Duke Energy has agreed to remove all five million tons of coal ash from three unlined pits along the Yadkin River in North Carolina in the latest pact to resolve the utility’s estimated $4.5-billion legacy cleanup.
In an Oct. 5 U.S. district court settlement of 2014 lawsuits by environmental groups Yadkin Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance, Duke agreed to remove the ash containing toxic heavy metals from pits that total 119 acres at the Buck Steam Station in Salisbury. It will be recycled into concrete or put in lined landfills away from the river and from groundwater and drinking water sources.