Floods Breach Defenses at Duke NC Plant, Send Toxic Coal Ash Into River [1]
"NAVASSA, N.C. — With floodwaters continuing to rise in the wake of Hurricane Florence, state officials and environmentalists are closely monitoring the breach of a dam that has flooded a hazardous stockpile of coal ash, some of which has spilled into the Cape Fear River.
On Friday, Duke Energy shut down a power plant near Wilmington after a dam breach between 100 and 200 feet wide, at the south end of Sutton Lake, allowed floodwaters to swamp two basins containing huge stockpiles of arsenic-laced ash.
Duke’s L.V. Sutton facility has been a focus of increasing concern for environmentalists and regulators since last week, when rains from Hurricane Florence caused a coal ash landfill at the site to erode, spilling waste onto a local roadway."
Glenn Thrush and Kendra Pierre-Louis report for the New York Times September 21, 2018. [2]
SEE ALSO:
"Toxic Spills Highlight Trump’s Deregulation of Coal Plant Waste" (Bloomberg) [3]
"NC River Swirls With Gray Muck Near Flooded Coal Ash Dump" (Associated Press) [4]
"Dam Breach Sends Toxic Coal Ash Flowing Into A Major North Carolina River" (Washington Post) [5]