NC Orders Duke To Dig Up Millions Of Tons Of Coal Ash At 6 Power Plants

"North Carolina’s environment department ordered Duke Energy on Monday to excavate millions of tons of coal ash from six power plants, including two near Charlotte on lakes Norman and Wylie.

Ash has been mixed with water and stored in open, unlined ponds at Duke’s coal-fired power plants for decades. But a 2014 ash spill into the Dan River, near the Virginia line, exposed the potential for heavy metals in ash to contaminate water, including the groundwater near those ponds.

The result was lawsuits and a new state law that ordered Duke to phase out its ash ponds, with the timing and method of closing the ponds dependent on their risks to nearby water supplies."

Bruce Henderson reports for the Charlotte Observer April 1, 2019.