Duke Energy Was Warned About Potential For Dan River Spill Decades Ago, Documents Sho

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Duke Energy Was Warned About Potential For Dan River Spill Decades Ago, Documents Show

Duke Energy Was Warned About Potential For Dan River Spill Decades Ago, Documents Show | ThinkProgress

Duke Energy was warned decades ago about the possibility for leaks from the coal ash pond that spilled into the Dan River earlier this year, according to documents summoned by a grand jury.

As the News and Record reports, documents from the N.C. Utilities Commission show that reports from 1986 and 1992 point to potential weaknesses in a drainage pipe under an unlined coal ash pond that burst in February of this year, spilling 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27,000 gallons of contaminated water into North Carolina’s Dan River.

“Part of this pipe is constructed of corrugated metal pipe which would be expected to have less longevity of service life than reinforced concrete,” engineers wrote in 1986 in an inspection report on the coal ash pond. More recent reports from 1996, 2001, and 2006 also pointed to the pipe as something Duke should carefully monitor.

The reports could be important to the federal grand jury, which is investigating the February spill, because they show that Duke may have ignored repeated warnings about this particular coal ash pond over the course of several years. The grand jury has also summoned additional documents from Duke’s Dan River station.