CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, the company issued the following statement in response to an April 1, 2019, order by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) requiring excavation of coal ash basins at the company’s Allen, Belews Creek, Cliffside/Rogers, Marshall, Mayo and Roxboro facilities. The state decision came after the company submitted to NCDEQ detailed scientific and engineering analyses for nine of the company’s 31 North Carolina basins where site-specific closure plans had not yet been determined.
The order by the NCDEQ to excavate the final nine ash basins would impose a financial burden on our customers and the economy of the Carolinas through the most expensive and disruptive closure option possible, despite that these basins are rated “low risk” by NCDEQ.
The process by which NCDEQ arrived at its decision lacked full consideration of the science and engineering, and we will provide those details when we file an appeal before the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings in the near future.
We have made tremendous progress in safely and permanently closing ash basins around the Carolinas, and we will continue that work as we resolve this issue.
About Author
