More environmental groups seek role in Duke lawsuit

Jan 15 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Bertrand M. Gutierrez Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

 

A conservation group concerned about groundwater contamination around Duke Energy's coal-fired power plant in southeastern Stokes County plans to ask a Superior Court judge today for permission to join a lawsuit filed against Duke by the state of North Carolina citing groundwater contamination at all of the utility company's power plants.

"We've had longstanding concerns about groundwater contamination," Amy Adams, a member of the nonprofit Appalachian Voices, said Tuesday.

As the lawsuit enters the phase of settlement negotiations, conservation groups such as Appalachian Voices want to join as plaintiffs alongside the state because, they say, officials with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources may try to reach a settlement with Duke that does not go far enough to hold the company accountable or limit damage to groundwater.

"We don't have complete confidence that DENR will come up with a remediation that will protect its citizens and so we're getting involved to make sure the citizens of Belews Creek are protected from any potential contamination or health damages," said Adams, who is a former DENR supervisor.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing other conservation groups concerned about groundwater contamination at some of the other power plants cited in the lawsuit, has successfully filed a motion to intervene at several other power plant sites, meaning that it has previously gotten permission from a Superior Court judge to add as plaintiffs other conservation groups.

SELC officials said that other conservation groups, including the Yadkin Riverkeeper, will try to intervene today at other power plant sites: Buck, Cliffside, Cape Fear, Lee, Weatherspoon, Allen and Marshall.

Waste produced by coal combustion at power plants goes into the air or ground.

Since 2005, Duke Energy has invested about $1 billion to improve its environmental impact, according to company officials.

The company installed a cleaning system in 2005 to reduce the amount of nitrogen oxide that the Belews Creek Steam Station emits. It installed a separate system in 2008 to reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide. The equipment significantly reduces air emissions -- sulfur oxide by 90 percent and nitric oxide by more than 85 percent.

The lawsuit, filed by the state of North Carolina last year after the Southern Environmental Law Center threatened to file one of its own against Duke, focuses on what goes into the groundwater and waterways.

The Belews Creek Steam Station is the company's second-largest power plant in the Carolinas; it can generate up to 2,220 megawatts, enough to bring power to nearly 1.8 million average homes at full load.

Its -- unlined -- ash pond is about 2,000 feet long, 140 feet high and sits on a tributary to the Dan River known as Little Belews Creek, and it holds millions of gallons of coal ash, the waste from coal combustion. The property is also home to an unlined landfill that was closed a few years ago. A lining is a protective layer that helps keep waste from seeping into groundwater.

Environmental groups say that waste contained in unlined ash ponds and landfills could seep into the groundwater.

The ash pond at Belews Creek has been cited for violations by DENR.

According to the lawsuit, "seeps (have been) identified at Defendant's Belews Creek Steam Station, which include engineered discharges from the toe-drains of its Ash Pond." Groundwater near the perimeter of the power plant's property has been found in recent years to have levels of chromium, iron and manganese above the state's maximum allowable limit, according to the lawsuit, which includes Duke Energy's fleet of power plants statewide.

The Belews power plant was "included as part of the lawsuits the state filed against Duke Energy Progress Inc. and Duke Energy Carolinas LLC for claims related to the discharge of wastewater from the utility's North Carolina coal ash impoundments. All of the coal ash impoundments in North Carolina were included in these lawsuits," Jamie Kritzer, a spokesman for DENR, has told the Journal.

Duke Energy routinely assesses groundwater, company officials say, noting that several testing wells surround the ash basin. Iron and manganese, two of the elements found to be above the state's allowable limit, are elements commonly found in North Carolina's soil, they say.

Ultimately, conservation groups and SELC want Duke to clean its unlined ash ponds and landfills.

bgutierrez@wsjournal.com

(336) 727-7278

Conservation-groups involvement

Conservation groups have already intervened on five Duke Energy sites with coal-ash ponds:

u Riverbend: Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

u Allen: Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

u Marshall: Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation

u Asheville: Western North Carolina Alliance, Waterkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club

u Sutton: Cape Fear River Watch, Waterkeeper Alliance, Sierra Club

The legal motion that will be filed today would cover six new sites and add new conservation groups to the Allen and Marshall power plants.

u Belews Creek: Appalachian Voices

u Buck: Yadkin Riverkeeper, Waterkeeper Alliance

u Cliffside: Western North Carolina Alliance

u Cape Fear: Cape Fear River Watch, Waterkeeper Alliance

u Lee: Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation, Waterkeeper Alliance

u Weatherspoon: Winyah Rivers Foundation

u Allen: Waterkeeper Alliance

u Marshall: Waterkeeper Alliance

www.journalnow.com

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=31211388&