Groups sue EPA to get info on Duke coal ash

The Charlotte Observer, N.C. - December 3, 2009

Dec. 3--Three environmental groups have filed a federal lawsuit intended to publicly release information about coal ash basins owned by Duke Energy and several other utilities.

In June, the Environmental Protection Agency identified 44 of the basins, which hold ash mixed with water, as "high hazard." Ten of those are Duke's. The designation doesn't mean the basins are likely to fail, but might kill people if they collapsed.

EPA had sought information on the basins after a massive spill of coal-ash sludge by the Tennessee Valley Authority a year ago. Coal ash holds potentially toxic material.

Duke said it submitted the information to EPA, but asked the agency to keep private the size and other physical aspects of its ash basins. That information could help competitors glean insights into Duke's operations, the company says.

Duke spokesman Andy Thompson said regulators have enough information to judge the basins' safety.

"We believe the regulatory bodies are best suited to ensure that utilities are operating their facilities in compliance with state and federal regulations," he said.

The Sierra Club, the public interest law firm Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project sued the EPA in federal court in San Francisco on Tuesday to force the EPA to release the information. The groups say the public deserves to know more about structures that could fail.

"Most utilities have already provided EPA with exactly the same data that Duke, First Energy and the Southern Company subsidiaries are trying to keep the public from seeing," said Eric Schaeffer of the Environmental Integrity Project.

Among the basins on the EPA's high-hazard list are those at Duke's Allen and Riverbend power plants on the Catawba River in Gaston County, and the Marshall plant on Lake Norman in Catawba County.

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