Independent? These UNC Charlotte professors appear to be cozy with Duke Energy

Ever since 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of water spewed from a Duke Energy coal ash pond into the Dan River in February 2014, environmental advocates have battled Duke over the cleanup and the danger from other ponds going forward.

Duke has argued that it should be allowed to leave the ash in most of its ponds rather than remove it, and has regularly cited scientific experts in reassuring neighbors that the waste from the company’s coal-fired ponds poses little or no threat to their groundwater.

Some of those experts were in bed with Duke, advocates have long suspected, and their work was compromised because of it.

Now, documents obtained by WBTV reporter Nick Ochsner make clear that that is the case. Specifically, two professors at UNC Charlotte who have portrayed themselves as independent have in fact been working closely with Duke and in at least one crucial case saw their work directly altered by Duke executives.

Bill Langley, a professor of civil and environmental engineering, conducted much of the research under contracts Duke (or its contractor) signed with UNC Charlotte worth $1,071,257 between February 2013 and August 2016, Ochsner found. In one case, Langley prepared a report assessing how three different options for closing a coal ash pond at the Robinson Steam Station in Darlington, S.C., would affect groundwater contamination.

Duke executives responded to Langley a few weeks after receiving his report. “Attached are highly suggested edits” to the report, Duke engineer Brandon Culberson wrote. Duke had deleted sentences, added paragraphs and changed the report’s conclusions, Ochsner reports. Those changes addressed some of the exact issues that concerned regulators and advocates. They also defended Duke’s decision not to remove the coal ash entirely. Those changes were in the final report.

Langley told Ochsner he didn’t consider Culberson’s emails proof of Duke’s involvement and insisted he alone wrote the report, directly contradicting the documents.

Separately, UNC Charlotte professor John Daniels chaired a supposedly independent coal ash advisory board even while consulting with Duke over how it should handle investigations by state regulators.

Duke created the National Ash Management Advisory Board in October 2014 and Daniels chaired it from the beginning. Daniels emphasized the board’s independence to state regulators even as he was consulting with Duke executives to prepare company responses to the state, Ochsner found. In addition, Duke Energy was instrumental to the board’s operation. Daniels and the board ended up recommending to the state that all the coal ash be left in place, which would save Duke billions. Daniels defended his arrangement with Duke as not a conflict to WBTV.

Duke gave WBTV a statement responding to its reporting. The company said the station’s report is misleading and that the documents simply show “the scientific process is being conducted in a robust and appropriate manner.”

In fact, the documents show that the professors were not independent from Duke as has been portrayed. And that colors everything they have produced.

This story was originally published November 15, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Independent? These UNC Charlotte professors appear to be cozy with Duke Energy."