WHAT: Public meeting on draft proposed coal ash risk classifications for the Rogers Energy Complex (Rutherford County)
WHEN: 6 p.m. March 14 (Registration for speakers starts at 5:30 p.m.)
WHERE: Isothermal Community College, Library Auditorium, 286 ICC Loop Rd, Spindale, NC
The public is invited to a March 14 meeting in Spindale to provide feedback on the state’s proposed risk classifications for the coal ash ponds at Duke Energy’s Rogers Energy Complex.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Isothermal Community College, Library Auditorium, 286 ICC Loop Road in Spindale.
As required by the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014, the state Department of Environmental Quality developed the risk classifications for all Duke Energy’s coal ash impoundments in North Carolina. The draft proposed classifications for the Rogers Energy Complex’s two inactive impoundments are low risk. The draft proposed classification for the facility’s active impoundment is low-to-intermediate risk. For this impoundment, the department has only enough information to narrow the classification to between low and intermediate. The state will consider all written and verbal public feedback before making the classifications final.
The final risk classifications will determine the timeline for closing each of the utility’s 33 coal ash ponds. A coal ash pond is designated as high, intermediate or low risk. Coal ash ponds designated as high-risk must be excavated and closed by December 2019; intermediate risk ponds must be excavated and closed by December 2024; and low-risk ponds must be closed by December 2029.
In keeping with the coal ash law, the state is hosting public meetings in each county where a coal ash facility is located and is giving people 60 days to offer feedback on the risk classifications. Written comments on the Rogers facility classification may be mailed to: N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, Attn: Zahid Kahn, 610 E. Center Ave., Suite 301, Mooresville, N.C., 27609. Public comments may also be submitted by sending an email to: rogerscomments@ncdenr.gov. The public comment period will close on April 18.
The draft proposed coal ash risk classifications and related documents are available online at: http://deq.nc.gov/news/hot-topics/coal-ash-nc/draft-classifications.