Report: Duke Energy’s Allen Steam Station is one of the most contaminated coal ash sites in the country

BELMONT, N.C. — The first-ever comprehensive analysis of groundwater near U.S. coal-fired power plants shows Duke Energy’s Allen Steam Station near Belmont is the second most contaminated coal ash site in the country.

The nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), in collaboration with Sierra Club, Earthjustice and other organizations, obtained and analyzed all of the groundwater monitoring data that power companies posted on their websites in 2018. It found that 91 percent of coal ash disposal sites with monitoring data are contaminating groundwater with unsafe levels of toxic pollutants.

Coal ash, also referred to as coal combustion residuals or CCRs, is the waste product from burning coal and contains some of the most dangerous known toxic chemicals on earth—like arsenic, lead, mercury, and chromium—which raise the risk for cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and can inflict permanent brain damage on children.

The data in the report cover 265 coal plants or offsite coal ash disposal areas, including more than 550 individual coal ash ponds and landfills that are monitored by over 4,600 groundwater monitoring wells. This represents roughly three-quarters of the coal power plants across the U.S. The rest of the coal plants have not posted groundwater data either because they closed their ash dumps before the Coal Ash Rule took effect in 2015, or because they were eligible for an extension or exemption.

At Duke Energy’s Allen Steam Station in Belmont, the coal ash dumps were built beneath the water table and are leaking cobalt (which causes thyroid damage) into groundwater at concentrations more than 500 times above safe levels, along with unsafe levels of eight other pollutants.

Amy Brown is a mother of two sons living within eyesight of Duke Energy’s coal ash pond in Belmont. Hundreds of families there got “Do Not Drink” notices back in 2015, telling them their groundwater had been contaminated by toxic chemicals found at Allen, and went more than 1,000 days drinking, bathing and cooking with bottled water.

“How much more evidence is needed before we actually hold polluters accountable and offer true protection to those living near them?” Brown said. “Fully cleaning up unlined leaking coal ash pits is the only solution to this ongoing pollution problem.”

Dave Rogers, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in North Carolina, added, “The debate about how to deal with Duke Energy's coal ash mess should be over. As we've said many times, capping this ash in place isn't going to solve the problem because the ash at the Allen plant is sitting in groundwater.

“Duke needs to do the right thing and move all the ash to dry, lined storage away from our groundwater and waterways. And just as important, Duke owes it to the community to retire this entire plant, and help Belmont transition to a diverse, clean energy economy.”