Progress Energy delays ash pond upgrades

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EPA rates utility ash pits low

Progress Energy's ash storage pits at coal-burning powers plants in Chatham County and near Asheville have the worst safety ratings of 43 such plants reviewed by federal regulators this year. The giant sludge pits hold hundreds of tons of waste within five miles of schools, hospitals, nursing homes, the Blue Ridge Parkway and other high-risk sites that lie in their downhill path.

On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency called for quick remedial action and further tests to measure the structural stability of the dikes that hold back the toxic waste produced by coal-burning power plants.

Raleigh-based Progress has long maintained the pits are regularly inspected and pose no public hazard. But the federal regulatory agency's "poor" ratings for six Progress-owned ash pits corroborate criticism by environmental critics.

Coal-ash ponds threaten lives

Six months after a dam burst near a power plant in Tennessee, spilling more than 5 million cubic yards of ashy sludge across the countryside, much of the disaster's nastiness still lingers.

Cattle can't graze on pastures covered with the stuff, which is a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. Landowners are fighting with the power company over payments related to the accident, which will cost an estimated $1 billion to clean up. No one was injured, but three homes were destroyed in the flood of sludge that erupted from a coal-ash pond and flowed more than a half-mile.

In North Carolina, 19 such ponds are active.

It's the pits

The coal-ash story keeps coming closer to home.

It began last December across the Blue Ridge in eastern Tennessee, when a TVA power plant's coal-ash impoundment -- a low dam holding back millions of cubic yards of dirty power-plant leftovers -- failed. The resulting spill sent slurried ash coursing over hundreds of acres, destroying homes and racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in cleanup costs.

In June we learned that of the 44 such impoundments around the nation that the Environmental Protection Agency is most concerned about, 12, or more than a quarter, are in North Carolina.

Waste ponds worry EPA

North Carolina is home to more potentially hazardous coal-ash storage ponds than any other state, according to a new report from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Of the 44 sites classified as "high hazard" by the EPA, 12 are in North Carolina. According to the EPA, the high-hazard classification means that one or more people will probably die if there is a major dam failure.

After a dam burst in December at a Tennessee storage pond and spilled more than 5 million cubic yards of ash and water, the EPA began surveying power companies about their ash-storage facilities. Coal-fired power plants often dispose of the leftover ash, which is mixed with water, in ponds surrounded by earthen dams.

Progress Energy to build natural-gas power plant near Wilmington

Progress Energy said today it plans to build a natural-gas power plant near Wilmington to replace three coal-burning units at the site that are being shut down to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollution.

The 600-megawatt plant will cost about $600 million and begin generating electricity in 2014. The Raleigh-based electric utility filed its plan today with state regulators.

The conversion of the Sutton plant near Wilmington from coal to natural gas is part of Progress's plan to close down 11 coal-burning units at four sites in the state as it shifts to greener strategies.