Coal ash coming soon to Brickhaven

SANFORD -- Oct 21 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Brandi Brown The Sanford Herald, N.C.

Duke Energy could start moving coal ash into Chatham County as early as next week -- and likely into Lee County in 2017 -- although opponents say the controversy surrounding the moves is far from over.

The Coal Ash Management Act, passed by the N.C. legislature in 2014, requires Duke Energy to excavate decades of accumulated coal ash, a byproduct of the process of producing electricity in coal-powered plants, by August 2019 from four high-priority sites, said Jeff Brooks, spokesperson for the utility company.

The coal ash will be delivered to lined structural landfills, two of which are in Central Carolina. Brooks said the Brickhaven Mine in Moncure is slated to begin receiving shipments of coal ash as early as next week, but the Colon Mine site in Lee County is not as far along in the development process and might not be operational until 2017.

"The rail spur [connecting the railroad line and the Brickhaven Mine] will be completed around the end of the year," Brooks said. "At that point, we'll begin to transition to moving the coal ash by rail."

Until then, Chatham County residents have been told to expect up to 40 trucks per day, each carrying 16-20 tons of coal ash, Brooks said.

"We try to be excellent neighbors," said Mike Hughes, vice president of community relations for Duke Energy's North Carolina operations. "These trucks will come five days a week, Monday through Friday, and we try to make sure they are arriving during the day when people are not commuting or trying to get to school."

Once the rail transit begins, the daily intake of coal ash at Brickhaven will be closer to 10,000 tons per day until the site reaches its 12 million ton limit, Hughes said. The Colon Mine is smaller and will hold 8 million tons of coal ash at its capacity.

Although Duke Energy's plans are progressing rapidly, some in the environmental community are not as enthusiastic about the momentum.

"I think they're being foolhardy," said Therese Vick, the N.C. sustainable economic development coordinator for the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL). "I think it's foolish on their part to do this before the permit challenges have been decided."

Challenges to the permits for the landfills are coming from BREDL, Environmental Lee, and Chatham Citizens Against Coal Ash Dumping. The groups have filed suit against the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (formerly the Department of Environment and Natural Resources) alleging that the permits for structural fill ponds were not properly issued and that the state government overstepped its bounds in issuing them.

The group has an administrative hearing scheduled for Nov. 16, but Vick said the plaintiffs are requesting that it be moved back to allow them more time to prepare since the deadline for them to receive materials is Nov. 2.

"This is not a popular thing we've been tasked with doing," Hughes said of the coal ash relocation. "But we have moved forward with a plan that is based in science and done in a way that we feel fully confident in our engineering plans and data. You will continue to have people who are upset, but we have to move forward."

One of the concerns raised by environmental groups has been the potential for the liners of the basin to leak. Brooks said monitoring equipment will address that problem adequately should it arise.

"We have extensive groundwater monitoring detectors," he said. "Groundwater doesn't move very fast, and we have a natural barrier between the basin and other property owners. We'll know if there's a problem long before it moves outward [to other people's property]."

EnvironmentaLee recently purchased two hand-held monitors for independent monitoring, Vick said, adding that BREDL questions the methodology Duke used for obtaining measurements.

Terica Luxton, a local activist and member of EnvironmentaLee, said she is upset because of what she feels are a series of misrepresentations by Duke Energy.

"They're not doing what they said they're going to do," she said. "They sent out letters for water testing that only gave a short time to respond, and people weren't sure what to do."

The letters came from Charah, a Duke contractor that owns the Colon Mine land. As part of the group's agreement with the Lee County Commissioners, all homeowners within 1,000 feet had the opportunity to have a surface and well water test for existing contaminant levels.

Only one person responded to that offer, said Lee County Manager John Crumpton. The county recently sent out letters for their own testing. Residents have until Dec. 1 to return those letters. As of Monday, six people had returned them.

Other efforts to block the coal ash site have been more symbolic, such as December 2014 and January 2015 votes by the Chatham and Lee county boards of commissioners to oppose coal ash. Both counties later made financial agreements with Duke Energy related to the coal ash disposal.

"Chatham County will receive a substantial payment within 10 days of the first load of coal ash," Hughes said. "The same will be true for Lee County when the Colon Mine is operational."

Whether the environmentalists are able to stop the coal ash trains or they arrive to Lee County on schedule, people on both sides know that coal ash will be a topic of discussion for years to come.

"We're on a timeline from the state," Brooks said. Medium- and low-priority coal ash basins must be addressed by 2024 and 2029 respectively.

"We were prepared for [the coal ash transport to Brickhaven]," Vick said. "This is a long way from being over."

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