Ltr to J.Zimmerman re Excluded WE Housholds_20180227

LAW OFFICES OF
F. BRYAN BRICE, JR.
______________________________

F. BRYAN BRICE, JR. 127 W. HARGETT ST., STE. 600
CATHERINE CRALLE JONES RALEIGH, NC 27601
MATTHEW D. QUINN TEL: [phone]
WARREN KUHN HICKS FAX: [phone]
ROBERT R. GELBLUM, OF COUNSEL WWW.ATTYBRYANBRICE.COM

February 27, 2018

Jay Zimmerman [e-mail]
Director, Division of Water Resources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699

Re: Coal Ash Management Act – Water Supply Plan – Households Improperly Excluded
from Well Eligible List: Plants Roxboro, Belews Creek, and Mayo

Dear Mr. Zimmerman,

Thank you so much for taking the time with Secretary Regan and Mr. Lane to meet with
residents in Roxboro last week to discuss the DEQ’s decision regarding water filtration systems
for the Roxboro, Mayo and Belews Creek plants. The residents appreciate your taking time to
hear their on-going concerns regarding the filtration systems and what it means to own property
so close to Duke Energy’s coal fired plants.

We are writing on behalf of home owners located near these plants who were excluded from
Duke Energy’s Well Eligible (“WE”) List. These households were excluded even though they
are adjacent or very close to WE households and in many instances have high levels of arsenic
and other CCR constituents of concern. At each of these plants, most of these households
received a Do Not Drink advisory and received bottled water from Duke until late last year.

Now that a final decision has been made that these communities will not receive public water
lines, these homeowners who are just outside the current half mile zone have no access to a
municipal line, and are without hope of clean water unless your office can assist in providing a
filtration system as access to safe drinking water. These homes were excluded because their
property boundaries fell just outside the ½ mile marker from the plant’s compliance boundary.
As noted at the meeting last week, the ½ mile radius, especially at the Roxboro Plant, has been
quite arbitrary. In some instances, the compliance boundary is but a few feet from the ash pond.
In other locations, the compliance boundary includes the entire Duke Energy property, which
may be thousands of feet from an ash pond. Especially when this application of the compliance
boundary serves to divide neighbors, the result is highly unfair and appears unrelated to actual
distance from the ash basins and relative risk.

Belews Creek: High Level Contaminants of Concern
Attached as Appendix A is a chart identifying each property by plant, property owner and
delivery address, and an outline of reasons why they should be deemed well eligible. We have
included for easy reference whether these homes received bottled water previously, and whether
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they received Do Not Drink advisories. If wells or adjacent wells have been tested, those results
indicating exceedances of coal ash screening constituents are also shown.

By way of example, Mr. Ted Clark (1320 Old Plantation Rd) has 6 acres which represents his
entire life’s work. In August of 2015, his water was tested and showed the presence of Arsenic
(10.8) and Molybdenum (20.2). He received a DND advisory from DEQ/DHHS and began
receiving bottled water from Duke Energy shortly thereafter. Near Mr. Clark’s property, the ½
mile line dips toward the plant rather than continuing in a straight line. As a result, Mr. Clark’s
property was deemed by Duke Energy as non-WE, and bottled water deliveries were stopped last
year. Since no public water line will be available for connection, his property is unmarketable
unless he is provided with a filtration system similar to the one his neighbors are receiving.

Adjacent to the Clark property is Devonne Duncanson (1035 Old Rustic Place Lane), where very
high Arsenic levels (108 ug/L) were confirmed. Similarly, the Duncanson’s received a DN D
Letter and received, until last year, bottled water. Now, the property is without a clean water
supply and unmarketable. Neighbor, Brenda Lapeyrolerie, is in a similar situation with Arsenic
at 15.7.

