NC sides with Duke in appeal of coal ash ruling
North Carolina regulators are joining with
Duke Energy in appealing a judge's ruling on cleaning up groundwater pollution leeching from the company's
coal ash dumps.
The state Environmental Management Commission filed notice Monday that it intends to appeal a March 6 ruling by Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway.
The commission and
Duke contend North Carolina law does not give the state the authority to order an immediate cleanup. Ridgeway ruled the state had been misinterpreting the law for years.
Environmentalists say the decision to file an appeal directly conflicts with public statements from Gov. Pat McCrory suggesting his administration is getting tough with his former employer after a Feb. 2
coal ash spill that coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic gray sludge.
McCrory, a Republican, worked for
Duke more than 28 years prior to retiring to run for governor. The nation's largest electricity company and its employees have remained generous political supporters to McCrory's campaign and GOP-aligned groups that support him, providing more than $1.1 million in support since 2008.
Though the governor directly appointed eight of the commission's 15 members, McCrory spokesman Josh Ellis said the panel operates independently of the administration. The remaining seven members were appointed by state House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger, both Republicans...
"Just a week after the state publicly abandoned its sweetheart deal with
Duke and promised to 'enforce' the law, it has appealed a judicial ruling that confirmed the state's legal authority to enforce a real solution for
coal ash contamination," said D.J. Gerken, a lawyer for the Southern Environmental Law Center. "We're disappointed that this administration remains so determined to delay through litigation rather than move forward to stop ongoing pollution of North Carolina's rivers, lakes and groundwater."
Federal prosecutors have filed at least 23 grand jury subpoenas as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the relationship between state regulators and the company prior to the spill.