Feds must get to the truth on regulators and Duke Energy
Published March 27, 2014
Editorial by Winston-Salem Journal, March 26, 2014.
Environmentalists and citizens concerned about pollution of the state’s rivers got some good news last week in an ongoing story that is quickly becoming a scandal – the state’s poor regulation of Duke Energy’s coal ash ponds.
The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources announced that it had asked a judge to withdraw a proposed settlement that would have allowed Duke Energy to pay a mere $99,000 fine for groundwater contamination from coal ash ponds near Charlotte and Asheville, The Associated Press reported. The settlement contained no requirement that Duke clean up its pollution.
The state’s action comes seven weeks after a spill from a burst drainage pipe at a Duke coal ash pond in Eden dumped tens of millions of toxic sludge into the Dan River.
“We hope that DENR will now work with us to enforce the law and force Duke Energy to clean up its illegal coal ash storage and move the ash to safe, dry storage in lined landfills away from our rivers,” Frank Holleman, a senior lawyer at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told The AP.
The Law Center in January 2013 threatened to sue Duke under the Clean Water Act over its coal ash pollution. The state then filed violations against Duke and quickly negotiated the $99,000 settlement, considered by environmental groups as a slap on the wrist by Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration. McCrory worked for Duke Energy for almost 30 years before becoming governor.
To be fair, DENR’s regulation of Duke Energy could have also been stronger under Democratic governors.
DENR’s proposed settlement with Duke Energy and the company’s relationship with DENR regulators are the subjects of a federal criminal investigation. A grand jury has issued 23 subpoenas since the Dan River spill on Feb. 2.
State officials say they will now partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to examine violations of the Clean Water Act at the Dan River plant and some of Duke’s 30 other coal ash ponds.
Meanwhile, about 75 people turned out Saturday along the Smith River, which feeds the Dan River, in honor of World Water Day, hosted by the Dan River Association. The organizers urged participants to enjoy the river where pollution is not present. Anne Wood, 65, told the News & Record that she loved the river. “Now, I wouldn’t let my dog get in it.”
With that discouraging thought in mind, we hope federal investigators will dig deeply into the relationship between regulators and Duke Energy and uncover the truth.
