Duke Energy and other utilities asking the agency to roll back pollution regulations despite pending litigation.
The letter addresses two sets of rules. One regulates how utilities manage coal combustion waste, known as coal ash. The Legacy Impoundment Rule sets standards for inactive coal ash pits, where utilities disposed of coal ash.
鈥淭his is asking to undo a decade鈥檚 worth of common sense requirements to keep coal ash and its toxic pollutants out of our water,鈥� said Nick Torrey, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Before the rule, pits that hadn鈥檛 received coal ash after a certain date were exempt from certain regulations, including the cleanup of groundwater pollution. The pits could remain partially submerged, allowing groundwater to leach toxic metals from the waste.
Some states already had overlapping regulations. Virginia passed a law that . Similarly, North Carolina state regulators required Duke Energy to excavate 14 coal ash pits by 2038.
鈥淲hat remains is a lot of groundwater pollution at many of these sites,鈥� Torrey said. 鈥淪o you have federal requirements that are in place now that Duke Energy is asking to have weakened or eliminated.鈥�
Many sites included a mix of regulated and unregulated landfills, so determining where the pollution stemmed from and whether a utility had to clean it up was challenging. The EPA issued the rule last spring to close the loophole that allowed utilities to leave groundwater pollution from legacy pits.
Torrey said these regulations stem from a 2021 settlement between North Carolina state regulators and Duke Energy after a devastating coal ash spill into the Dan River. A coal ash basin at the Dan River Steam Station spilled nearly 40,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River after the utility at the steam station, according to federal archives.
鈥淧eople have had to live on bottled water to cook with, to feed their children, to bathe, to drink for many many years,鈥� Torrey said. 鈥淒uke Energy knows all this and knows what North Carolina has been through because of their coal ash pollution, and yet, they鈥檙e asking to basically impose that on the rest of the country.鈥�
The second set of regulations sets deadlines for coal power plant retirement and caps how much or how often natural gas generators can run. Duke Energy plans to build several new natural gas turbines during the next decade.
Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton provided the following written statement about the letter:
鈥淭he letter to EPA reinforces public filings and statements we have given to the agency in the past. We agree with numerous other states and utilities that recent changes in EPA regulations adversely impact the affordability and reliability of electricity for our customers without tangible benefits to human health or the environment.
To meet our state鈥檚 growing economy, we remain fully focused on executing the energy modernization plan recently approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, while continuing to make tremendous progress in upholding all our previous ash basin closure commitments.鈥�
When the federal regulators issued the rule, it stated that the financial burden would outweigh company returns, but surrounding communities would enjoy numerous health, environmental and economic benefits. Once the utilities remediated the landfills, the EPA鈥檚 analysis stated that would decrease, fewer heavy metals would leach into the surrounding environment, and home values and property options near the site would increase.
However, David Neal, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said reducing carbon pollution actually helps for utilities. Carbon pollution causes our climate to warm, which in turn fuels stronger, less predictable storms 鈥� a major barrier to utilities' goal of providing reliable service.
鈥淐arbon pollution is wreaking havoc on our weather and leading to more powerful and damaging storms like Hurricane Helene,鈥� Neal said.
