As part of Governor Pat McCrory’s initiative to protect low-income and minority communities from the effects of coal ash, the state environmental agency has evaluated the potential impact of storing ash in a new lined landfill in Wilmington. An initial review found that storing ash in a new landfill near the Sutton Steam Station would have no disproportionate impact on low-income, minority, and other residential communities within a mile of the proposed site.
“The McCrory administration has become a national leader in safely addressing the decades-old problem of coal ash,” said Tom Reeder, assistant secretary for the state agency. “As part of this initiative, we are evaluating any possible negative impacts that storing coal ash in permitted landfills could have on nearby residents so that steps can be taken to protect those communities.”
The state environmental agency has asked the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Civil Rights, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the commission’s North Carolina Advisory Committee to review the findings. The state has also informed local officials, including New Hanover County commissioners and the mayors of Navassa and Wilmington, of its evaluation. The agency will notify nearby residents by mail about the plans for the Sutton facility.
Duke Energy plans to dig up coal ash from unlined ponds at the Sutton facility and move it to a new lined landfill on the same property. The state agency used census data to evaluate the potential impact that moving and storing coal ash could have with respect to nearby residents’ race, ethnicity, income and other demographic factors. State officials visited the area and found that no residents live within a mile of the proposed Sutton facility landfill.
The state environmental department is conducting similar reviews of each site where Duke Energy proposes to store coal ash in landfills. The area around the Sutton plant was the first to be evaluated. The state will complete its own review of each of the proposed sites before it issues any permits for coal ash landfills.