Duke Energy operating personnel and communications representatives proudly showed off the newly excavated 82 basin at the company’s Lake Julian power plant to local media on Tuesday, Oct. 25. The former coal ash pond is now being readied for its next act: the site of the utility’s new natural gas-fired plant, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2020.
Duke Energy pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act at five of its North Carolina plants. The nation’s largest power company agreed to pay $102 million in fines and restitution for the pollution of the Dan River.
Update: On Friday, Feb. 20, the Associated Press reported that Duke Energy, the nation’s largest power company, has been charged with criminal violations of the Clean Water Act at five North Carolina power plants, including the plant in Asheville. The AP reports that the charges are felony violations, while the News & Observer in Raleigh reports the power company […]
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NC DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT & NATURAL RESOURCES DENR requires Duke Energy to address coal ash issues RALEIGH – As part of implementing Governor Pat McCrory’s recent executive order on coal ash, state officials are requiring that Duke Energy provide plans for excavating inactive coal ash storage ponds at four of its facilities. Four letters […]
North Carolina’s environmental agency has ordered Duke Energy to install monitoring wells in a residential neighborhood outside Asheville to determine whether toxic chemicals from the company’s coal ash pits are contaminating homeowners’ drinking water, according to a new report by the Associated Press.
No leaks have been discovered at Duke Energy’s Asheville plant, which runs on coal — like the one on the Dan River where a broken pipe released thousands of gallons of coal ash. But the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources has ordered the company to provide its engineer’s assessment, saying that “portions of […]
A coalition of local and national environmental groups announced plans Jan. 19 to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to force the release of long-awaited rules regulating coal ash as hazardous waste. Despite evidence of leaking ponds and poisoned ground water, the EPA has delayed issuing new rules for nearly two years. Meanwhile, local environmentalists […]
