Duke Energy's efforts to remove a portion of an estimated 39,000 tons of coal ash spilled in February into the Dan River could signal the start of new responsibilities for North Carolina utilities in managing waste from coal-fired powerplants.
Duke signed an "enforceable" agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on May 22 to clean up affected sites in the state and in Virginia about two weeks after its cleanup contractor, Knoxville, Tenn.-based Phillips & Jordan Inc., began barge-mounted vacuum dredging of the largest coal-ash deposit marked for removal.