Duke Energy will be doing this at its 23 other coal ash sites in the Carolinas.
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Under the Coal Ash Management Act, Duke Energy is required to excavate and move its coal ash to fully lined landfills.
The Alliance of Carolinians Together Against Coal Ash held a news conference and rally at the state legislative building.
Additional recent testing of wells not close enough to have been affected by coal ash in the groundwater showed contaminated samples, indicating the contamination was naturally occurring. Crews are perfecting the railroad which will transport coal ash in a dry stack to a lined landfill in Amelia County, Virginia. The effort has support from larger environmental advocacy groups including Appalachian Voices, the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, Clean Water for North Carolina and NC WARN.
The coalition concerned more than 300 families living near coal ash ponds have been told it is unsafe to drink or cook anything with their water.
“We are demanding our water, our environment, the safety of our citizens be put ahead of corporate greed”, said Bobby Jones of Goldsboro, a retired state health agency employee.
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The company responsible for leaking more than 35,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River is working to find a safe place to permanently store the remaining 3 million tons of waste now housed at the Dan River Steam Station. Duke Energy is now providing Mathis’ community with bottled water for drinking, but they use well water for everything else. The rest of the coal ash will stay on site. Some of the activists said they favored what’s known as the “saltstone process,” which locks the contaminants into concrete stored onsite. “We’re just going to have to do that day by day through our actions”.
