NCDEQ wants changes to coal ash law before finalizing rankings

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality announced on Wednesday tentative closure deadlines for coal ash ponds at Duke Energy facilities across the state.

A statement from Appalachian Voices’ N.C. Campaign Coordinator Amy Adams:

“Residents threatened by Duke Energy’s coal ash want results, not headlines. Today’s announcement has no guarantee that DEQ is taking swift and real action to protect these communities. In fact, kicking the can down the road by a year and half — until after the elections — suggests the agency is playing politics with people’s lives. This is typical of how DEQ has approached the coal ash crisis in North Carolina.

“While it may appear the department will require full cleanup of all ponds by 2024, that’s secondary to its plan to get the legislature to change the coal ash law in ways that would make today’s cleanup rankings meaningless.”