Breaking: Bill backtracking on state Coal Ash Management Act racing through N.C. Legislature
The following is a statement by Frank Holleman, Senior Attorney, regarding the Duke Energy coal ash bailout bill, S71, pending in the North Carolina General Assembly tonight.
This bill is the latest attempt by Raleigh politicians to bail out Duke Energy. Citizens and communities across North Carolina followed the rules set out in the Coal Ash Management Act over a year and half ago. Under the existing law, after extensive public comments, DEQ was forced to conclude that Duke Energy must remove its coal ash from its dangerous and leaking pits across the state. Now, after heavy lobbying by Duke Energy, the Raleigh politicians want to re-open the process to try to find a way to let Duke Energy off the hook. The law, common sense, and common decency require Duke Energy to take responsibility for its irresponsible coal ash practices and move its coal ash to safe, dry lined storage as is happening in South Carolina today. In fact, up until they got a result they did not like, Duke Energy and the state’s politicians praised CAMA.
Every community and every family living around one of Duke Energy’s leaking coal ash pits deserves a safe and reliable source of clean drinking water at Duke Energy’s expense. It is Duke Energy’s coal ash pollution that has contaminated or threatened the state’s drinking water supplies. Duke Energy owes it to these families to step up and provide them clean water for their homes. This bill makes that process overcomplicated and only sets out what Duke Energy this week has said it intends to do anyway.
However, providing drinking water to nearby communities does not give Duke Energy amnesty for its illegal and dangerous coal ash pollution. Duke Energy is still polluting groundwater, drinking water supplies, rivers, and lakes. The very fact that Duke Energy must provide water lines underscores that Duke Energy’s coal ash practices have rendered the groundwater unreliable as a source of drinking water. Our clean water is not only a resource for current users, it is a resource for future generations that everyone—including Duke Energy—must protect for the future, not just the present day.
As long as there are unlined coal ash pits in these communities, these families’ property values will suffer. If Duke Energy leaves its coal ash in unlined pits near these people’s homes, it will continue to hurt these families and drive down the value of one of their most important assets.
This bill shows again that Duke Energy and politicians in North Carolina believe that Duke Energy does not have to comply with the law like everyone else in the state. Either Duke Energy breaks the law, the state government does not enforce the law against Duke Energy, or, when it’s inconvenient for Duke Energy to obey the law, the state’s politicians try to change it for Duke Energy’s benefit. Sooner or later, Duke Energy must obey the law and stop polluting North Carolina’s clean water with coal ash. And, sooner or later, North Carolina’s politicians have to put the public interest above Duke Energy’s special interest.
SELC represents the following citizens groups in court to clean up Duke Energy’s coal ash pollution from all 14 leaking Duke Energy sites across North Carolina: Appalachian Voices, Cape Fear Riverwatch, Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation, Dan River Basin Association, MountainTrue, Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation, Roanoke River Basin Association, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, Waterkeeper Alliance, Winyah Rivers Foundation, and Yadkin Riverkeeper.
Read the latest on the legislative action around coal ash from the Winston-Salem Journal: N.C. Senate pauses coal ash bill as permanent-water provision needs more work