Ooooh! NC Will "Reevaluate" Duke's Toxic Discharge Permits, But Wants To Revive $99,000 Settlement

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Last edited Fri Feb 28, 2014, 10:05 AM - Edit history (1)

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“We must look to the future of coal ash storage and how we can best protect the citizens of North Carolina and our environment,” wrote McCrory. “As you know, our rivers and lakes not only provide drinking water to many North Carolinians, but they are also natural and economic resources we must protect and treasure both today and for future generations.”

The governor asked that by March 15 Duke provide to the DENR the company’s plans for the 14 coal ash storage ponds owned by Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress. “Please consider this request of an urgent nature,” he wrote. The U.S. Justice Department has opened a felony criminal investigation into the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and its relationship with Duke Energy.

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Oh, but meanwhile . . .

Yet DENR is considering reinstating the proposed settlement it brokered with Duke Energy over its illegal pollution at its coal ash ponds in Asheville and on Mountain Island Lake near Charlotte. Negotiated privately between DENR and Duke Energy, the settlement does not require Duke to stop polluting or to move its coal ash to safe, dry storage in lined landfills. The DENR told the North Carolina Superior Court in a February 20 letter that it may again seek approval of the settlement, which it had withdrawn 10 days earlier, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

The nonprofit law firm represents the Sierra Club, Western North Carolina Alliance, and Waterkeeper Alliance in the enforcement action on Duke Energy’s Asheville facility and represents the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation in the enforcement action on Duke Energy’s Riverbend facility on Mountain Island Lake. “Seven months after this settlement was proposed, we’ve had almost 5,000 objections and practically no support for it,” said Sam Perkins with the Catawba Riverkeeper. “The Dan River spill demonstrated that the people who objected were right – leaving these toxic mounds waterfront is a bad idea. We need to move the coal ash away from water, and Duke’s denial of this simple fact is extremely concerning for the millions of people whose drinking water lies below these sites.”

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http://ens-newswire.com/2014/02/26/duke-raked-over-the-coals-for-35-million-gallon-ash-spill/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ens-newswire%2FJZdj+%28ENS%29

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1. NC Gov Duke, "Please consider this request of an urgent nature.” I know you own me

so I'm being polite.

If I were governor, I'd haul their asses to court and MAKE them clean up and move their coal ash sites away from water. No please and thank you's about it. But this governor is Duke's own.