Duke Energy Wants to Have Its Cake and Eat It, Too. And They Want to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too, Too

Sorry about that coal ash spill thingy. You folks don't mind paying for it now, do you?

This news item has my head spinning. In a move that goes way beyond having unmitigated gall, Duke Energy, whose spill of between 50,000 and 82,000 tons of coal ash fouled North Carolina’s Dan River last month, now says that the power company’s customers should pick up the bill to clean up the company’s dozens of coal ash storage sites.

            Lynn Good, Duke Energy’s CEO, told the Charlotte Observer that since rate payers had enjoyed the electricity the company provided for generations they are the ones who should pay for the cleanup of the byproduct of producing that electricity.

            OK, so I sell you a guitar. Years later, due to my bad business practices, I incur debts. I then tell you that since you bought a guitar and benefited from my bad business practices, you should pay my bills. That is exactly what Duke is trying to do here. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. And they want to have your cake and eat it too, too.

Hat tip to my friend Amy for this story.

Fourth Poisonous Spill in Appalachia This Year

So now there is a second toxic spill in North Carolina's Dan River from the decommissioned Duke Energy power plant. So how many toxic spills have gone into the waters of Appalachia this year? Four?

            And it’s only February.

Coal ash in the streams now a common sight in Appalachia?

Would You Drink the Water In Danville?

So try to swallow this. This is a photo of someone who grabbed a piece of driftwood in the Dan River, where between 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash were spilled from a retired Duke Energy power plant two days ago.

This image is from 20 miles downstream of the spill and just a stone’s throw upstream of the drinking water intake in Danville, Virginia. Keep in mind that the ash contains arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium, all of which are very toxic. Would you drink the water in Danville?

            The image is from Appalachian Water Watch. The person whose hand is covered in gray goop is Amy Adams, North Carolina Campaign Coordinator for Appalachian Voices.

Another Toxic Spill in Appalachia

There has been another coal related spill in Appalachia. This time it is coal ash, the toxic residue that is left over from the burning of coal. Coal ash contains arsenic, lead, mercury, and selenium. Today 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water flowed into the Dan River near Eden, North Carolina.

The water and ash were released from ponds at a retired Duke Energy power plant through a 48-inch pipe that drained a 27-acre coal ash holding pond. Coal ash has washed up on the banks of the river and the river is now tinted gray. Water districts downstream have been notified, but no reports of water problems have cropped up yet.

Will this be another ho hum disaster? Tens of thousands of tons of toxic ash drains into a river. I think that’s a big deal.