"State Dam Safety Engineer Steve McEvoy told The Associated Press there is a small hole and a crack in a drainage pipe running under an earthen dam at the Marshall Steam Station, a coal-fired power plant located on the shores of Lake Norman.
...the leaks at Marshall were identified about six months ago when a robotic camera was sent up the 30-inch-wide pipe, which is made out of corrugated metal with a plastic liner.
In February, the collapse of a corrugated metal pipe at a Duke plant in Eden triggered the massive spill that coated more than 70 miles of the Dan River with gray sludge. The dump at Marshall covers about 450 acres and contains more than 22 million tons of waterlogged coal ash.
...Duke is required to monitor for levels of arsenic and mercury,
but there is no set limit on the levels of the toxic heavy metals the company is allowed to discharge into the lake. Under the permit, Duke is allowed to collect its own samples and have them tested at the company's own state-certified lab.
The permit includes
no requirement that Duke test its wastewater for an array of other toxic chemicals often contained in coal ash, including lead, chromium or thallium.
With a governor who worked for Duke, is owned by Duke and worships corporations (against the law to reveal the contents of fracking solution), IMO, residents of Lake Norman should be skeptical when the state says:
"... the pipe is not in immediate danger of failure."
How could we have known?
Link to newspaper article.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
