Deposition: Controversial wording on coal ash came from governor's office
Language citing federal safe drinking water standards has been at the heart of an ongoing controversy over coal ash contamination of drinking water wells. A Health and Human Services communication staffer said under oath the governor's office directed her to include the line.
Posted — UpdatedMcCrory's office has repeatedly said all advice to residents was hammered out by agency experts and that neither the governor nor his staff played much of a role in developing the advisories.
Gerlach gave her sworn deposition as part of a long-running legal challenge over how the state and Duke Energy handled the clean up of unlined coal ash pits across the state. Lawyers for environmental groups that are part of that suit released the transcript Thursday but declined to comment on the details.
Asked about the deposition, Gerlach and Stephanie Hawco, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Quality, insisted that scientists in the two departments agreed on the standards before the letters were sent. However, they did not explain why, if there was agreement, the governor's communications office was essentially issuing a directive to DHHS over the matter.
"The language you're referencing in the HREs was agreed upon by both the secretary of DHHS and the secretary of DEQ," Gerlach said Thursday when asked about her testimony.
"The emails are important because they show that the scientists were in agreement about the language – a point that has been widely mischaracterized," she said.
During her deposition, a lawyer asked Gerlach about Rudo's objections and DHHS' hopes that the language about federal standards would not be included in information sent to well owners.
"I received a fax with a sentence to be included," she replies.
Asked who sent the fax in particular, Gerlach said she didn't know.
"It came from the communications office, but I don't know the individual," she said.
In response to a question from WRAL News, McCrory Communications Director Josh Ellis referred questions to Hawco.
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