Coal news and updates

The NC Coal Ash Management Commission held its second meeting Wednesday to learn about possible beneficial ways to re-use toxic coal ash.

 

State lawmakers created the commission last year after the massive spill into the Dan River. The commission will classify coal ash basins, review and approve the closure plans for coal ash sites, and make recommendations on rules and laws about coal ash management.

 

Gov. Pat McCrory has filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing lawmakers don't have the authority to create and appoint the members of the commission, because he argues it's an oversight authority of the executive branch of government.

 

Commissioners say they're focusing on the science behind the coal ash debate and will avoid the politics of it.

 

Experts from all across North Carolina gathered at NC State's McKimmon center Wednesday, to brief commissioners on the pros and cons of recycling toxic coal ash liking using it to make concrete.

 

“They can also be used for road based materials, manufactured aggregates, embankments, roofing tiles and shingles, waste stabilization, snow and ice control,” said NC coal ash management commissioner Jim Auten.

 

North Carolina currently has 150 million tons of coal ash stored on 14 sites across the state. In 2013, Duke Energy said it re-used more than 60 percent of the coal ash the company produced, but not all of it is the right type to recycle.

 

“There are some physical properties that limit our ability to use that in, for example, the concrete industry. In that industry, for example, some of the coal that we have has too much carbon and other materials that makes it not the right composition for that application,” said Jeff Brooks, with Duke Energy.

 

Duke Energy is currently looking to re-use between three and 20 million tons of coal ash to fill clay mines in Chatham and Lee County, which is a major concern for Martha Girolami and other people living in the area.

 

“I'm worried about pollution in those areas. It's another way the state is taking from us. We've become the coal ash dumping sites in Lee and Chatham,” said Girolami.

 

Experts insist recycling and re-using coal ash is safer and in the long run, less expensive than storing it.

 

“Absolutely, in certain circumstances it is [safe to reuse]. In fact, when you use coal ash in concrete, what you have done is you have bound the toxins that are unsafe so that they can't be released. So it's much safer in concrete than it is in a coal pond or in a lined landfill,” said Michael Jacobs, NC Coal Ash Management Commission chairman.

 

The coal ash management commission will meet again in March in Charlotte.

 

 

 

 

Source: http://charlotte.twcnews.com/