Local residents gathered at the Cleveland County Memorial Library on Wednesday evening to watch a series of short films on coal ash and its effects.

The screening in Shelby, and others across the state, coincide with the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s public hearings on ash basin closures in North Carolina. There will be two local meetings centered around Duke Energy coal ash basins at the Cliffside Steam Station/Rogers Energy Complex near the Broad River.

The NCDEQ has classified two of the Cliffside coal ash pits as “low” and one as “low/intermediate” risk. Low risk ponds do not have to be excavated but must be drained and capped by 2029, while high risk and intermediate risk ponds must be excavated by 2019 and 2024, respectively. A determination on what will happen to ponds ranked low/intermediate has not yet been made.

At 6 p.m. on March 14, the NCDEQ will host a public meeting at the Boiling Springs Town Hall, 114 East College Ave., Shelby. The meeting will focus on the NCDEQ’s recent proposal to rank the two Duke Energy inactive coal ash basins in Cleveland County at the Cliffside power plant as "low priority," according to the event's Facebook page.

A separate hearing on the Cliffside plant is planned for 6 p.m. on March 14 in Rutherford County at the Isothermal Community College Auditorium, 286 ICC Loop Rd, Spindale. Both meetings will give local residents a chance to weigh in on the rankings and on coal ash.

Here’s what local residents who attended the screening of “Coal Ash Stories” on Wednesday had to say:

Laramie Short, Mooresboro:

“The water’s bad in our well. We didn’t really detect it until about four years ago. We had low levels of iron, and now it’s toxic. We can’t boil it; we can’t use it; we can’t drink it; we can’t cook with it; we can’t take a bath with it … They bring us 24 gallons of water every two weeks in gallon jugs.”

Jonathan Foust, Shelby:

“I work at Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, so we’re right out in Cliffside. A lot of the kids I teach are from that area, and we work in that area. It’s foremost on my mind where I work… (Before the screening) I didn’t know a lot about the details - the numbers, the facts, the figures.”

Burwell Byers, Rutherford County:

“I live on the river up in Rutherford County, so I like to see the river as clean as possible. We need to keep the river as clean as we can. I want to see if I need to get more actively involved in cleaning up in Cliffside.”

Ellen Day, Shelby:

“I had seen a lot of this (information in the films) before, but it was nice to see it all organized and get the facts straight… I think it’s crucial (to clean up coal ash), it’s so dangerous. To think about poisoning the water that everyone depends on, that our children are going to grow up with, that we drink and bathe in. There’s no higher priority than that.”