Citizen conservation and environmental justice groups have filed motions to intervene in Duke Energy’s appeal of the state’s sweeping coal ash cleanup order. A state administrative law judge will decide whether to let the people impacted by coal ash pollution have their voices heard in fighting Duke’s attempt to carry on with pollution as usual.
Groups as diverse as the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Roanoke River Basin Association, and Stokes County Chapter of the NAACP have joined together to help defend the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) order for Duke to excavate and relocate their polluting coal ash pits at six sites to safer, lined landfills.
“All of North Carolina’s waters and all its families deserve protection from Duke Energy’s toxic coal ash pollution,” said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, which represents these groups in court. “Years of study show the only way to protect North Carolina families is to remove Duke Energy’s toxic coal ash waste from polluting, unlined waterfront pits. When the coal ash from all of Duke’s sites is finally out of our groundwater in dry, lined storage at each site, North Carolina’s rivers will be cleaner, North Carolina’s drinking water will be safer, and North Carolina’s communities will be more secure.”
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