This article discusses how hurricane Florence has washed away toxic coal ash in NC. Duke Energy, owner of the landfill, says some of the coal ash escaped into a nearby lake. This is another article on the same subject.
Heavy rains from Florence washed out a portion of a landfill used to dispose of coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity.
Part of the earthen top of the 20-foot tall landfill was gone, exposing the deep gray ash beneath, and an undetermined amount of the coal ash washed into nearby Lake Sutton, which feeds into the Cape Fear River.
Duke Energy Corp. , owner of the coal-ash landfill at the L. V. Sutton Power Plant near Wilmington, N.C., said crews were on the scene assessing the situation. Paige Sheehan, a company spokeswoman, said she believed a ditch around the landfill’s perimeter contained some of the washed-away coal ash, but some escaped into the lake.