North Carolina leads nation in toxic ash waste pits

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North Carolina leads nation in toxic ash waste pits

By John Murawski | Raleigh News & Observer

North Carolina leads the nation in the number of toxic ash waste pits at coal-burning power plants, according to a new report by a coalition of environmental groups.

The state is home to at least six coal ash pits that store dangerous levels of arsenic, lead, mercury and other toxins, according to the report issued today by Earthjustice and Environmental Integrity Project. Only Pennsylvania has as many sites with dangerous accumulations of waste from coal-burning power plants, the report said.

The groups are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to step up enforcement at the sites, which have operated for decades out of public eye until a massive spill in December 2008 released tons of toxic sludge in Tennessee.

"The EPA has never gone out and actively investigate these sites," said Jeff Stant, director of the Coal Combustion Waste Initiative at the Environmental Integrity Project. "The delay is unconscionable when there's this much data showing this much damage."

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/24/8 ... ation.html

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What's turning Charlotte's drinking water acidic?

By Bruce Henderson | Charlotte Observer

Part of Mountain Island Lake, the main water source for Charlotte and Gastonia, has for the first time made North Carolina's list of "impaired" waters.

For reasons experts don't yet know, water readings in the lower lake turned slightly acidic. Five other places on the Catawba River, and four in the Yadkin basin east of Charlotte, also made this year's bad-water list for the same reason.

Acidic water isn't harmful to drink, but it threatens fish and other aquatic life.

"In a large way, it's showing that our primary drinking water source is being impacted by more troubles," said Catawba Riverkeeper David Merryman.

Acid rain is among the suspects that might explain the Catawba and Yadkin readings. Industry emissions, largely from coal-burning power plants, form acidic compounds in the atmosphere that fall to the earth's surface. North Carolina's attorney general successfully sued the Tennessee Valley Authority in 2006 for power-plant pollution blowing into his state.

But Viney Aneja, an air-pollution scientist at N.C. State University, points to what he believes is a likelier culprit: drought.

A record dry spell hammered the Charlotte region from early 2007 to late 2008. Low water in streams and lakes could have concentrated sulfate and nitrate, Aneja says, making the water temporarily more acidic. The water samples that led to most of the Catawba's bad-water listings were collected in 2008.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/24/8 ... nking.html