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Two events in less than one year carry an important warning for residents of a region where coal-fired power plants provide much of the electricity we use in our daily lives: We ignore the threat of toxic coal ash pollutants at our peril.
Last December, a coal ash pond dam burst near Kingston, Tenn., and a wave of toxic coal ash sludge inundated the immediate landscape and fouled surface water with 5 million cubic yards of contaminated waste. Coal ash is the residue collected by coal-fired power plants during the burning process. One method of handling it is to mix the ash with water and store it in huge coal ash ponds.
North Carolina has 13 of these ponds. Earlier this year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported that there were 44 high-hazard coal ash ponds nationally - high hazard meaning that human lives would be threatened if pond walls were breached. Twelve of them, more than one fourth the nation's total, are in this state. When that report came out, Gov. Bev Perdue called for closer monitoring. That helped state legislators understand the importance of keeping closer tabs on coal ash ponds and broke a logjam on coal ash safety legislation. The General Assembly quickly approved a bill subjecting coal ash ponds to regulation under the Dam Safety Act.
Now the environmental group Appalachian Voices, based in Boone, has given residents of this region more cause for concern. As Bruce Henderson reported, state data show contaminated groundwater near all 13 ash ponds maintained by Duke Energy and Progress Energy. That coal ash is laden with toxic metals such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and sulfate, and it exists at higher levels than state officials say is safe.
It's true that some metals, including arsenic, occur naturally in this state. But when they occur near coal ash ponds where other toxic metals are present, it's a red-flag warning for the public and for regulators whose job it is to make sure these substances don't migrate into groundwater supplies used by the public.
The utility companies note that the contamination occurs on property they own, and there's no evidence of residential contamination. State officials aren't even sure whether the contamination represents a violation subject to enforcement.
But that it exists at all is a concern. Former Catawba Riverkeeper Donna Lisenby worries that "if a truly independent analysis was done, not by the power companies, it would show much more serious contamination." She has a good point. Duke does not have wells that would show whether the contamination has spread. But we need to know. One reason: Drinking groundwater tainted by arsenic from coal-ash ponds amounts to a cancer risk 900 times higher than what the federal government considers safe.
The EPA will soon propose tighter regulations on coal ash. Good. That would be a basic first step toward a greater understanding of potential threats from coal ash contamination. But more monitoring needs to be done to make sure groundwater contamination has not spread - and that state and federal officials know what to do if it has.
