Right now we all have an opportunity to put stronger protections from coal ash pollution in place. Until September 20, the EPA is taking public comments on new Coal Plant Water Pollution Standards – an important piece of the puzzle
in controlling coal ash pollution. Send your comments now and ask the EPA to stop coal ash pollution to the French Broad, and all rivers nationwide. Meanwhile, Congressional efforts are under way to undermine EPA’s authority to regulate coal ash and prevent the establishment of federal minimum safeguards. Send a message to your Representative today asking that they oppose these efforts and let EPA do its job to regulate this toxic trash. – Read the full post HERE.
In the July 21, 2013 Asheville Citizen-Times, our French Broad Riverkeeper was also interviewed about a consent decree between the state of North Carolina and Duke Energy:
“[The decree] calls for more testing of problems already well-documented and little in the way of stopping the contamination, said Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper with the Asheville-based environmental group Western North Carolina Alliance. ‘It’s basically a way to drag this out as long as possible,’ Carson said. ‘This is definitely a deal to study this almost indefinitely, when what we know is there are violations of the Clean Water Act and state groundwater standards.'”
If you agree that a never-ending sampling plan with no cleanup is not the solution to toxic coal ash polluting the French Broad River, then email lisa.palmer@ncdenr.gov by Aug. 14.
You can also send written comments to the N.C. DENR Division of Water Quality, attention of Lisa Palmer, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617.