"For the past three years, a sinkhole in a Mooresville parking lot has released coal ash into a tributary of Lake Norman, in part because of a legal impasse about who is responsible — the property owners or Duke Energy — for repairing the damage.
The cause, says a lawyer for the property owners, is a pipe and culvert system, improperly installed 25 years ago, that “has now failed, spectacularly, and has caused a very deep sinkhole to develop and grow. This sinkhole threatens not only to swallow up one of our entity client’s business stores, but also private parking lots, private roads, and portions of NC Highway 150.”
The one-acre parking lot at 190 West Plaza Drive — also known as NC Highway 150 — is currently owned by Christopher and Kim Medford and Tire Masters. However, the coal ash was buried on the property under a previous ownership. In 1994 and 1995, Terry Smith developed the tract and allowed Duke Energy to deposit nearly 55,000 cubic yards of ash from the Marshall Steam Station onto the future parking lot for use as structural fill."
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