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Coal Ash Pollution
On February 2nd of 2014 a coal ash pond stormwater drain broke at the Duke Energy Plant along the Dan River in NC. As a result coal ash was able to leak into the Dan River. This incident is the 3rd worst coal ash spill in the nation.
Of all the sources of power commonly used today, none is dirtier-from cradle to grave-than coal. Coal burned to generate power is a leading source of air pollution and a significant contributor to global warming. Coal ash, the by-product left over after the combustion of coal is the long-term legacy of settling for cheap rather than smart energy.
Coal ash is the waste that remains when coal is burned. It is usually collected in a dump, known as a pond. North Carolina has more than 30 such sites in 14 different locations across the state.
Even after coal burning power plants upgrade to cleaner fuels, as the Lower Cape Fear’s LV Sutton Plant began in 2014, coal ash storage ponds will continue to leak into our groundwater, polluting our aquifers and threatening our health and our environment.
More ADVOCACY items
- Legal updates from our partners at Southern Environmental Law Center: https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/coal-waste
- NC Department of Environmental Quality’s Map of existing Coal Ash facilities in the state, information on Gov. Cooper Executive Order, Environmental Justice issues around Coal ash and more: https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/coal-ash-nc/coal-ash-archive/moving-forward-coal-ash
- New Study on Sutton Lake Contamination Prompts Need for Action: https://www.starnewsonline.com/news/20190604/officials-say-sutton-lake-contamination-report-prompts-need-for-action
- Five Years After Dan River Coal Ash Spill: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/07/22/five-years-after-dan-river-coal-ash-spill-duke-energy-settlement-would-add-land-to-mayo-state-park/
- State Orders Duke to Dig up All Remaining Coal Ash Ponds https://www.wral.com/state-orders-duke-energy-to-dig-up-all-remaining-coal-ash-ponds-in-nc/18298135/
- Near Duke’s flooded coal ash basin, a gray film floats in the Cape Fear River: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article218870635.html
- Cape Fear Riverkeeper Reports Ongoing Failure at Sutton: https://waterkeeper.org/cape-fear-riverkeeper-reports-ongoing-failure-at-sutton/
Florence: What We’ve Learned
On September 13th, 2018, Category 1 Hurricane Florence began to batter the North Carolina Coast.
Wilmington, North Carolina sits right in between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River. Cape Fear River Watch documented and responded to several events before, during and after the storm.
Here is our story.
More ADVOCACY items
Wednesday, Sept. 12: Pre-storm flights. The Waterkeeper Alliance team documents and confirms CAFOs spraying in violation of permit by air. Also patrolled areas by car.
Thursday, Sept. 13 – Saturday, Sept. 15: Wilmington was brutally battered by over 100 mph winds, inundated with 20 – 30 inches of rains and thrashed by several tornadoes. Major damage and flooding occur during this lashing of our coastline.
Thursday, Sept. 13 – Monday, Sept. 17: 17.17 millions of treated and untreated wastewater discharged into the Cape Fear River according to Carolina Beach town officials (discharges were coordinated with the State of North Carolina Division of Water Resources).
Friday, Sept. 14: Cape Fear Public Utility Authority discharges 5.25 million gallons of “partially untreated” wastewater into the Cape Fear River
Monday, Sept. 17: Waterkeeper Alliance’s rapid response team was in the air to photograph Sutton Lake and CAFOs.
View the CAFO shots here courtesy of our volunteer photographer Alan Cradick.
Wednesday, Sept. 19: CFRW and WKA took to the air and documented two total failures of swine lagoons which breached and emptied their contents. One was into the South River and the other into the Northeast Cape Fear River. Numerous lagoons were completely inundated by floodwaters. Dozens of barns, both swine and poultry, were underwater.
Friday, Sept. 21: Documented failure of Sutton Coal Ash Landfill by ground and notified NCDEQ. CFRW launched a boat into Sutton Lake to investigate where and if there were failures in the lake at that point. Also, documented ash flowing into Sutton Lake from multiple locations. CFRW was on the water before Duke Energy or the State. The State wasn’t even on site at the facility when we were on the water taking samples at the landfill breach with colleagues from Earth Justice and Sound Rivers. Two teams made up of CFRW staff Patrick Connell and representatives from Waterkeeper Alliance were simultaneously on the ground taking water samples from creeks around breached and inundated CAFO facilities. Sutton was then overtopped by the river. The lake filled and overtopped the coffer dam surrounding the coal ash pond, turning the river, lake, and pond into one body of water. Then Sutton Lake breached the berm as well as overtopped the berm for hundreds of yards, along the western side of the lake. Coal ash is leaving the lake at all those locations.
