NC lawmakers get update on Duke Energy coal ash spill

[alp227]

Source: Raleigh News & Observer

RALEIGH — North Carolina lawmakers heard conflicting and occasionally tense testimony Monday on Duke Energy’s accidental spill of coal ash sludge into the Dan River in a hastily scheduled public hearing to address the rapidly unfolding environmental accident in Rockingham County.

The N.C. Environmental Commission, consisting of House and Senate legislators, heard three hours of statements on the spill near the Virginia border that has resulted in a public warning not to eat fish from the Dan River and prompted a federal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department.

The hearings led to a testy exchange between North Carolina’s top environmental regulator and environmental activists hoping to shut down the coal ash ponds.

But the hearing shed little new information on the Feb. 2 spill that dumped up to 39,000 tons of toxic coal ash into the river. The spill was caused by the collapse of a 48-inch drainage pipe that was built in the 1960s and ran under a 27-acre lagoon filled with a mixture of coal ash and water.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/17/3630919/nc-lawmakers-get-update-on-duke.html

[shenmue]

1. By 'accidental,' I think they mean 'deadly and incompetent'

Every single one of these crappy companies should have people hauled off to jail for attempted murder. That's what they'd call it if I put poison in the water supply. Which they just did.

[another_liberal]

2. If some nobody was caught dumping a couple of barrels of that crap in the Dan river . . .

The State would very likely charge him with terrorism. I have no doubt of it.

[RobertEarl]

4. Not the state of NC

That state has allowed pig farms to pollute the whole eastern part of the state for years and years. And that was under Dem rule.

[wordpix]

3. "Duke and officials with DENR echoed each other in asserting that the spill was not catastrophic."

No, it's just a little "incident," as Duke's environmental director calls 39,000 TONS of toxic coal ash into the river.

Obviously, Duke owns the DENR in NC.

[Eugene]

5. Coal Ash Lines River 70 Miles From NC Spill Site

Source: Associated Press

Coal Ash Lines River 70 Miles From NC Spill Site

RALEIGH, N.C. February 17, 2014 (AP)
By MICHAEL BIESECKER Associated Press

Federal officials say toxic coal ash has coated the bottom of a North Carolina river up to 70 miles downstream of a Duke Energy dump where a massive spill occurred two weeks ago.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service advised Tuesday that a massive bar of coal ash about 75 feet long and as much as 5 feet deep has been detected on the bottom of the Dan River near the site of the Feb. 2 spill. Deposits varying from 5 inches deep to less than 1 inch coated the river bottom across the state line into Virginia and to Kerr Lake, a major reservoir.

Federal authorities are concerned the toxic contaminates will negatively affect mussels and fish. Public health officials have advised people to avoid contact with the water.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nc-gov-mccrory-briefed-coal-ash-deal-duke-22555259