Just as environmentalists feared, Hurricane Florence has compromised coal ash storage sites near retired and aging power plants in North and South Carolina as the storm pounded the states with high winds and record amounts of rain. Environmentalists now fear that nearby waterways will be contaminated with heavy metals and toxic sludge.
Rain eroded a portion of at least one coal ash landfill over the weekend, creating “waterfalls” of contaminated water upriver from the battered coastal town of Wilmington, North Carolina, according to independent monitors. As of Tuesday, environmentalists and first responders were still monitoring several other coal ash ponds and dumps in the region that appeared to be flooded or threatened by swollen rivers.
Near Conway, South Carolina, the National Guard was preparing to drop sandbags and rocks from a helicopter if necessary to prevent floodwaters in the rapidly rising Waccamaw River from breaching an impoundment containing 200,000 tons of coal ash waste at the site of a now-defunct power plant. A coal ash spill would threaten drinking water supplies and the nearby Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, according to local reports.
The coal ash crisis in Florence’s wake comes as the Trump administration faces off with environmental groups over its attempt to roll back updated federal standards for storing coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal for electricity that is often stored in covered dumps and open-air lagoons near aging and retired power plants.
Coal ash can contain toxic and radioactive heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic, cadmium and selenium, but the coal industry has successfully fought off tough federal regulations for storing the waste even after major coal ash spills such as the 2008 Kingston, Tennessee, disaster made national headlines.
Duke Energy, a private utility company that dominates energy production in North and…