Into the breach
Published August 2, 2014
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, August 1, 2014.
Gov. Pat McCrory admits his executive order won’t go nearly far enough in addressing the state’s coal ash problem. But he refused to accept inaction by the state legislature.
Lawmakers entered their short session in May on a coal ash wave. The collapse of a storage pond at Duke Energy’s Eden facility, dumping an estimated 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River, drew promises of action. McCrory and legislative leaders all made it a priority to enact new regulations requiring safer coal ash storage.
Then, it didn’t get done.
Raleigh isn’t like Washington, D.C., where divided government hinders progress on almost everything. Republicans hold sway in the state capital. Yet, they could not agree on two important initiatives — Medicaid reform and coal ash regulation.
Like the executive in Washington who’s often frustrated by congressional inertia, McCrory decided to move ahead on his own. He told reporters Friday afternoon the Department of Environment and Natural Resources will oversee the draining of four coal ash ponds at the top of the high-risk list, including Dan River — although his order doesn’t spell that out. Proposed legislation targeted the same four ponds, but that bill was yanked from the Senate docket Thursday and left to stew as the Senate adjourned early Friday.
Senate leaders Phil Berger and Tom Apodaca said they’ll get back to it in November — after the elections. They blamed three House members on a conference committee who “went rogue,” adding a last-minute demand.
Berger insisted it’s better to take more time to produce a better bill than accept a poor alternative. That’s true. But there was no deadline forcing the Senate to adjourn Friday without a resolution. It should have remained in session until it finished the job. Surely, three representatives couldn’t overcome Senate determination to enact a good bill.
Both chambers should have resolved their differences weeks ago. The Senate wasted too much time constructing unnecessary legislation, such as restricting local sales-tax options, meddling in judicial processes and trying to privatize Medicaid administration. Senate leaders knew their Medicaid scheme was unacceptable to the governor and should have dropped it. Instead, an opportunity was lost to achieve more practical reform that McCrory sought, leaving more work for November.
Duke Energy, which maintains 33 coal ash ponds at 14 locations, promises to make safety improvements regardless of what the state requires. In light of the deficiencies discovered too late at its Dan River site, Duke should have begun years ago. Coal ash at such facilities should be moved to lined landfills a safe distance from surface waters. The pending legislation did not require that in all cases, allowing Duke to cover low-risk ponds and otherwise leave them in place.
At this point, any progress would be welcome. McCrory recognizes that, even if legislators of his own party do not.
August 2, 2014 at 1:25 pm
Norm Kelly says:
The coal ash pond debacle has been brewing for decades. But since the Republicans now control Raleigh, it's somehow imperative that action be taken immediately. When the demons were in charge of Raleigh, and the coal ash pond problem was created, who cared about it? Actually, who even knew about it? Was ANYONE in the media concerned that the demon-controlled DENR was doing nothing about the potential problem? Did ANY lib write an editorial wondering why the oversight by demons of DENR was being so slack in enforcing EXISTING regulation? Was there ANY investigation by the media allies of the libs when demons controlled Raleigh to find out why coal ash ponds were being allowed to slowly leak into neighboring streams & rivers? Was there ANY level of investigation by the media allies of the demon party asking why the coal ash ponds were even allowed to be created so close to rivers & streams?
Your false/fake outrage now is simply laughable. Sad, but laughable. Where were yous guys when the problem was created? Where is the investigation of responsible government agencies and employees who knew this was going on but did nothing about it? Who is investigating the lack of enforcement of existing laws & regulations? Suddenly, when your allies are no longer responsible, you find it an interesting story to run with? And I'm told there is NO liberal bias in the media! Imagine that! Where's the proof of a lack of bias? Cuz it sure is easy to prove bias!
'At this point, any progress would be welcome'. But not when the allies were in power? Interesting that you call for immediate action now. Show us proof that you wondered about this problem years ago, when the problem was being created, when the problem was in its infancy and could easily and cheaply have been resolved. It's a well known fact that the coal ash pond problem has existed FOR DECADES. Which means BEFORE the Republicans took office. Before Republicans had a chance to 'pressure' regulators to ignore the problem. Before Republicans had a chance to water-down regulations, making it easier for Duke/Progress to create such a huge pollution hazard. But that's a fact that should be ignored, because it does not fit the lib talking points.
Predictable. Shallow. Shameful.
