NC coal ash bill could rise from the dead

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Top Republicans at the North Carolina Legislature are signaling they are close to a last-minute deal reviving a measure that aims to force Duke Energy to curb pollution from its 33 coal ash dumps scattered across the state.

House Speaker Thom Tillis said Tuesday a new version of the bill could emerge from committee in time for a vote on Wednesday, shortly before he says the chamber intends to adjourn for the year. Negotiations between the House and Senate attempting to reconcile their competing versions of the bill broke down in late July.

GOP leaders have been saying for months that passage of a clean-up plan is among their top legislative priorities, but as recently as last week appeared ready to go home for the year without passing it. Failure to take action would present a significant political liability headed into the November elections.

Lawmakers have been under significant pressure to pass legislation in response to a February spill from a Duke plant in Eden that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge.

Coal ash contains such toxic chemicals as arsenic, mercury and lead. State regulators have previously conceded that all of Duke’s leaky unlined ash dumps in the state are contaminating groundwater.

Last month’s impasse came down to a single provision in the voluminous bill defining which “low risk” ash dumps Duke would be allowed to cap with plastic sheeting and dirt. Environmentalists want all the ash dug up and moved to lined landfills away from rivers and lakes.

Rep. Chuck McGrady, one of the lead House negotiators on the bill, said Tuesday that the version now under consideration is significantly stronger than past versions of the bill.

“There will be more sites that will not be capped in place,” said McGrady, R-Henderson. “More sites will be cleaned up, clearly, under the criteria we’ve put in the bill.”

The last version of the bill publicly released last month would have required Duke to remove the ash at four of its 14 coal-fired plants. It would be up to a newly created commission to determine what Duke would be required to do with the ash at its remaining dumps.