property values appear to have the backing
Critics worry state will permit Duke Energy practices that pose threat to water quality under recently changed coal ash laws.
Editor’s note: This article is part a series of stories by InsideClimate News reporters exploring the future of the coal industry, Coal’s Long Goodbye: Dispatches From the War on Carbon. The U.S. Justice Department’s recent prosecution of three Duke Energy subsidiaries for improper handling of toxic coal ash marked the most significant federal crackdown on […]
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. says $13M project will add 15 years to landfill life.
Board member wants assurance another exemption will not be sought if site rejected.
State regulators are directing Dominion Resources to beef up its monitoring of groundwater as it works to close coal ash ponds at its Possum Point Power Station in Dumfries, a move that lawmakers and environmentalists believe can shed more light on the risks the process could pose to people living in the area.
This is a guest post by Rhiannon Fionn, an independent investigative journalist and filmmaker in post-production on the documentary film “Coal Ash Chronicles.” North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality today announced a settlement agreement with Duke Energy, ending a lawsuit over the department’s $25.1 million fine for groundwater contamination resulting from coal ash stored at the […]
A federal judge has approved Duke Energy’s (NYSE: DUK) compliance plans required following its guilty plea in the Dan River coal-ash spill and other violations.
Speed around the Crown Town coal ash learnin' curve.
Rep. Chuck McGrady, a Hendersonville Republican, says he will introduce a bill to revive the state’s Coal Ash Management Commission, which was dissolved after a N.C. Supreme Court ruling over how its members were appointed.
Unlined coal ash ponds at the Beckjord site pose a poisonous threat to Greater Cincinnati
This is a guest post by Rhiannon Fionn, an independent investigative journalist and filmmaker in post-production on the documentary film “Coal Ash Chronicles.” “I’m fighting for my kids and my neighbors,” says a determined Amy Brown. Brown and hundreds of other North Carolina residents have been using only bottled water for the better part of a year […]
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said North Carolina’s new coal ash regulations don’t go far enough.
Toxic coal ash in the Cumberland River near Tennessee Valley Authority’s Gallatin Fossil Plant was confirmed in tests released today by SELC, Tennessee Clean Water Network, and Tennessee Scenic Rivers Association. The Cumberland River is the source of drinking water for City of Gallatin, Nashville, and others in Tennessee. These conservation groups filed a lawsuit […]
I know it’s the national pastime to degrade prisoners. But siting prisons on top of a coal ash dump, as Pennsylvania did in 2000, really should be a violation of the Eighth Amendment since giving them horrible illnesses just because the state’s contracting process was so shoddy as to allow this is indeed cruel and […]
North Carolina's governor has vetoed a coal ash bill backed by Duke Energy that would have reinstated the recently dissolved Coal Ash Management Commission
The nation's largest electric utility is facing fresh criticism from North Carolinians over its handling of toxic coal ash.
After decades of inaction, the federal government in September will release its second major rule affecting coal ash from power plants in less than a year.
An amendment requested by Gov. Terry McAuliffe that restores crucial provisions to legislation seeking more options and analysis on Dominion Virginia Power’s hotly contested plans for closing its coal ash
Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good met Wednesday with leaders of the state Senate as legislators pondered a coal ash cleanup bill, Raleigh’s WRAL reported.
Nobody disputes that the coal-ash basin at Belews Creek Steam Station in Stokes County must be drained and closed. State law requires it. So what’s the best way to drain
A bill approved by the House Rules Committee on Tuesday would reopen discussions about how quickly more than 30 coal ash ponds across the state would have to be cleaned up. It also would reconstitute the Coal Ash Management Commission.
The bill would let a politically appointed commission decide whether Duke Energy’s cleanup deadlines can be waived.
A Greenwich Schools release on Tuesday said the GHS campus is safe for use. However, some limited areas between the new limits of the west parking lot and athletic fields 3 and 4 will remain fenced off until the final site-wide remediation is complete.
While state lawmakers and environmental authorities are fixated on coal ash as a hazard, some are beginning to think of the waste as a resource. Rare earth elements – key ingredients of technologies such as smart phones, electric car batteries and bulletproof glass – are found in abundance in coal ash and could be mined for profit, according to Duke University researchers.
On Sept. 14, 2010, two women entered a public hearing on coal ash in Charlotte bearing stories and gifts they made for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As the women offered their gifts — one a jar of water and another some homemade ginger-cinnamon syrup — the EPA staffers recoiled.
Residents say Rudo has had their back all along, stand by his testimony
Post updated 11:13 a.m. on Monday, 11/24/14. After four years and a court order that pitted environmental groups against the coal industry, the…
Georgia’s top environmental board unanimously approved Wednesday new coal ash rules that, while more stringent than federal regulations, don’t fully satisfy environmentalists and citizens who live near landfills.
For more than two years, Duke Energy has consistently reassured residents living near its unlined coal ash basins that contaminated groundwater flowed away from their drinking water wells. Computer modeling, the utility said, conducted by “some of the most experienced environmental engineering firms in the nation” proved it. However, new studies conducted last year by UNC-Charlotte and a Duke […]
This December will be the 4-year anniversary of the tragic coal ash waste impoundment failure at the Kingston Fossil Plant in Harriman, Tennessee when a billion gallons of toxic coal ash flooded th…
This short video was taken by Lan Richart of Eco-Justice Collaborative in April 2016 while kayaking past Dynegy's three coal ash pits.
On Sept. 14, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency came to Charlotte to hold one of eight national hearings on coal ash -- the toxic stuff left behind after power plants burn coal. With more than 450,000 public comments to sort through, and a Congress bent on shackling the agency's authority, the EPA has yet to finalize its decision, leaving coal-ash controls to the states.
WALNUT COVE — North Carolinians who are concerned that coal-ash basins owned by Duke Energy pollute water and negatively affect their health and property values appear to have the backing
North Carolina DEQ Wants to Allow Coal Ash to Contaminate Drinking Water
A controversial plan to build a rail spur that would allow as much as 10,000 tons of coal ash to be brought to a Wayne County landfill has been halted.
First-time regulations of coal ash announced in December by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have focused new attention on the storage of the waste from coal-burning plants. In the wake
The state is deciding how risky each of Duke Energy’s ponds is
Students from South Stokes High School and the Stokes Early College shared their views on fracking and coal ash last week at the first ever Symposium on Technology and Environmental Asset Management at the Walnut [...]
