After many years' worth of efforts to get Duke Energy to close its coal-belching power plant in Lake Julian, south of Asheville (and clean up its huge coal ash ponds above I-26 and the French Broad River),
victory was finally achieved back in May of this year. Today - November 4, 2015 - yet another victory for the environment of Western North Carolina was announced.
The Lake Julian facility's ash ponds were rated as among the nation's most dangerous and have long been noted for contaminating local groundwater with arsenic, mercury and hexavalent chromium (66% above NC's groundwater standard). Some of the estimated 5-6 million tons of accumulated ash is to be transferred to lined pits as fill at the Asheville Regional Airport under current (portrayed in the press as "vague") plans, but that will still leave tons of ash in the ponds. The work of environmentalists and groups to force a greater commitment and faster schedule on Duke via the legislature and the courts has been hampered by collusion between state regulators and the company, despite support from the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Then, back in August, randallt reported in the DKos Asheville weekly diary about Duke's new "modernization" plan for the WNC region based on what it was going to replace the coal-belcher with. The plan would turn Asheville into a net energy exporter with the installation of a 650MW natural gas plant, which would generate nearly a hundred megawatts more electricity than the customer base uses even at peak times. That excess energy was to be transmitted to a new Duke substation they were going to build in Greenville, SC, a project that would plow across mountains and through valuable properties, directly threatening the region's beautiful environment and multi-billion dollar tourism industry. Established environmental groups like the Sierra Club and others banded together to fight the outrage and swung immediately into action.
Today Duke Energy announced that it had changed its "modernization" project in light of the concerted opposition. MountainTrue reports...
Duke Energy today announced a dramatic reconfiguration to their Carolinas Modernization Project, scrapping a proposed 40-mile transmission line that would have cut through the counties of Buncombe, Henderson and Polk in North Carolina and Spartainburg in South Carolina; eliminating a new substation in Campobellow, S.C.; and reducing the size of a proposed new natural gas plant slated to replace the current coal-fired plant at Lake Julian outside of Asheville.
As southern regional director for MountainTrue Mark Stierwalt said,
"We've dodged a bullet. This is a win, but there's still much work to be done. The coalition needs to remain attentive and hold Duke to its promises."
Chalk one up for the good guys. And yes it does feel good to win one (for a change). Though we do all know that Duke is really hard to pin down on any actual concrete actions other than dumping and covering up and colluding on their myriad environmental violations. So yeah, we will still have to hold their feet to the fire.