Flood Water Breaches Dam, Threatens Release Of Toxic Coal Ash In US River - Duke Energy

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2018) Post-hurricane flooding in the state of North Carolina has breached a dam, forced a gas-fired power plant to shut down and submerged a steel containment barrier protecting discarded coal ash, the public utility Duke Energy announced in a press release on Friday.

"The company believes that ash in the 1971 ash basin remains in place behind a steel wall separating the excavation area from the cooling lake," the release said. "That wall is submerged by flood water ... There is no visible ash in the cooling lake, and prior to flooding the ash level was at least five feet below the top of the steel wall."

The statement refers to Sutton Lake, which was once the source of water used to cool a now defunct coal-fired power plant that has since been replaced by a natural-gas generating facility. The gas plant was shut down after being flooded, the release explained.

Meanwhile, water continues to overtop a dam at one end of the lake and is also exiting one large and several smaller breaches, the release explained.

"What we don't know at this point is if any coal ash has filtered into the Cape Fear River," North Carolina Secretary of State for Environmental Quality Mike Regan said, as quoted by ABC news. "We plan to conduct flyovers ... to see if we can ascertain that."

At the coal ash site, personnel are using large stone and other materials to reinforce an earthen barrier near the steel wall, the top of which remains two feet above water, and the company has brought in engineers to develop and supervise repairs.

The ash left over when coal is burned contains an array of toxic heavy metals, including mercury, lead and arsenic.

Many rivers in North Carolina are not expected to crest until this weekend after a week of heavy rains from Hurricane Florence.