WHAT: Public meeting on the draft proposed coal ash risk classifications for Belews Creek Steam Station
WHEN: 6 p.m. March 24 (registration for speakers starts at 5:30 p.m.)
WHERE: Stokes County Courthouse, 1012 Main St., Danbury, N.C., 27016
The public is invited to a meeting March 24 in Danbury to give feedback on the state’s proposed risk classifications for the coal ash pond at Duke Energy’s Belews Creek Steam Station.
The meeting will be at 6 p.m. March 24 at the Stokes County Courthouse, 1012 Main St., Danbury.
As required by the coal ash law, the state environmental agency developed the risk classifications for all Duke Energy coal ash impoundments by assessing structural integrity and the potential impacts on surface water and groundwater.
The draft proposed classification for the Belews Creek facility is low-to-intermediate risk. For this impoundment, the department has only enough information to narrow the classification to between low and intermediate risk. The state will consider all written and verbal public feedback before making the risk classification final.
Final risk classifications will determine the timeline for closing each of the utility’s 33 coal ash ponds. 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 giving the public until April 18 to provide comments. Written comments may be mailed to: N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, Attn: Toby Vinson, 1612 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1612. Public comments may also be submitted by sending an email to: belewscomments@ncdenr.gov.
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.