Tweak to N.C. law protected Duke's coal ash pits
http://hamptonroads.com/2014/03/tweak-nc-law-protected-dukes-coal-ash-pits
Girls play on a soccer field near the L.V. Sutton Complex operated by Duke Energy in Wilmington, N.C. on Feb. 19, 2014. Documents and interviews collected by The Associated Press show how Dukes lobbyists prodded Republican legislators to tuck a 330-word provision in a regulatory reform bill running nearly 60 single-spaced pages. Though the bill never once mentions coal ash, the change allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater leaching from its unlined dumps.
Tweak to N.C. law protected Duke's coal ash pits
By Michael Biesecker and Mitch Weiss
The Associated Press
© March 18, 2014
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
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North Carolina regulators had for years allowed the nation's largest power company to pollute the ground near its plants without penalty. But in early 2013, a coalition of environmental groups sued to force Duke to clean up nearly three dozen leaky coal ash dumps spread across the state.
So last summer, Duke Energy turned to North Carolina lawmakers for help.
Documents and interviews collected by The Associated Press show how Duke's lobbyists prodded Republican legislators to tuck a 330-word provision in a regulatory reform bill running nearly 60 single-spaced pages. Though the bill never once mentions coal ash, the change allowed Duke to avoid any costly cleanup of contaminated groundwater leaching from its unlined dumps toward rivers, lakes and the drinking wells of nearby homeowners.
Passed overwhelmingly by the GOP-controlled legislature, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory, a pro-business Republican who worked at Duke for 28 years.