Clean Air in the News

North Carolina is home to more potentially hazardous coal-ash storage ponds than any other state, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Of the 44 sites classified as "high hazard" by the EPA, 12 are in North Carolina. According to the EPA, the high-hazard classification means that one or more people will probably die if there is a major dam failure.

After a dam burst in December at a Tennessee storage pond and spilled more than 5 million cubic yards of ash and water, the EPA began surveying power companies about their ash-storage facilities. Coal-fired power plants often dispose of the leftover ash, which is mixed with water, in ponds surrounded by earthen dams.

The high-hazard designation does not mean the dams are likely to burst. Rather, the classification identifies where significant damage could occur if the dams malfunction.

There are no high-hazard sites in Eastern North Carolina. Three of the sites are less than 115 miles from Raleigh: at the Dan River power plant in Rockingham County, north of Greensboro near the Virginia border; at the Belews Creek plant in Stokes County, northeast of Winston-Salem; and at the Buck plant in Rowan County, just north of Salisbury. Charlotte-based Duke Energy operates all three of the plants, and 10 of the 12 ponds on the list. Progress Energy, based in Raleigh, operates the Asheville power plant in Buncombe County, which has two ponds on the list.

Duke has disposed of coal ash in ponds for decades without serious dam malfunctions, said Dave Mitchell, the company's managing director of environmental. "It's a safe way to manage the material."

The state requires the sites to be inspected every five years. There is no federal oversight of them, but advocacy groups have pushed for the EPA to step in. The agency has announced it will propose new regulations by the end of the year.

"The EPA should come out with rules that are adequate to protect the environment and public health," said Chandra Taylor, attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center in Chapel Hill.

Although no one was seriously injured in the Tennessee accident, the cleanup could cost $1 billion.