http://www.courier-journal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2017/09/20/coal-ash-risks-secret-duke-energy-lawsuit/685125001/
[links in on-line article]
Duke Energy slammed in citizen lawsuit for keeping catastrophic safety
risks secret
James Bruggers
Published 1:50 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2017 | Updated 8:57 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2017
The fear is that toxic heavy metals could harm people, waterways and the
environment
Duke Energy has been keeping the public in the dark about the flooding
threats from massive coal-ash ponds at its power plants, including those
in Indiana and Kentucky, environmental groups charged on Wednesday.
Taking the first step in a federal lawsuit, Earthjustice, Kentuckians
for the Commonwealth, Hoosier Environmental Council and other groups
sent notices to Duke Energy asserting that it had violated federal
coal-ash safety rules and that the company was threatening lives and the
environment.
“Communities near these coal dumps have a right to know what dangers
they are facing,” said Earthjustice attorney Jenny Cassel. “If the dam
holding this toxic waste breaks, which neighborhoods are going to be
flooded? Which waterways? Who can they call to provide emergency response?”
Duke spokeswoman Erin Culbert said the company followed state laws for
managing "public information around critical infrastructure" but was
willing to reconsider.
"While that drove decisions, we will review the approach taken by other
utilities and ask state regulators for further guidance," she said.
She also punched back at the environmental groups.
"The media and the public will quickly recognize this as the latest
attempt to use fear and the courts to upend public policy that directs
the safe closure of hundreds of ash basins across the nation," Culbert
added.
In 2008, a dam collapsed at the TVA's Kingston plant in Tennessee,
sending more than a billion gallons of toxic sludge over 300 acres. It
took out houses and caused more than $1 billion in damages. In 2014,
Duke's coal ash impoundment in North Carolina broke, fouling 70 miles of
the Dan River.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency adopted its first national
rules for handling coal combustion wastes in 2015, relying a lot on
public disclosure by utilities and citizen lawsuits for enforcement. The
Trump administration's EPA said recently said it may revisit those rules
after a request from industry.
The environmental groups' targets include the Gallagher plant in New
Albany, Indiana, and the East Bend power plant near Rabbit Hash,
Kentucky. Both are along the Ohio River, a drinking water source for
millions.
That Kentucky plant in Boone County holds 1.4 million tons of toxic
waste behind aging earthen dams on the banks of the river, the
environmental groups claim.
“The disasters in North Carolina and Tennessee show that we simply have
to have the proper information to prepare our communities here in
Kentucky,” said Mary Love, a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.
Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earthjustice, said their review found no
other utility blocking the inundation maps that show the consequences of
a failed impoundment. She said there were also concerns about the
structural integrity at a Gallagher pond.
Culbert said Gallagher's main pond has been dewatered and is undergoing
closure, which mitigates any structural stability concerns there. The
plant is scheduled to retire by 2022, she said.
LG&E and KU Energy have made their emergency response plans and maps
public. The Courier-Journal in June detailed the worst-case flooding
prediction for LG&E's Mill Creek plant in Louisville.
That disaster would unfold over three hours, sending dirty, toxic water
from the Mill Creek power plant ash pond into the Valley Village
neighborhood, covering some streets with as much as two to five feet of
ash and water.
"The plan, specifically the map, shows what is possible," said Mitchell
Burmeister, a spokesman for Louisville Metro Emergency Services, at the
time. He said LG&E "carefully monitors and controls the site and has a
good response plan in place."
