page_title: 2014 Dan River coal ash spill
section_title: Cleanup efforts
hierarchical_section_title: 2014 Dan River coal ash spill / Cleanup efforts
caption_attribution_description: English: View of cleanup activities at the site of the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill. Seen on the left is the collapsed impoundment which caused a spill of 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. Seen in the background is the closed power plant.
context_page_description: In February 2014, an Eden, North Carolina facility owned by Duke Energy spilled 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The company later pled guilty to criminal negligence in their handling of coal ash at Eden and elsewhere and paid substantial fines. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has since been responsible for overseeing cleanup of the waste. EPA and Duke Energy signed an administrative order for the site cleanup.
context_section_description: To keep the energy provider accountable, under the Administrative Settlement Agreement & Order on Consent for Removal Action (AOC) as of May 2014, the Respondent, Duke Energy, was required to submit a number of plans to EPA, including a scope of work, public health, post-removal site control, and engineering plans.
  The work plan includes descriptions and a schedule of actions required by the settlement.
  The public health plan ensures protection of public health during on-site removal projects.
  The post-removal site control plan provides EPA with documentation of all post-removal arrangements.
  The engineering report describes steps executed by Duke to improve the structural durability of post-release impoundments and storm sewer lines running under their coal ash impoundments.
  Within these plans, Duke Energy is responsible for creating and implementing a Site Assessment that includes but is not limited to ecological analysis, surface water and sediment assessment as well as post-removal monitoring protocols to calculate the extent of pollution in the Dan River in North Carolina and the Kerr Reservoir and Schoolfield Dam in Danville, Virginia. These assessments were approved by the EPA in consultation with the affected state agencies including NCDEQ and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ). Following the spill and written into the AOC are monitoring protocols in which EPA will sporadically authorize the NCDEQ and VDEQ to take split or duplicate water samples to ensure consistent quality after removal of the coal ash.
  As of April 01, 2019 North Carolina has ordered Duke Energy to dig up millions of tons of coal ash at six of its power plants. The dangerous coal ash has been mixed with water and stored in uncovered, unlined ponds for decades, but following the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill, many lawsuits have been filed. If the plaintiffs in these cases are successful, Duke Energy would be required to drain all of its 31 ponds. The draining process would cost $5 billion to the already $5.6 billion cleanup from 2014. With the added costs, Duke energy customers could expect to pay a higher fee in the next coming years.
caption: Cleanup activities at the collapsed coal ash impoundment in 2014
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