Duke Energy agrees a US$7 million settlement over groundwater allegations

Duke Energy has reached a settlement agreement with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality over alleged groundwater damages at the L.V. Sutton steam electric plant in Wilmington and the company’s North Carolina facilities.

Duke Energy has agreed to pay a US$7 million settlement to resolve former, current and future groundwater issues at all 14 North Carolina coal facilities, including the retired Sutton plant.

The company has welcomed the opportunity to put this issue behind it and move forward with focusing on closing coal ash basins as quickly as the state process will allow.

The settlement enables the company to move forward with remedying the groundwater near the ash basins at Sutton as well as at the Asheville, Belews Creek and H.F. Lee plants, the only facilities that showed off-site groundwater impacts in recent comprehensive site assessments.

In a press release, Duke Energy indicated that operating its system safely and protecting the health and well-being of its plant neighbours are its highest priorities. And this is why it closely monitors groundwater at its facilities, shared the data with the state for decades and acted to make certain that neighbour carry on getting high-quality water supplies.

Edited from press release by Harleigh Hobbs

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/power/30092015/duke-energy-agrees-a-us7-million-settlement-over-groundwater-allegations-2931/