Vernon Zellers is less than 177’ from the odd shaped ½ mile radius, and after receiving a Do Not
Drink advisory and bottled water for more than two years, has now been excluded from the well
eligible list. Mr. Zellers has Chromium (19.3 ug/L) in his well. His wife and cat suddenly died
shortly before the high levels of Chromium were confirmed in his wells. Unable to market his
property without a clean water source, and in failing health himself, Mr. Zeller has been unable
to prevent his property from going into foreclosure. Because the lien holder is reluctant to
foreclose on an unmarketable property, Mr. Zellers has been allowed to remain in his home for
the time being. He is in desperate need of a filtration system just like Duke is providing to his
neighbors.

These homes appear to be downgradient of a pre-regulatory dump (the Old Walnut Cove
Landfill) and that was reported to have also been an unpermitted ash dump site. Since the health
impacts of this level of contaminants are so severe, we would urge that these homes be included
as Well Eligible properties in order to protect these residents. Such can be accomplished by
reviewing and revising the compliance boundary so that these properties are in fact within a half
mile of the Duke property.

Roxboro: Fluid Compliance Boundary
Appendix A also identifies each property near the Roxboro Plant that has been arbitrarily
excluded from the well eligible list. These homes along McGhees Mill Road are part of the
changing landscape of the compliance boundary surrounding the Roxboro plant. Each of the
homes listed is very close to the proposed boundary that has continued to shift over time. The
home of Ernest and Faye Terrill Woods (4591 McGhees Mill Rd) is the last home on the north
stretch of McGhee’s Mill. There is not another residence on McGhees Mill Road within ½ mile
to the north. To exclude this property from all its neighbors is a complete injustice. These
homes were not initially evaluated for Duke’s CSA, nor did the CSA include any evaluation of
the impact of residential wells on groundwater flow. Adjacent wells that were tested have
shown high levels of Vanadium, Hex Chrome, Manganese, and Sodium, and received Do Not
Drink health advisories from State and local officials. Subsequent private testing has confirmed
elevated levels of Hexavalent Chromium and Vanadium. For these reasons, these additional
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homes should also be listed as Well Eligible. Again, we urge you to make a final review of the
compliance boundary and set the line so that these homes at Roxboro are well eligible to receive
the same filtration system Duke has offered their neighbors.

Mayo: Few Privately Owned Properties, but all need Filtration.
The Mayo plant is unique in that Duke Energy owns almost all property within ½ mile of the ash
basins. In some areas Duke Energy owns property up to 1 ½ miles outside the ash basin,
however, the compliance boundary appears to have been set at 500’ from the ash basins and
does not take into account the Duke Energy property boundary at all.

At the Mayo plant, south of the Virginia line there are only 8 water supply wells (6 residential)
within the currently established ½ mile radius. However, there are three additional residential
properties immediately outside the ½ mile boundary that have no access to public water and are
not currently slated for a public filtration system, even though they are adjacent to (or less than
200’ from) the Duke Energy property line. In this instance, if the compliance boundary is set
based upon the Duke Energy property line (as it is at most other plants), then these three homes
would clearly be deemed well eligible and would be treated the same as their direct neighbors
who have received filtration devices for their contaminated wells.

Unless these homes are treated in the same manner as their adjacent neighbors, then these
properties will have no access to clean water and will be singled out for devaluation. Appendix
A also identifies these non-well eligible households that are just south of the ½ mile radius. We
request that DEQ review the boundary and make a minor adjustment to allow these homes to
receive the help they desperately need.

We appreciate your assistance to help provide clean water to these homes and bridge the divide
in these neighborhoods. We are acutely aware of the urgency of this matter. Duke Energy is
mobilizing now to install filtration systems for well eligible homes in these communities. There
will be no more cost-effective or better time to install filtration systems in these other homes to
provide them clean water similar to their neighbors. Failing to act promptly will result in
significant additional devaluation of these properties, and permanent destabilization of these
families.

We would be happy to discuss these issues further. Please let me know if you have questions.

Very truly yours,

F. Bryan Brice, Jr.

Enclosure

cc: Bill Lane [e-mail]
Mona Wallace
Bill Graham
Cary McDonald