Residents ask for quick ash cleanup
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 11, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/ETHAN SMITH
Janet Smith, who spoke during the public hearing on coal ash Thursday night, questioned why the H.F. Lee power plant in Goldsboro was only designated as an intermediate-risk facility that would not be required to have its coal ash basins excavated or closed until December 2024.
North Carolina regulators held a public hearing Thursday night at Wayne Community college regarding the closing of coal ash basins surrounding the H.F. Lee Power Plant at 1199 Black Jack Church Road.
Nearly 100 people attended the hearing and more than 25 people voiced their concerns to the state officials throughout the course of the two-hour hearing.
Among the attendees' chief concerns were the extent to which coal ash -- stored in unlined basins or ponds surrounding the H.F. Lee plant in Goldsboro -- is contaminating the water they consume daily and the seeming lack of expediency by the state and Duke Energy to take action to remove or close the basins and prevent any further contamination of water, perceived or real.
This public hearing was one of 15 being held across the state in the month of March to gather public opinion about how urgent it is to close Duke Energy's 33 coal ash basins in communities throughout North Carolina.
The comments gathered during the public hearings will be used to make recommendations to the state Coal Ash Management Commission about what risk designations coal ash ponds in each community should receive and therefore determine how quickly the ponds in each community will be closed.
There are three risk levels that will be assigned to ash basins across the state, each of which come with a different closure date.
A high-risk coal ash pond must be excavated and closed by December 2019, an intermediate-risk coal ash pond must be excavated and closed by December 2024 and low-risk coal ash ponds must be closed by December 2029.
The proposed risk classification for the H.F. Lee plant in Goldsboro is intermediate, meaning the coal ash basins would not be closed until more than eight and a half years from now.
"Following completion of the public meetings and submission of comments, the department will consider the comments and develop a final proposed classification," said Steve Lanter, hydrogeologist with the North Carolina Division of Water Quality.
Only coal ash ponds that receive high and intermediate-risk designations will have to be excavated, while low-risk coal ash ponds will be considered for excavation or "capping in place," which consists of simply sealing the unlined coal ash pond instead of removing it from the earth.
Several speakers during the public hearing called the deadlines for closing the ponds "insulting," saying the effects the unlined ash basins are having on groundwater are happening now and that immediate action should be taken to close all coal ash ponds.
The H.F. Lee plant was originally designated as being one of four sites with unlined coal ash ponds that required accelerated cleanup due to current conditions. Citizens living in that area feel the designation of H.F. Lee as an intermediate-risk site is disingenuous and goes against what they were originally told about the plant.
Residents living around the H.F. Lee plant are subsisting off of bottled water and have been sent "do not drink" notices for the water that comes out of their wells. Some residents even attribute a laundry list of health problems -- everything from cancer to dormant thyroids -- to contaminated groundwater in the area.
"When we first found out the water was poisoned, we thought the state was going to do something about it," said Johnnie Gurley, who lives at 1350 Old Smithfield Road, which is roughly 1,500 feet from the H.F. Lee plant. "But now, after a year of doing nothing, they're trying to tell us it's actually no big deal. Nothing about our water has changed over the past year, but now they expect us to believe all of my relatives and neighbors that have suffered from cancer over the years were just unlucky. Either God came down and performed a miracle or our governor (Pat McCrory) is in Duke's pocket."
Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Matthew Starr -- who spoke at the meeting Thursday night -- tested groundwater well sites near the plant in June and July 2014.
He sent his samples he collected to an independent lab for testing, which came back showing illegally high levels of groundwater contaminants in the water. Arsenic, boron, mercury, lead, iron, manganese, barium, chromium and selenium were all found in tests conducted on Starr's samples.
These contaminants can then seep into the water and are the waste byproduct of coal burning energy plants that turn produce ash that gets dumped in cooling ponds and buried. The H.F. Lee Plant in Goldsboro has five of these unlined coal ash ponds where the ash is buried, although the plant itself stopped burning coal years ago.
According to data provided by the state, which tested groundwater and surface water contamination, as well as dam safety, both the surface water and dam safety categories received high-risk designations, while groundwater received a low-risk designation because the state maintains there are no wells affected by coal ash contamination.
Of 22 potential water contaminants in the area, 14 were found to be in exceedance of the recommended safety level.
A representative from Duke Energy, Government and Community Relations Manager Millie Chalk, spoke during the public hearing. She was the only speaker that defended Duke Energy during the hearing Thursday night.
"We at Duke Energy are continuing to deliver on our promise to safely close all ash basins across the Carolinas," Ms. Chalk said, which drew rounds of head-shaking and hand-waving from the crowd. "We're closing ash basins in ways that put safety first, protect the environment, minimize impacts to communities and manage cost."
But the crowd -- consisting of both local community members and activists -- didn't buy it.
"The idea that anyone could put a mixture of deadly substances in unlined pits and believe that they are safe or low-risk, is so incredibly stupid that it defies my imagination," said Paul Taylor, who spoke during the hearing. "We cannot allow, we must not allow, we will not allow corporate profits and corporate criminals to continue destroying what's left of this planet."
Throughout the hearing, many residents shared anecdotes about how, after moving to the area near the H.F. Lee plant, either they or someone they knew was diagnosed with inexplicable illnesses or various forms of cancer. Those that spoke believe it cannot be a coincidence that they were diagnosed with these illnesses after drinking and bathing in the water coming from wells near the H.F. Lee facility.
Many posed questions to the officials conducting the meeting, seeking answers as to what would be done about contamination they believe is happening right now and what can be done to expedite the process of closing the coal ash basins in Goldsboro.
But the state officials conducting the hearing did not allow the audience to ask questions after the meeting Thursday night and would not answer questions either during or after the meeting.
Any Wayne County resident that wishes to submit comments to the state for consideration in what risk-level the H.F. Lee plant should receive from the state can do so until April 18.
Citizens can do so by email by submitting comments to leecomments@ncdenr.gov, or citizens can send letters to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality at:
N.C. Division of Water Resources
Groundwater
Protection Section
N.C. Department of Environmental
Quality
Attn: Debra Watts
1636 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1611