In the case of Appalachian Voices, they were looking for physicians in coal ash-impacted communities willing to go on the record about what they've witnessed in terms of patients' health. The idea that pollution from a coal-fired power plant could affect the health of people living nearby is not far-fetched. What is far-fetched is the idea that living near such a major source of toxic pollution wouldn't affect people's health. In , the most recent year for which data is available, Duke Energy self-reported that its power plants across the state released more than 2.
The company reported dumping another 82, pounds of toxic chemicals into surface waters like rivers and lakes, and another , pounds into its onsite impoundments like the one that failed at the Dan River plant.
The Belews Creek plant alone — Duke's largest power plant in the Carolinas and among those where nearby residents have complained about unusual patterns of illnesses — released over , pounds of toxic chemicals to the air in , including pounds of arsenic, pounds of chromium, and pounds of lead. It reported dumping another , pounds of toxic chemicals into impoundments and almost 19, pounds into Belews Lake that year.
Then consider how much pollution the plant has dumped into the environment since it began operating in Looking just at the decade from from through , the Belews Creek plant self-reported emitting over 48 million pounds of toxic chemicals to the air, over , pounds to surface waters, and over 2. During that decade, the amount of pollution that plant and others emits to the air dropped dramatically after North Carolina's Clean Smokestacks Act, adopted in , was implemented.
For example the Belews Creek plant emitted 15 million pounds of toxic chemicals to the air in compared to just about , pounds a decade letter — a 96 percent decrease.
But as more pollutants are caught in smokestack scrubbers, they are being disposed of instead in impoundments and landfills at the power plant sites.
Because these existing disposal facilities are unlined, they put potent toxins in contact with groundwater. Monitoring near the coal ash impoundments at the Belews Creek plant has found levels of heavy metals in groundwater that exceed state standards. For example, chromium was found at levels that exceeds state standards by 50 percent, and most of the chromium in coal ash is of the particularly toxic and cancer-causing hexavalent form.
So is it surprising that people living near these plants report unusual patterns of illness? And are these alleged disease clusters mere happenstance, as North Carolina officials want the public to believe? Adams of Appalachian Voices doesn't think so. But rather than making it easier for people living near coal ash dumps and other toxic pollution sources to protect themselves from potential environmental health threats, the North Carolina legislature is considering steps to make it more difficult.
In response to ongoing controversy over health warnings that the state issued to well owners near coal ash dumpsites and later withdrew, legislation was introduced at the General Assembly last month to prevent these warnings from being issued over drinking water contamination except in a very limited number of cases.
Environmental health advocates are fighting to stop the bills from becoming law. Skip to main content. Join the voice for a changing South.
A January report from the North Carolina state epidemiologist confirmed this, saying thyroid cancer was diagnosed as much as three times more than state averages in parts of the county between and Their work is focused on local industrial activity, including a plastics facility that produces chemical byproducts, pesticides used around the lake, and a Duke Energy coal plant on Lake Norman, the Marshall Steam Station.
Like many Southern states reliant on coal-fired power generation, North Carolina is debating how to clean up coal ash — a byproduct of coal combustion that contains heavy metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium — and what potential health risks are associated with it. Nearly every river system in North Carolina has an ash impoundment on its banks, said Frank Holleman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which has sued Duke Energy in multiple states.
Soon after, state lawmakers designated the Riverbend Steam Station, a retired coal-fired power plant built on Mountain Island Lake near Hopewell High and downstream from Lake Norman, as a priority cleanup site since it sits next to a major drinking water source for Charlotte.
This year, North Carolina environmental regulators ordered Duke to excavate all of its remaining ash impoundments in the state, a ruling Duke has contested. But this only regulates ash pits around power plants. More of the material lies beneath towns as structural fill , used under airport runways and as a binding agent in concrete roads. Last year , soil containing 40, tons of coal ash was accidentally uncovered at a construction site adjacent to Lake Norman High School, where Taylor Wind was a student when she was diagnosed.
North Carolina regulators have records of 17 sites around Iredell County where ash was used as fill, and one site in Huntersville. But records for the area only date back to the early s, decades after the two nearby power plants opened. Smith, the attorney and former regulator, said historic contamination is a problem in North Carolina. But there are some correlations between coal ash and negative health effects, including health and sleep problems in children living near ash impoundments.
At the February meeting, Hall was asked about ash potentially buried nearby without record. No, we have not. The cancer cases have caused divisions in the North Carolina towns where many still hold energy industry jobs.
It takes years, if not decades, to see cases through. The pressure by local families has led to small steps forward. Many residents say they hope it will be used for environmental testing. It was introduced by state Sen. Vicki Sawyer, a Republican representing Iredell County who learned about thyroid cancer in her district when she met Farah-Wind.
I want to win the fight. Her cancer metastasized two years ago. After a long road, the treatment seemed to be working. A month later, she and her mom announced through joyful tears that stage four tumors in her liver, lungs, spine and breasts had shrunk or completely disappeared. Credit: Kevin J. He grew up in Huntersville, North Carolina. Follow him on Twitter. A map showing places where ocular melanoma patients lived in Huntersville, NC, regional energy facilities, known sites where coal ash was used as fill dirt, and Lake Norman and Hopewell High Schools.
It is the second-leading cause of lung cancer, with only cigarettes contributing to more cancer cases. Flame retardant is also thought to be partly to blame for cancer clusters. Flame retardants are used widely in building materials, as manufacturers try to make homes and other structures safer. Unfortunately, flame retardants also have chemicals that could cause cancer. That is evident by the case of the waste companies that contaminated the environment and settled dozens of lawsuits as a result.
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