C-T: Duke Energy letter proposes options for coal-ash removal

A letter from Duke Energy to state environmental officials, obtained by the Asheville Citizen-Times, outlines various proposals for dealing with coal ash stored at various plants in North Carolina, including one near Asheville. The letter, says the Citizen-Times, includes shuttering the plant as one possibility. Other proposals include switching to dry ash instead of wet coal ash:

From the Asheville Citizen-Times

“Duke: Closing Asheville Power Plant an Option,” by Clarke Morrison, March 15, 2014

Duke Energy says in a letter to state officials that it would consider shutting down its Asheville power plant as part of a plan for dealing with coal ash contamination.

The utility also said it might convert to producing dry ash at the Lake Julian plant rather than the wet material that has leached toxic chemicals from storage ponds into the groundwater.

But the letter Duke CEO Lynn Good sent Gov. Pat McCrory on Wednesday leaves in doubt what might eventually be done with coal ash already in two Asheville lagoons, which cover 91 acres at the plant near the French Broad River.

Good’s letter doesn’t say whether the company is considering removing all the old ash. State officials said Friday they might force Duke to remove all of it, regardless of what the utility wants. …

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About Margaret Williams
Editor Margaret Williams first wrote for Xpress in 1994. An Alabama native, she has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987 and completed her Masters of Liberal Arts & Sciences from UNC-Asheville in 2016. Follow me @mvwilliams

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