GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The EPA is now allowing water from coal ash ponds at Duke Energy's Dan River Steam Station to be released into the Dan River. The process is called decanting and its been legal and practiced in North Carolina for several decades. Last year, the EPA blocked the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, from issuing the proper permits to Duke Energy. The EPA reversed its decision last week.
"It is unfortunate that it took the EPA nearly 15 months to make this decision," said Tom Reeder, Assistant Secretary for the Environment at DEQ. "These approvals are essential to removing the threat coal ash poses to our environment and public health. Duke Energy can now begin the decanting process and prepare for excavation and removal of coal ash at the majority of its facilities."
Decanting is the process of removing water in the coal ash ponds. Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder calls it "perfectly safe." According to a Duke Energy spokesman, this EPA approval only pertains to removing the topmost layer of water in the basins. There is a different approval and cleaning process required for removing the water lower in the basins, closer to the coal ash.
"We ensure that before we authorize for anyone to discharge into the river, we make sure that that water does not impact either the aquatic life, ecosystem or human health," said Reeder,
He added, "This is all very safe. It's pretty much fool-proof to make sure nothing that is going to happen in this decanting will impact the environment."
State lawmakers passed a law requiring Duke Energy to permanently close ponds at 4 plants, including the Dan River Steam Station, by the end of 2019. This EPA decision allows the energy company to finish the job it's already started.
"This is a big deal for North Carolina. We want to get these coal ash ponds cleaned up but we want to make sure they are never a threat to North Carolina's environment again," said Reeder.
Duke Energy has already started digging up about 1 million tons of coal ash stored in dry stacks at the Dan River plant and moving it to a lined landfill in Virginia. Once that's done, the company will build a lined landfill where those stacks once stood. The ash from the ponds on site will be moved into those new landfills.
In February 2014, tens of thousands of tons of coal ash spilled into the Dan River after a stormwater pipe under one of the ponds burst.
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