RALEIGH – Following a comprehensive application review and public comment period, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Waste Management (DWM) has issued a permit to allow Duke Energy to construct and operate the first of three new, lined onsite landfills at the Allen Steam Station for the disposal of excavated coal ash.
The issuance of the permit for the North Starter Landfill aligns with the Allen Steam Station Impoundment Closure Plan, which the Department approved for the facility’s two ash basins on October 28, 2020. The closure by excavation of the coal ash impoundments is consistent with the 2020 Settlement Agreement and signed Consent Order between DEQ, Duke Energy, and community and environmental groups.
Allen Steam Station, located at 253 Plant Allen Road (NC 273) south of Belmont, will have three landfills constructed to dispose of excavated coal ash residuals. The North Starter Landfill will be the first constructed, located partially within the former footprint of the Retired Ash Basin in the property’s northwest portion. Approximately 25 acres, it will be designed to hold nearly 2.3 million cubic yards of coal ash and will stand 130 feet tall, rising approximately 50 feet above Southpoint Road.
A copy of the permit to construct and operate the landfill can be found at: https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/WasteManagement/DocView.aspx?id=1556083&dbid=0&repo=WasteManagement. For information about the Allen Steam Station coal ash closure activities, go to: https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/coal-ash-excavation/allen-steam-station-coal-ash-closure.
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