The state environmental department commends Governor Pat McCrory for signing a law that sets enforceable deadlines for Duke Energy to provide alternate water supplies to well owners near coal ash ponds. The law also requires the company to repair dams around the ponds and process coal ash for reuse in concrete manufacturing.
“The new coal ash law establishes a firm timetable for providing permanent water connections and repairing dams at coal ash ponds,” said Secretary Donald R. van der Vaart. “It also protects customers by allowing for less expensive methods of closing coal ash ponds that won’t be passed on in the form of higher electricity prices.”
Under the new law, some coal ash ponds can be safely drained, covered with a waterproof liner, and monitored for at least 30 years to make sure they don’t affect groundwater. Duke Energy must also prove to the state environmental department that it has installed permanent alternate water supplies and fully completed dam repairs.
Under Governor McCrory, North Carolina became the first state in the country to order that all coal ash ponds be closed. The administration issued record fines for environmental violations including $7 million for the Dan River spill, and more than four million tons of coal ash have been moved from five Duke Energy facilities to safe storage.
Videotaped statements from Donald R. van der Vaart (van der vart), Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, and Tom Reeder, Assistant Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, can be found here.
A transcript of the video is included below.
Hello. I’m Donald van der Vaart, Secretary of the state Department of Environmental Quality.
I’m here to talk to you about the action North Carolina is taking to protect the environment, public health, and the communities that are affected by the long-ignored problem of coal ash.
Since 2013 North Carolina has become a national leader in cleaning up coal ash.
Now Governor Pat McCrory has signed a law that provides permanent drinking water to well owners, requires the dams around coal ash ponds to be repaired, and mandates the recycling of coal ash.
Most importantly, the law provides people who live near coal ash facilities with
certainty that they will receive permanent alternate water supplies.
The new coal ash law is a significant improvement over the bill the governor vetoed in June – a veto the General Assembly did not override. The previous
bill failed to set a deadline for connecting water supplies, it disregarded the repairs that are needed at coal ash dams and it lacked any requirement for coal ash to be recycled.
The bill the governor signed today establishes firm deadlines for providing water connections, requires that all dam repairs are fully completed, requires coal ash to be processed for recycling, provides for at least 30 years of water monitoring, and provides for cost-effective solutions for closing ponds when certain conditions are met.
The law now requires half of all facilities to be excavated.
Only if Duke Energy proves to our department that it installed water supplies and made necessary repairs to its dams, can certain coal ash ponds at the remaining facilities be closed under federal regulations, which could include capping in place.
Cap in place is a closure method where coal ash ponds are safely drained, covered with a waterproof liner, and groundwater near the facility is monitored for decades.
The cap in place option minimizes impacts to electricity rates, is allowed under federal law, and will be widely used in other states.
North Carolina has made tremendous progress in cleaning up coal ash since 2013.
We were the first state in the country to order that all coal ash ponds be closed, issue record fines for environmental violations, required Duke Energy to dig up coal ash facilities where needed, and have already overseen the safe cleanup of more than four million tons of coal ash.
We look forward to building on the progress we have made since 2013 and removing once and for all any threat coal ash may pose to the environment or public health.
Thank you.
Hello. I’m Tom Reeder, Assistant Secretary at the Department of Environmental Quality.
When we talk about North Carolina’s leadership over the last three years in cleaning up coal ash, it’s important to understand how we got here.
For many years, North Carolina regulators ignored the dangers of coal ash – even though coal ash has been stored here since the 1950’s.
What we’ve learned about the decades of inaction and neglect by prior administrations is alarming.
In 2007, a previous administration changed landfill laws and specifically exempted coal ash ponds from many environmental requirements.
The massive spill in Tennessee was 100 times larger than the Dan River spill and should have been a wake-up call for North Carolina.
Instead, in 2009, they exempted Duke Energy from having to show that its coal ash ponds were structurally sound.
If that information had been required, the corroded pipe under the Dan River coal ash pond may have been found and the spill could have been avoided.
In 2010 federal regulators required leaks from all coal ash ponds to be evaluated. No action was taken in North Carolina for three years.
In 2011 the state gave Duke Energy approval to use Sutton lake, a recreational area in Wilmington, as a dumping ground for coal ash.
But the most inexcusable example is how the state failed to deal with groundwater under coal ash ponds.
For many years Duke Energy monitored the water under its coal ash ponds and found hundreds of samples that did not meet groundwater standards, but no action was taken.
Not only did the prior administration fail to act – it actually created a policy instructing regulators not to fine Duke if the company said it would correct the problem sometime in the future.
Things changed dramatically in 2013. This administration has addressed the coal ash problem head-on over the last three years.
We required the closure of all coal ash ponds.
We’ve issued record fines for the groundwater contamination and the Dan River spill.
Ash is being moved from five of Duke Energy’s 14 coal facilities and more than four million tons have already been moved to safe storage.
We have collected and analyzed two years of data about coal ash ponds that we are using to make sound scientific decisions about how to close every pond in the state.
And as we continue the cleanup process, we’re conducting environmental justice reviews before permits are issued in communities where Duke Energy plans to store coal ash in new landfills.
We are committed to protecting the environment, public health and our communities from the long ignored threat of coal ash.
Thank you.