North Carolina riverbed coated by toxic coal ash, officials say

[G_j]

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/18/north-carolina-river-coal-ash-spill

Fish and other aquatic life at risk in Dan river, about 70 miles from where massive Duke Energy spill occurred two weeks ago

Federal officials said Tuesday that toxic coal ash has coated the bottom of a North Carolina river as many as 70 miles downstream of a Duke Energy dump where a massive spill occurred two weeks ago.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service advised that a massive pile of coal ash about 75ft long and as much as 5ft deep has been detected on the bottom of the Dan river near the site of the February 2 spill. Deposits varying from 5in deep to less than 1in coated the river bottom across the state line into Virginia and to Kerr Lake, a major reservoir.

Federal authorities expressed concern for what long-term effect the contaminants will have on fish, mussels and other aquatic life. Public health officials have advised people to avoid contact with the water and not eat the fish.

“The deposits vary with the river characteristics, but the short- and long-term physical and chemical impacts from the ash will need to be investigated more thoroughly, especially with regard to mussels and fish associated with the stream bottom and wildlife that feed on benthic invertebrates,” said Tom Augspurger, a contaminants specialist at the federal wildlife agency. Benthic invertebrates are small animals that live in the sediments of rivers and lakes, such as clams, worms and crustaceans.

The Dan River system in North Carolina and Virginia is home to two federally listed endangered species, the Roanoke logperch fish and the James spinymussel. The river also has another freshwater mussel, the green floater, which is currently being evaluated for protection under the US Endangered Species Act.

Officials said the coal ash is burying aquatic animals and their food. The ash, generated when coal is burned to generate electricity, could also clog gill tissues in fish and mussels. The agency said public reports of dead aquatic turtles at two state parks in Virginia had not yet been verified by federal biologists.

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Duke Energy Will Try To Make Ratepayers Pay To Clean Up Coal Ash Disaster

http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/02/19/duke-energy-will-try-to-make-ratepayers-pay-to-clean-up-coal-ash-disaster/

Duke Energy’s executives want you to know they’re sorry for the tens of thousands of tons of coal ash they spilled into the Dan River in the third-largest disaster of its kind in US history. They’re sorry for the water that officials now admit is tainted with arsenic and is unsafe even to touch, no less for swimming, boating or fishing.

They’re sorry for the little animals — the clams, mussels and crustaceans — that form the base of the river’s ecosystem and are suffocating in a river of sludge. They’re sorry for the big ones — the birds, fish and turtles – that eat those little things. And most of all they’re sorry to the people living near the Dan who depend on all of it, directly or indirectly, for much of their local economy (and, as anyone who’s ever lived near a river knows, for much more than that.)

They’re just not sorry enough to pay to clean it up.

After all, why would Duke ask its executives or investors to pay to clean the mess they created when they can do what they always do when they screw something up: get their customers to foot the bill.

According to the Associated Press, George Everett, Duke’s director of environmental and legislative affairs, told state legislators on Monday:

that the company is sorry for the spill and will be accountable. Any costs incurred because of the cleanup will likely be passed on to ratepayers, not shareholders, he said.

“We have paid absolutely no attention to costs, to this point,” Everett said, responding to a lawmaker’s question about who will pay. “We’re focused on stopping the discharge and initiating the remediation of the river. But when costs do come into play, when we’ve had a chance to determine what those costs are, it’s usually our customers who pay our costs of operation.”

It takes audacity to say with one breath “we will be accountable” and also “but we won’t pay for it.”

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So sad! This is the first documented evidence of possible impacts on wildlife from the massive coal ash spill on the Dan River. Jenny Edwards from the Dan River Basin Association said “Turtles should be hibernating this time of year. It’s cold. They hibernate down in the mud. The fact that they’re crawling up on the bank and dying, even if it’s not in mass numbers… It’s highly unusual.”

TAKE ACTION and tell Governor McCrory that we want NC’s coal ash waste to be moved to dry, lined storage away from water sources: http://bit.ly/toxicspillsNC

[marions ghost]

1. K&R

Avoidable. "We're sorry" -- means --"Drink mah Coal Ash Koolaid. Buy bottled water if you don't like it."