After radioactivity discovered near Lake Julian plant, Duke Energy calls findings 'premature'

ASHEVILLE — Amid a report showing high levels of radioactivity in the groundwater near almost a dozen Duke Energy power plants including Asheville's, the company called the findings "premature" as it continues excavating its existing coal ash basins.

Duke's response comes after Waterkeeper Alliance said this month results of a groundwater monitoring program, mandated by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule, shows "startlingly high levels of radioactivity" at 11 of its 18 power plants.

It singled out Duke's Lake Julian plant in Asheville, which reportedly measured out "levels of radium in groundwater 38 times what EPA considers safe for drinking water."

In addition, the organization said Duke is contaminating the groundwater with "arsenic, lead and a host of other toxic pollutants."

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"Asheville happened to have the highest level of radium of any site I've looked at so far," Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel at environmental group Earthjustice, told the Citizen Times on Monday. She also was critical of Duke's "very unusual way" of presenting data, echoing a remark she made earlier this month that the utility demonstrated a "clear intent to obscure the findings."

Duke Energy spokesperson Erin Culbert disputed the characterization of the report, saying groundwater monitoring wells in the report are located immediately next to the basin or landfill "and do not reflect groundwater conditions farther away or off plant property where neighbors are located."

Duke is doing its own testing and analysis of the impacts of the site, as advised by state and federal law, Culbert said. That effort is scheduled to be completed later this year, she said.

Still, the findings are not expected to alter the company's course of action in Asheville.

At one point, Duke had two ponds to hold black, powdery ash material from burning coal to generate electricity — one built in 1964 covers 45 acres and the other constructed in 1982 is 46 acres. The company has fully excavated one with the other scheduled to be completed by August 2022.

"We have common ground with the riverkeepers — we all want basins closed safely and in ways that protect the environment and communities," Culbert said in an email Monday. "Excavation is not always the best choice for basins, though. In some cases, science supports capping the basin in place.

"That’s an approach federal and state regulations support and is consistent with the way most basins in the nation will be closed."

Culbert added that radium and other elements "occur naturally in rocks and soils," and the next step is "to determine how much is naturally occurring at each plant site and if the ash basin contributes more."

Evans noted major U.S. utilities other than Duke have reported groundwater contamination at the sites of coal ash basins, largely due to a coal combustion residuals monitoring requirement implemented under the Obama administration.

The EPA, under President Donald Trump's administrator Scott Pruitt, moved this month to roll back coal ash disposal regulations, an effort it estimates would save the utility sector up to $100 million a year in compliance costs.

Evans said it is "important" to know the water quality near these sites in an effort to understand where contamination is going, how drinking water is affected and the effects chemicals would have on surrounding wildlife ecosystems.

If anything, she said the rules should be "strengthened, not weakened."

"If we’re going back to the days when we don’t know how the coal ash dumps are impacting our groundwater and surface water, it’s going to be difficult to protect people and the environment," she said. "It’s a hard question to answer because I don’t know.

"We don't know yet where the rules are going to end up."

Local environmentalists have expressed displeasure dating back to 2013 on Duke's plan to assess contamination at the Lake Julian plant and Duke's Riverbend facility in Gaston County. Hartwell Carson, French Broad Riverkeeper with the Asheville-based environmental group Western North Carolina Alliance, argued in the Citizen Times the company had violated the Clean Water Act and state groundwater standards.

"And everyone knows where it's coming from," he said at the time. "It's coming from the unlined hole in the ground that's full of toxic coal ash."

Carson, quoted in the Waterkeeper Alliance news release this month, said the results of the report "confirm that we were right to force Duke Energy to commit to removing the coal ash from the leaking ash ponds at their Asheville site."

"We need to ensure that Duke’s clean up of the site stops the release of dangerous pollutants to our groundwater," he said.