Toxins leaking from 2nd pipe at NC coal ash dump

[dmcowen674]

2-19-2014

http://news.yahoo.com/toxins-leaking-2nd-pipe-nc-coal-ash-dump-223802784.html

Toxins leaking from 2nd pipe at NC coal ash dump

North Carolina officials said Tuesday that groundwater containing unsafe levels of arsenic apparently leaching from a Duke Energy coal ash dump is still pouring into the Dan River, which is already contaminated from a massive Feb. 2 spill.

A nearby pipe at the same dump collapsed without warning two weeks ago, coating the bottom of the Dan River with toxic ash as far as 70 miles downstream.


The water coming out of that pipe contains poisonous arsenic at 14 times the level considered safe for human contact, according to test results released by the state on Tuesday.


The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday a massive pile of coal ash about 75 feet long and as much as 5 feet deep has been detected in the river by the site of the Feb. 2 spill. Deposits varying from 5 inches deep to less than 1 inch coated the river bottom across the state line into Virginia and to Kerr Lake, a major reservoir.


Officials said the coal ash is burying aquatic animals and their food.



George Everett, Duke's director of environmental and legislative affairs, told state legislators this week that the company is sorry for the spill and will be accountable.


Any costs incurred because of the cleanup will likely be passed on to ratepayers, not shareholders, he said.


Meanwhile, Duke Energy announced Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profits jumped 58 percent after officials in North Carolina and other states approved hikes in the rates customers pay for electricity.



The company had revenues of $24.6 billion for 2013.


It would be up to the N.C. Utilities Commission to approve any new rate hikes for Duke.



Members of that board are appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory, who worked at Duke for 28 years.

 

[dmcowen674]

This is wrong on so many levels but Americans are getting what they deserve.

What used to be Conflicts of Interest is now standard practice and must be in place.

 

[trenchfoot]

Many of the folks who are being grievously affected by this are also beholden to these businesses for their livelihoods. Rock and a hard place kind of scenario. IMO, many of these the folks who are being poisoned by this "profit at all cost" mentality would prefer to suffer quietly, not rock the boat and let their local elected officials straighten things out their way. The point being that they'd rather suffer in silence for awhile rather than let outsiders (feds) come in and reaaaaallllly screw up the intricate web of associations that took years, if not generations to establish.

 

[LTC8K6]

Of course, the ponds are there to recapture and recycle the coal ash...rather than just let it out into the environment or landfill it.

The ash can be used in many ways, a few of which are controversial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash#Fly_ash_reuse

The Hungry Horse Dam is one large project that used the ash in the concrete.

 

[JManInPhoenix]

What is even worse are hog lagoons. They had a few of those break when I lived in NC years ago.

 

[QuantumPion]

This is what you get for fearmongering nuclear power. If it weren't for the envirocommies coal would have been obsolete decades ago.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Enjoy what the Good Ol'Boys are serving up. And, there is more on the way.

Expect these types of reports (poisons leaking into the environment) to be deemed illegal; like when reporting animal cruelty - http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...3e8876-ca42-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html

Imagine, being poisoned, abused and harmed - and then being arrested for complaining about it.

This is our future.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

This is what you get for fearmongering nuclear power. If it weren't for the envirocommies coal would have been obsolete decades ago.

A company doesn't maintain its facilities properly or meet basic safety protocols and causes a massive dump of toxic chemicals, and your thought is, "Damn, if only that spill had been radioactive"? How is switching from coal to nuclear going to incentivize a corporation to better follow established safety protocols? That was the problem here. It's not like coal plants automatically break down while nuclear plants are 100% fault-free; it comes down to maintaining safety protocols and this company dropped the ball. I'm all for nuclear power, but let's not pretend that nuclear hasn't come with some "accidents," and those accidents can be a whole lot worse than toxins in the groundwater.

 

[senseamp]

Just a little trickle down arsenic for supply side believers.

 

[werepossum]

Many of the folks who are being grievously affected by this are also beholden to these businesses for their livelihoods. Rock and a hard place kind of scenario. IMO, many of these the folks who are being poisoned by this "profit at all cost" mentality would prefer to suffer quietly, not rock the boat and let their local elected officials straighten things out their way. The point being that they'd rather suffer in silence for awhile rather than let outsiders (feds) come in and reaaaaallllly screw up the intricate web of associations that took years, if not generations to establish.

That is a good point, no one wants to kill good-paying jobs. However, Duke Energy is a huge, successful and generally good company that could easily afford to prevent these things from happening - albeit at slightly higher energy costs - IF we have the will to require it. If we do not require it, it will not be done.

What is even worse are hog lagoons. They had a few of those break when I lived in NC years ago.

I fully agree with that. Far too many of these are built literally on river banks, just river poisonings waiting to happen.

This is what you get for fearmongering nuclear power. If it weren't for the envirocommies coal would have been obsolete decades ago.

Quite true. And then we'd have it in the future if we needed it for gassification to make liquid fuel, at a price point which could support necessary environmental protections.

 

[blankslate]

sounds like the libertarian dream of zero regulations to me.

As for nuclear power, we should have used Thorium fueled reactors for the majority of the plants we built and had some uranium ones for the Nuclear Arms race of the Cold War.

As it stands now we have enough nuclear arms stockpiled to practically sterilize the entire planet. Turns out we didn't need every nuclear power plant to be uranium fueled.




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[jhbball]

This is what you get for fearmongering nuclear power. If it weren't for the envirocommies coal would have been obsolete decades ago.

and there's the spin!

