Lawsuits are filed against Duke
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 7, 2014 1:50 AM
A group of conservationists filed lawsuits in federal court Wednesday against Duke Energy to force the company to clean up what they say is pollution flowing into the state's rivers.
The H.F. Lee plant near Goldsboro is one of three Duke plants named in the lawsuit.
The others are the Buck Steam Station near Salisbury and the Cape Fear Plant in Moncure.
Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Matthew Starr is a party in the suit, which claims that runoff from coal ash pits near the river are contaminating the water.
Starr is joined in the lawsuit by Kemp Burdette, Terri Pratt, Donna Lisenby and the Southern Environmental Law Center. Burdette, Pratt and Lisenby are part of the Cape Fear Riverkeeper Foundation, Yadkin Riverkeeper Foundation and the Waterkeeper Alliance, respectively.
"Enough's enough," Starr said. "If you're not going to enforce the law then we'll make you enforce it. It shouldn't have to be that way."
Duke's 33 unlined coal ash pits across the state have been under scrutiny since a February spill at a power plant in Eden coated 70 miles of the Dan River in sludge.
North Carolina lawmakers approved new legislation last month requiring Duke to dig up or cap all of its coal ash dumps by 2029.
For Starr, the biggest question is why the lawsuit isn't being handled by the state.
"In doing this, we took a step in doing what our elected officials in the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources have not done and will not do," Starr said. "Filing the suit is to force Duke Energy to clean up the pollution flowing into the Neuse."
"We're taking action to ensure these communities and rivers are protected from Duke Energy's toxic coal ash pollution," said Frank Holleman, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
The Clean Water Act sets acceptable standards for drinking water and levels of pollution that are allowed, and allows citizens to file lawsuits, if necessary, in order to enforce the law.
A Duke spokesperson said the company is already involved in cleaning up the pits.
"Duke Energy continues to be committed to closing its North Carolina ash basins in a way that's fact-based and environmentally sound," Erin Culbert said Wednesday.
Results of Starr's independent testing of four locations along the Neuse River revealed high levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, boron, barium, selenium, manganese and iron. One of the samples tested came from the river bank opposite the coal ash ponds at the H.F. Lee facility, which borders Quaker Neck Lake.
"There's no arsenic on that side, but we can tell from the composition of the contaminants that it's coming from coal ash," Starr said.
"It does not appear that without outside groups stepping in DENR has any interest in doing something about these sites," Starr said. "Lee has the worst arsenic pollution of all of Duke's coal ash sites, along with unsafe dams, just a few miles upstream from Goldsboro's water system."