Duke Energy, the "energy" means unregulated poison!
Duke Energy, who you might remember from being
fined a ton for coal ash contamination but not having to clean it up, has some new problems surrounding how much contaminants it's been housing and dumping—
this time in Columbia, South Carolina.
Records show that a coal ash waste pond at the H.B. Robinson plant contains about six times as much ash as reported last year by Duke. [...]
Last year, the power company reported only 660,000 tons in the ash basin near Lake Robinson, a popular recreation spot outside of Hartsville and about an hour’s drive east of Columbia.
Turns out, Duke Energy updated that number recently—to about 4,000,000 tons of ash in the 55-acre waste pond. Maybe you've forgotten who Duke Energy is? They're the company that were brought you
the Dan River spill. That was 35 million tons of coal ash that tainted the Dan River in
North Carolina last year.
In addition to the Dan River spill, the $55-billion company is charged with having illegally drained coal ash and wastewater from three power plants into the Catawba River, the Neuse River and the French Broad River. Prosecutors also say Duke failed to maintain treatment system equipment at its Cape Fear power plant, where it dumped 61 million gallons from ash ponds into a stream. Duke has admitted that 200 illegal "seeps" at its 14 coal-fired power plants have leaked three million gallons of coal ash-tainted wastewater a day near rivers and lakes.
Anyway, Duke Energy assures everyone that they've been learning more about this waste pond which they acquired
only three years ago.
Statistics showing more ash in the pond follow revelations in March that nuclear waste had been dumped in the ash pond and that poisonous arsenic has been found at levels substantially higher in groundwater than previously known by the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
The atomic waste dumping, which took place in the 1980s and 1990s, initially occurred without federal or state approval, but later was authorized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to federal records obtained by the Southern Environmental Law Center and reviewed by The State newspaper. Rarely has low-level atomic waste been dumped in a coal ash pond, federal officials have said. The 1960s-era Robinson coal plant is now closed.
According to
The State, this pond is the last and only site that does not have a "cleanup plan" in place. The question for many is if this stuff has been going on for years, why are we only learning about it now?
One of the biggest questions discussed Thursday by the PSC was why monitors for years had not detected substantially elevated levels of arsenic in groundwater beneath the coal ash pond. Arsenic levels in groundwater near the pond were found to be 1,000 times higher than the safe drinking water standard, according to December test results. The highest levels found before 2014 were just over twice the standard.
The answer, Holleman said, is simple: DHEC for years monitored only a handful of spots near the pond, and those places were not in the path of where groundwater was flowing. When the agency required more test wells to be installed, arsenic levels skyrocketed.
De-regulation: American like grandma's arsenic-poisoned apple pie.