"RALEIGH — The Duke Energy coal-ash spill landed in the lap of a state legislative environmental oversight panel today and gave lawmakers a rare bird’s-eye look at the documented pollution problem posed by the utility’s coal-waste dumps statewide."
"Four lawsuits filed in 2012 by the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources against Duke Energy assert that coal-waste dumps at 11 of Duke’s 14 coal-fired power plants statewide are illegally leaking into North Carolina waterways in violation of federal clean-water laws and monitoring wells at the power plants show that levels of such potentially toxic metals as arsenic, mercury and chromium exceed state-mandated standards.
It took a massive coal-ash spill to bring those violations to the attention of the state Environmental Review Commission."
Bertrand M. Gutierrez reports for the Winston-Salem Journal February 17, 2014.
SEE ALSO:
"OIRA Meetings Stir Controversy over Coal Ash Regulation" (Center for Effective Government)
"Out of Control: Mounting Damages From Coal Ash Waste Sites" (Environmental Integrity Project: 2010)
"EPA Promoted the Use of Coal Ash Products With Incomplete Risk Information" (EPA Office of Inspector General: 2011)
"Coal Ash Said Safe for Recycling by EPA in Win for Industry" (Bloomberg)
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