During a town hall meeting in Walnut Cove on Thursday, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney acknowledged that Governor McCrory has done more to address the decades-old problem of coal ash than the previous North Carolina governor.
In response to a North Carolina Advisory Committee member’s question on whether the McCrory administration has been more active than previous administrations to address coal ash, SELC Senior Attorney Chandra Taylor stated, “I think that this administration has done more than the previous administration.”
The McCrory administration has consistently proven it is committed to holding Duke Energy accountable to protect North Carolina’s environment. Thanks to the governor’s leadership, all Duke Energy coal ash ponds in North Carolina are required to be safely closed in a way that protects the environment and public health.
The McCrory administration is also going beyond state and federal requirements to ensure that minority communities are not negatively impacted by Duke Energy coal ash landfills. Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder of the state environmental department made that announcement at the town hall meeting, where he discussed the governor’s leadership on the long-ignored coal ash issue.
You can hear the exchange from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights meeting here.