Duke announcement to clean coal ash ponds excludes two of three Cliffside sites

June 25, 2015

On June 25, Duke Energy announced plans to excavate and close 12 additional coal ash ponds across the state.

Duke Energy’s announcement does not impact its Asheville site, where all the ash is already mandated to be moved, but it does include excavation of one of the three coal ash ponds at the Cliffside power plant in Rutherford County. We know that all three ponds are leaching contaminants into the groundwater and the river so, while it is a step forward that Duke is committing to excavate ash in one of those ponds, we believe they can and should do better. They have not yet decided what to do with the coal ash in the other ponds, nor has the state mandated a cleanup strategy there.

With this announcement, Duke has now committed to excavate coal ash at 7 of 14 sites (20 of 32 ash ponds) in NC. Again, while this is a good step, seven communities across the state still don’t know the extent to which they will be protected from ongoing coal ash contamination going forward. We will press on with our litigation in the Cliffside case until we reach a resolution that will protect the people of that region and the Broad River.