What will coal ash cost us?

Editorial by Greenville Daily Reflector, August 21, 2014.

A bill on a compromise plan reached Tuesday to close all North Carolina coal ash ponds by 2029 clearly demonstrates bipartisan support for addressing the environmental crisis ahead of the November election. What is not clear is how much of the financial burden for the massive cleanup will fall to Duke Energy ratepayers.

“A lot” is a safe bet if ratepayers have to guess.

With a breakdown in competing bills over the issue of cleaning up coal ash ponds, The GOP-led General Assembly was widely expected to put the dilemma off until November. But lawmakers can be commended for recognizing that such a high-stakes public health issue must be confronted sooner rather than later.

A month after some 39,000 tons of coal ash spilled into a source for public drinking water from Duke Energy’s Dan River Steam Station, the company was cited by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources for violating water quality laws, rules and permit conditions.

House and Senate legislation to have Duke Energy drain its 33 ash ponds hit a snag earlier this month when new elements were introduced. The compromise bill, which had House approval by Wednesday afternoon, mandates that ash be excavated at four of Duke’s 14 coal-fired power plants, while ponds considered “low risk” can be capped without removing the ash.

The Southern Environmental Law Center has criticized that element of the plan, according to a report by The Charlotte Observer. “Allowing coal ash to be left in unlined, leaking pits across North Carolina with documented groundwater contamination at each site is not a cleanup plan nor does it protect the people of North Carolina,” the newspaper quoted the center as saying.

The bill also establishes a coal ash oversight commission that would consider open-ended extensions of the 15-year timetable for closing the ponds. The SELC claims that component and other changes over previous bills seek to protect Duke Energy from taking responsibility for its coal ash.

One of the changes over the previous House bill should be of particular concern to ratepayers. It sets the expiration date for a moratorium on rate increases to pay for coal ash cleanup at January 2015 as opposed to the December 2016 date advocated by the House.

This risky method for dealing with coal ash clearly must end, and the hazards it has created must be removed. Ratepayers should, however, be made aware of just how much they can expect to pay for the lack of oversight and poor planning that got us into this mess.

http://www.reflector.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-coal-ash-cost-unclear-2629321