Duke Energy says coal ash isn't contaminating Cape Fear River; state awaits more tests

Duke Energy said Sunday that flooding of the Cape Fear River caused by Hurricane Florence has not resulted in coal ash contamination downstream, as environmental activists had feared.

The Charlotte-based utility company has received expedited lab results on water samples taken upstream and downstream of the Sutton power plant in Wilmington, where the company had deposited the pollutant in the ground for decades.

“Initial water tests from Duke Energy’s L.V. Sutton Plant in Wilmington confirm that discharges from the cooling lake to the Cape Fear River are not harming water quality downstream,” the company said. “Water samples captured on Friday (upstream) and downstream of the Sutton plant site show little to no impact to river water quality. All results are well within the rigorous state water quality standards in place to protect the environment.”

One of Duke’s coal ash impoundments at the Sutton power plant flooded Friday when rising water breached the dam, filling adjacent Sutton Lake and then flowed over the ash.

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