 

[Moonbeam]

This is what you get for fearmongering nuclear power. If it weren't for the envirocommies coal would have been obsolete decades ago.

I would rather deal with coal ash than Fukushima, thanks.

 

[Newell Steamer]

I would rather deal with coal ash than Fukushima, thanks.

More than just Fukushima; http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/14/nuclear-power-plant-accidents-list-rank

 

[trenchfoot]

That is a good point, no one wants to kill good-paying jobs. However, Duke Energy is a huge, successful and generally good company that could easily afford to prevent these things from happening - albeit at slightly higher energy costs - IF we have the will to require it. If we do not require it, it will not be done.


I fully agree with that. Far too many of these are built literally on river banks, just river poisonings waiting to happen.


Quite true. And then we'd have it in the future if we needed it for gassification to make liquid fuel, at a price point which could support necessary environmental protections.

Thanks for the insight on that Company. Gives me a better understanding of the situation surrounding the issue. :thumbsup:

 

[Incorruptible]

sounds like the libertarian dream of zero regulations to me.

As for nuclear power, we should have used Thorium fueled reactors for the majority of the plants we built and had some uranium ones for the Nuclear Arms race of the Cold War.

As it stands now we have enough nuclear arms stockpiled to practically sterilize the entire planet. Turns out we didn't need every nuclear power plant to be uranium fueled.




.....

Sounds like you're a moron. Using this to blame Libertarianism is just idiotic but then again you're a liberal.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Clearly the levels of arsenic considered safe is pure balderdash; some guy in an ivory tower throwing down mandates of what the working man can deal with. I think the working man knows best. Dismantle the EPA and NCers can move on with their lives unabated while shareholders rake in record profits as God intended.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Thanks for the insight on that Company. Gives me a better understanding of the situation surrounding the issue. :thumbsup:

Duke Energy is a company with an employee in the governor's mansion. Also this:
http://www.wral.com/late-payments-bad-credit-could-affect-your-power-bill/13408976/

 

[blankslate]

Sounds like you're a moron. Using this to blame Libertarianism is just idiotic but then again you're a liberal.

Sounds like you're in denial. No one checking up on the storage facilities enough is very likely a contribution to the spill.

Wasn't there talk of the possibility of bankruptcy? Perhaps they wouldn't have to think about that if they bothered to send an inspector out to check on the conditions of the storage facility.

Nah.... just deregulate everything what could go wrong?

Ass.


.....

 

[werepossum]

Thanks for the insight on that Company. Gives me a better understanding of the situation surrounding the issue. :thumbsup:

I'm generally libertarian, but this is a good example of why libertarianism does not work well with environmental issues. I've worked with Duke Energy in probably a dozen or more states and I like the company, and it's a VERY successful mega-corporation that could easily afford such improvements. But unless there's a reason something HAS to be done, even such a company will generally leave these things on the back burner unless and until there is a problem. And a lot of times with these things, when there is a problem, it's a BIG problem.

Bottom line, libertarianism is great on individual liberty, but not at all good on corporate environmental safety. If we want a clean environment we have to regulate (and enforce!) to ensure that.

 

[Doppel]

I'm generally libertarian, but this is a good example of why libertarianism does not work well with environmental issues. I've worked with Duke Energy in probably a dozen or more states and I like the company, and it's a VERY successful mega-corporation that could easily afford such improvements. But unless there's a reason something HAS to be done, even such a company will generally leave these things on the back burner unless and until there is a problem. And a lot of times with these things, when there is a problem, it's a BIG problem.

Bottom line, libertarianism is great on individual liberty, but not at all good on corporate environmental safety. If we want a clean environment we have to regulate (and enforce!) to ensure that.

Your experience backs up the simplest of logic. I don't understand why people would think a company would act in any other way but selfishly. Environmental rules are an absolute necessity and without them you end up with companies polluting willy nilly. The evidence of this behavior is so voluminous it defies belief people think it's not a real thing.

 

[blankslate]

Bottom line, libertarianism is great on individual liberty, but not at all good on corporate environmental safety. If we want a clean environment we have to regulate (and enforce!) to ensure that.

Yes, not every issue has the same solution and sometimes as most people don't want to acknowledge sometimes the general solutions of the world-view you mainly follow doesn't fit too well with the problem at hand.




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[Incorruptible]

Sounds like you're in denial. No one checking up on the storage facilities enough is very likely a contribution to the spill.

Wasn't there talk of the possibility of bankruptcy? Perhaps they wouldn't have to think about that if they bothered to send an inspector out to check on the conditions of the storage facility.

Nah.... just deregulate everything what could go wrong?

Ass.


.....

Resorting to insults? Keep it up scumbag. I am for less regulation but I never said deregulate everything so keep assuming.

 

[ivwshane]

Duke Energy is a company with an employee in the governor's mansion. Also this:
http://www.wral.com/late-payments-bad-credit-could-affect-your-power-bill/13408976/

There appears to be a lot shady stuff going on between the governor and this energy company.

Was it this company that was fined a measly $99k for another spill or major violation?

 

[blankslate]

Resorting to insults? Keep it up scumbag. I am for less regulation but I never said deregulate everything so keep assuming.

I never said you did unless your name happens to be libertarian...

as for insults I responded in kind unlike the "moron" who instigated them....


Maybe you'd get insulted less if your posts didn't warrant them as often as they do.


Ass.


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