Britten Cleveland
On March 22, over 250 residents of the town of Dallas, North Carolina, gathered at nearby Gaston College for the state Department of Environmental Quality's hearing on the risk classification for the GG Allen coal ash ponds. It was an intense evening, with over two hours of thoughtful, impassioned testimony by impacted community members and supporters.
Coal ash is the residue left after burning coal, and contains potentially hazardous heavy metals such as chromium, vanadium, and lead, which can leach into groundwater and pose a major risk for various types of cancers.
Tuesday night, the state heard concerns from people in Gaston County who say their well water is contaminated from the Duke Energy Ash Basin nearby. Duke Energy says it is following a schedule to close all the ash basins, but some residents say it simply isn't happening quickly enough.
The timing of the event was also notable, with the hearing following an ordinance by state officials who had issued advisories a year ago against drinking the water to 424 well-owners, most of them because levels of two elements were potentially unsafe.
The Allen coal plant is a 1,140mw coal plant just outside Duke Energy's headquarters in Charlotte. Last spring the state advised over 100 well owners who live near Allen not to drink their water, mostly due to the presence of contaminants hexavalent chromium, which is commonly used in textile dyes and wood-preserving chemicals, and vanadium, a common element, in their wells.
Last year, three of the Allen coal plant boilers were retired due to a victory achieved by the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign via a long-awaited settlement agreement. The EPA and Duke Energy, and conservation organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the North Carolina Public Interest Research Group helped to retire the coal plants.
The emissions from the first three units, which totaled 605MW, were touted as a major accomplishment for the state’s transition to clean energy.
Around 35 people spoke during the hearing , and all were in favor of a full cleanup and secure access to clean water for all nearby residents. All, that is, except Duke’s Regional Manager Tim Gause, who unsurprisingly remained partial to both sides of the case.
“The comments shared tonight will help inform the state's final decisions. “At Duke, we are delivering on our promise to safely close all ash basins across the Carolinas," said Gause.
Many of those who spoke were from the small suburban city of Belmont, which has the highest concentration of residents anywhere in the state who received orders from the Department of Health and Human Services to not drink their tap water. A letter issued from the state tells well owners they can drink, cook and bathe in their water, claiming there's only a potential one in a million cancer risk for an average person consuming well water every day for more than 70 years.
Last spring, state experts in epidemiology and toxicology advised residents to screen their wells for hexavalent chromium contamination, using a health standard that would put them at a lifetime cancer risk of no more than one in a million — a level that the experts said abides by state groundwater-quality rules.
Amy Brown, a stay-at-home mom and one of Belmont's most effective organizers, spoke to the hardship she and her neighbors have experienced with strange illnesses, lost property values, and fear of what will happen now that the "Do Not Drink" orders have been lifted.
"Duke says the toxins in our water are naturally occurring. There's nothing natural about a leaking coal ash pit sitting directly in our drinking water. What should be naturally occurring is a governor and state officials that represent our best interest and protect our families”, she angrily commented.
The Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) and Appalachian Voices both gave testimony that questioned the validity of Duke's modeling, saying that Duke’s reports to DEQ were designed to reach a predetermined outcome. Others called for an explanation of why Dr. Kenneth Rudo, the DHHS toxicologist who originally sent the “Do Not Drink” letters has been unable to comment on the new orders.
It was also impossible to deny the all-too-comfortable relationship between Duke Energy, Governor Pat McCrory(R), and his administration at DEQ while observing the March 22 hearing. Duke Energy spokesperson, Paige Sheehan, was visibly uncomfortable throughout the hearing.
“The state’s withdrawal of ‘do not drink’ orders is certainly welcomed news to well owners, but it’s terribly unfortunate the state took almost a year to give them certainty that their water is safe to drink,” Sheehan wrote in an email.
Many of the more than 24 speakers told state officials to rate the plant as of intermediate to high risk, ensuring the ash would be removed. Many also expressed skepticism that Duke isn’t responsible for their contaminated wells, as the company says.
“It feels like they’re grading their own homework, and I don’t think that’s right,” said resident Brad Drake.