Duke is hit with a citizen suit to clean up three more coal ash sites, plus more news, this week in CIB.

Judicial Watch: New Citizen Suit Filed Against Coal Ash Pollution

Citizen conservation groups last week followed up on their announced commitment to sue Duke Energy to compel the cleanup of coal ash pits at three more plants on the Cape Fear, Neuse, and Yadkin rivers.

Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) filed the citizen suit pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation, Yadkin Riverkeeper, and Waterkeeper Alliance. The suit targets Duke’s Cape Fear site in Chatham County, Lee site in Goldsboro, and Buck site in Salisbury. SELC pointed out that the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has not required Duke to clean up these sites, and Duke has not committed to doing so. They are not among the sites designated as “high risk” under the recently enacted (and woefully inadequate) coal ash management legislation passed by the NC General Assembly.

In its September 3 news release, SELC points out that the Cape Fear site’s high hazard dams are rated in poor condition and seep directly into the Cape Fear River; the Lee pits are directly on the banks of the Neuse River, with unstable dams and are already discharging high levels of arsenic into the river and surrounding wetlands; and the high hazard Buck lagoons, directly upstream from High Rock Lake and the drinking water intakes for Denton and Albemarle, are leaking chromium and other pollutants into groundwater sources as well as the Yadkin River.

“The Buck, Cape Fear, and Lee coal ash ponds are toxic and dangerous threats to drinking water and the health of nearby communities,” said Donna Lisenby of Waterkeeper Alliance. “DENR and the General Assembly have been asleep at the wheel by failing to clean up these high priority sites, while we have been actively investigating Duke’s violations and safety hazards and are now moving forward to enforce the law.”

“We’re taking action to ensure these communities and rivers are protected from Duke Energy’s toxic coal ash pollution,” said SELC’s Frank Holleman. “DENR and the General Assembly chose not to require cleanup of coal ash in these communities, so citizens groups are stepping up to enforce the law and protect clean water for the people of North Carolina.”

News coverage of the lawsuit notes that similar litigation filed by SELC last year was blocked by DENR, which shielded Duke from potentially heavy penalties. Governor Pat McCrory, who controls DENR under his administration, worked for 29 years for Duke before retiring to run for governor, and “the company’s executives have given generously to his campaigns.” McCrory denies showing any favoritism toward his former employer.

Administrative Watch: Fracking Hearings Conclude This Week

One final in-person public hearing remains to take comments on North Carolina’s proposed rules on fracking. Hearing officers for the state Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) will hear comments this Friday, September 12, at the Western Carolina University campus in Cullowhee.

The hearing is at the Liston B. Ramsey Regional Activity Center, 92 Catamount Road, Cullowhee.

For those who can’t attend an in-person hearing, the record remains open through September 30 for written public comments on the MEC proposed rules, which can be submitted via email. You can use NCLCV’s convenient link to submit comments here.

Legislative Watch: Cleanup Action from 2002 Saving Lives Today

Finally this week, we look at a state legislative action and its results – from the 2002 General Assembly. A study published last week in the academic journal Environmental Science & Technology shows that the pollution cuts mandated by the 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act are saving lives today.

That act mandated cleanup of fine particulates (soot) and other pollutants from a number of the coal-fired power plants operating in the state, beyond the requirements of the time from the federal government. The research shows that as a result by 2012, the risk of premature death from this fine particulate matter had been cut 63 percent, translating into an estimated 1,700 fewer deaths from the effects of air pollution in the state that year.

The study was produced from research and analysis conducted at the UNC-Chapel Hill Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health. The report can be accessed here.

In contrast to the timidity and short-sighted rollbacks of public health protections seen in the current NC General Assembly, this legislative leadership in 2002 has been proven visionary in the lives being saved today by their work then. Among the backers of the Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002 was then State Senator Kay Hagan, now seeking re-election to the US Senate from North Carolina.

The study of lives being saved today by the 2002 legislation reminds us that these public policy decisions have real, major, and long-lasting consequences. By extension, so do the choices we as voters make in choosing those who we empower to make legislative decisions on our behalf.

That’s our report for this week.