Samples were taken and analyzed by commercial labs and scientists at NC State. It is probable that Sutton Lake will now drain leaving the operation of the Sutton Plant in question and releasing an enormous amount of water polluted with coal ash into the Cape Fear.
Saturday, Sept. 22: CFRW hosted reporters at our downtown Wilmington headquarters before members of the Waterkeeper Alliance Rapid Response Team took them to Sutton Lake to document the coal ash contamination.
Saturday, Sept. 22 – Sunday, Sept. 23: CFRW responded to Greenfield Lake fish kill. Documented depleted dissolved oxygen from excess organic material entering the lake.
Monday, Sept. 24: CFRW staff, as part of a statewide rapid Response team, traveled to South Carolina to aid other the Waccamaw Riverkeeper with Winyah Rivers Foundation responding to contamination in their watersheds.
As this was all transpiring we gave countless media interviews. Rachel Maddow, NBC with Lester Holt, Wall Street, New Yorker, Bloomberg, NY Times, AP, Canadian Broadcasting. NPR Morning Edition. The Take Away, etc.
Tuesday, Sept. 25 – Current: CFRW staff locate, document, track and map fish kills in our basin. Reports have come in from Southport, Greenfield Lake, NC Battleship, Castle Hayne Boat Ramp, Rockfish Creek & more.
The Swim Guide Program
Cape Fear River Watch monitors recreational areas in the Cape Fear River Basin and its tributaries for E. coli and Enterococci. These pathogens are present in the gut of warm-blooded animals and humans and can pose health risks for recreators in the water. Testing for these pathogens provides insight on water quality.
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From early May through Labor Day weekend, Cape Fear River Watch collects water samples and provides up-to-date data on the health of our local waterways, viewable by the public. We hope to assist our community in making safe and smart decisions when it comes to recreating in our rivers and creeks. Samples are collected on a bi-weekly basis, with results posted on our Swim Guide affiliate page.
Each recreational area is marked as pass or fail based on the most probable number of bacterial colonies present in 100 mL of water.
- If a freshwater sample has more than 235 E. coli colonies in it, it’s marked red for fail
- If a freshwater sample has less than 235 E. coli colonies in it, it’s marked green for pass
- If a brackish sample has more than 104 enterococci colonies in it, it’s marked red for fail
- If a brackish sample has less than 104 enterococci colonies in it, it’s marked green for pass
More ACTION items
This map shows all of our current Swim Guide locations.
- A red icon indicates that the site did not pass safe recreational water quality standards.
- A green icon indicates that the site is safe for recreating!
- A yellow icon indicates that it’s been at least a few days since our last monitoring trip, so you should recreate at your own risk.
Click on an icon to learn more about the site!
Over the last 100 years,
populations of many native migratory fish populations in the Cape Fear River (striped bass, shad, river herring, Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon) have declined by as much as 90%. Much of this decline can be attributed to the loss of spawning habitat caused by the construction of three lock and dam structures between Wilmington and Fayetteville in the early 20th century.
While these locks and dams make the river navigable for more than 100 miles and impound drinking water, their design is not fish-friendly.
CFRW is a leading voice in the efforts to retrofit these dams with rock arch rapids on the downstream face of each dam to allow migratory fish access to their historical spawning grounds.
More ACTION items
Rock Arch Rapids
With support frpm Cape Fear River Watch, the Cape Fear River Partnership, the Army Corps of Engineers, and numerous other partners, the Rock Arch Rapids at Lock and Dam 1 was completed in 2012, and that year, migratory fish were able to swim ‘over’ the dam for the first time in more than 100 years!
Monitoring data led to a modification project that we believe will allow even more fish to make it upstream. Modifications were completed in late 2021.
CFRW will continue to work with our partners to ensure that fish are able swim over Locks and Dams #2 and #3 as well.
Check out the newly renovated Rock Arch Rapids! These renovations will be essential in helping sturgeon, stripers, and other anadromous fish make their way upstream to reach their historic spawning grounds – a huge step in restoring the Cape Fear fishery!
2022 Presentation Summarizing both Fish Passage Projects at Lock & Dam 1
Click the first image to view the full slideshow
What’s Happening Now?
Cape Fear River Watch partnered with NOAA to help determine the benefits to fisherfolks in our region if fish populations increase due to things like water quality improvements and enabling fish to reach past Lock and Dam 1 – up through Lock & Dam 3 to their historic spawning grounds. For information on this survey, click here.
For the latest on plans for fish passages at Locks & Dams 2 and 3 – visit the Cape Fear River Partnership website
