Goldsboro keeps wary eye on upstream coal ash ponds
A trio of coal ash ponds at a defunct power plant near Goldsboro pose a threat to the city's water supply and continue to leak toxins into nearby groundwater.
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Recent news coverage has focused on the spill of almost 40,000 tons of ash into the Dan River hundreds of miles away at Eden, but an even larger ash pond sits 10 miles upstream from Goldsboro's water intake on the Neuse River.
"I have seen it on TV – I have seen it in other places like Virginia and like that – but not here in Goldsboro," Richardson said.
Richardson's response doesn't surprise Goldsboro Mayor Al King. "The average citizen is not aware of it, but we are," he said.
Neuse Riverkeeper Matthew Starr says the trio of ash ponds is so close to the river that he can throw a rock from the bank to the top of the earthen dam that contains one pond.
Goldsboro is prepared for the worst, King said, with a five-day water reservoir that can be cut off from the river if the ash pond dams ever fail.
"Hopefully, we won't have to do that, but if we have to, we have to," he said.
Damage is already occurring near the site, even without a major ash spill. Cancer-causing pollutants have been leaking into the groundwater from the ponds for years.
"It's continuously happening," Starr said, noting tests of nearby groundwater show levels of arsenic 60 times greater than federal drinking water standards.
Massengale confirmed, however, that the state hadn't taken any action against Duke before that for violating the state water-quality regulations or to force it to stop.
"There’s various cleanup actions we could have taken with them at the time," she said. "As long as they moved forward in executing those actions as we required, then the thought was to not fine them. If they did not do what we required, to look then at compliance actions.”
There are no state records of cleanup actions required of Duke at the Goldsboro site, she said, adding the lawsuit has "kind of frozen that process."
Sheehan also said Duke's tests show no environmental damage to the Neuse River by the coal ash ponds.
Groundwater arsenic levels have exceeded safety standards for almost four years, but Massengale said results from monitoring wells near the ash ponds can vary from month to month.
"It’s not simple and straightforward. It’s underground. It’s not that easy," she said. "We’re watching what data points we’re getting from these wells, trying to determine what’s going on at these sites.”
Goldsboro's water system is able to remove arsenic and metals from the water, King said, but residents who have private wells don't have that protection.
Starr said there's only one solution to the threat posed by the ash ponds near Goldsboro and Duke's 29 other ash ponds across North Carolina.
"The coal ash needs to be removed," he said. "It needs to be put in landfills that are lined and moved away from surface waters."
King agreed and is pushing Duke to take action.
"They put it there, and it is their responsibility to clean it up," he said.
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