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 a new, lined onsite landfill at the Belews Creek Steam Station for the disposal of excavated coal ash.
The issuance of the permit for the Ash Basin Landfill aligns with the Belews Creek Steam Station Impoundment Closure Plan, which the Department approved for the facility’s ash basin on August 17, 2020. The closure by excavation of the coal ash impoundment is consistent with the 2020 Settlement Agreement and signed Consent Order between DEQ, Duke Energy, and community and environmental groups.
Belews Creek Steam Station, located at 3195 Pine Hall Road in the community of Belews Creek, will have one landfill constructed to dispose of excavated coal ash residuals. The Ash Basin Landfill will be located partially within the former footprint of the Basin beside Pine Hall Road. Approximately 90 acres, it will be designed to hold nearly 14.1 million cubic yards of coal ash and will stand 168 feet tall, rising approximately 125 feet above Pine Hall 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=1572535&dbid=0&repo=WasteManagement. For information about the Belews Creek Steam Station coal ash closure activities, go to: https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/coal-ash-excavation/belews-creek-steam-station-coal-ash-closure-plan.
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