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HomeMy WebLinkAboutVII. Meeting Notes - RoxboroNotes March 16, 2016 Public Meeting Mayo -Roxboro Coal Ash Risk Classification Nick Torrey, Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) • Recommends that Mayo -Roxboro are not low priority. • These people are serious and deserve to have coal ash ponds classified as high priority. • Coal ash will continue to leach contamination. • DEQ is doing a disservice by knowingly allowing Duke Energy to pollute these lakes. • Roxboro and Mayo already have dry, lined storage. Brooks Rainey -Pearson, SELC • Person Co. not a low -priority and not low risk • Duke has lined landfill for ash • There will be no need to drive ash a long distance. • Ludicrous to leave ash where it is. • Cheaper? Yes. Safer? No. • Asked DEQ to classify as high risk. Andrew Lester, executive director, Roanoke River Basin Association • Concerned coal ash contamination will get into groundwater Sue Fife, resident • Woman brought in bottled water and handed to Elizabeth W. • We don't need to wait 20 years. • We need to do it now. Tanya Evans, dist. Manager for Duke Energy • 1 call Person Co. home. • 1 understand how important Hyco and Mayo lakes are to people • Important to close ash basins • Community important to us because we work here and live here too. • We are closing ash ponds in ways that are safe and protect public health and the environment; manage costs. • All closure plans protect groundwater • No indication that coal ash is impacting peoples' wells. • Closure plans will make sure ...safe for future • We will update neighbors through one-on-one contacts, mailings. Patrick Wiley • Duke Energy let coal ash contamination leak into groundwater for decades. • Significant under RCRA • Good corporate citizens do no carelessly dump on neighbors • 30 days not long enough to finalize draft closure plans. Frances Blalock • Co chair of GoDanRiver, an environmental group in Person Co. • 140 acres — Mayo impoundment will be enormous cleanup • Can be capped left where it is, excavated and can be put in Duke Energy protective facility or put in landfill. • Only one acceptable solution — put in Duke Energy landfill • Don't want coal ash taken to landfill. • Person County should be at top of cleanup list b/c we hold the title as the queen of coal ash. Doyle Peed • Owns 56 acres near Mayo ash pond • Concerns for drainage of ash pond. Nick Wood • Act Against Coal Ash • Concerned people don't know their drinking water • Statewide problem • It took disaster on Groundhogs Day to get government to wake up. • Yet to see anything from Governor McCrory • Secret dinner with Duke — Governor McCrory, Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Van der Vaart. • A $25 million fine from the state went to $7 million fine • Then, Mr. Reeder from DHHS (cq) rescinded Do not Drink Orders • Water is still not safe to drink; need facts to test wells. Let's have a solution based on independent testing. Rosemarie Sawdon • Permanent resident of Person Co. • And represents the Sierra Club • All should be classified as high risk to be sure that all coal ash is stored in dry lined storage away from the river. • 287,000-plus people rely on drinking water downstream • Roxboro is one Duke's largest coal ash sites with 19.4 million tons of ash in unlined pits and discharged into Hyco Lake. • Mayo coal ash pond is located and flowing into Mayo Lake • None should be ranked as low risk. Everyone deserve a good quality of life with clean water. Marji Stehle • Lives in Hyco Lake in full view of the power plants. • One summer day Mayo plant was spewing black smoke. Contacted Duke Energy, never got a response about what black smoke was all about. • Now they want us to trust them and I've got a real problem with that. Marcus Henderson • Person County resident • Asked that testing be conducted beyond the 1,500-foot boundary of coal ash ponds. State should test until you find no contamination. Andy Withers • Angry at letters to Courier Times — one from Dem. Sen. Woodard was the worst. • Letters intend to scare people. • State regulators made up MCLs that were higher than they ever should have been • MCLs for vanadium and Chromium 6. Ponds should be classified as low risk. Should stay the same. • Delighted to have Duke Energy as a neighbor and think they should always be our neighbor. Robert Roberson — did not speak Aaron Puryear • Coal ash pollution problem for several years. Now water pollution problem for several years. • Science is data manipulation from Duke Energy • Duke not being held accountable. Emma Greenbaum • Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign • People across N.C. have been drinking water contaminated with carcinogens; DEQ and Governor should be moving heaven and earth to move these coal ash hazards. That has not happened. • Roxboro is Duke's largest coal ash pit • The coal ash sits beneath the groundwater table at both Mayo and Roxboro pits. • No site should be classified as low risk Armstrong Pillow • South Person County • Why Mayo and Roxboro coal ash sites must be thoroughly cleaned up. Chris Hardin • U.S. Congressional candidate from Guilford County • Not from Person Co. • Where did Duke data come from; federal government data can't be trusted. Not state government data. • If water's not safe, someone has a problem with the water in their well and they should have their wells tested. • Got to listen to the experts at the end of the day. Need to work with people on both sides of aisle. Hard to believe there is a well water problem. PJ Gentry • Concerned resident • Ridiculous to make a villain out of Duke Energy • 1 want scientific evidence, not theory • What is coal ash? It's bad. Who told you that? • Arsenic, selenium, vanadium — where are they found? Found in rocks, selenium is in livestock, feed • Coal comes from the earth. These are minerals that come from the earth. Ken Rose • Chair of the headwaters group of the Sierra Club • Needs to be a scientific process • Scientists recommended high risk. • Now it's low risk • High risk in Charlotte, Asheville, Wilmington. But in poor rural areas the coal ash pits are rated as low risk.