Coal Ash ponds are a significant problem in North Carolina, they are a conglomerate of different end products of coal production. Once the coal is burned, the ash is mixed with water and left to stew in the ground, allowing chemicals such as boron, manganese, and lead, to leech into the soil and surrounding bodies of water. In North Carolina, these coal ash ponds are the responsibility of Duke Energy, the biggest energy company in the state.
It is the government’s responsibility to hold Duke accountable for the damage it has done to the state. However, that system of checks and balances goes out the window due to the current Governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory’s strong political and economic ties with Duke Energy. McCrory, who worked for Duke Energy for 28 years, retired only to focus on his campaign for governor, and he actively held a job at Duke the entire time he held office as the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest and most populated city. It is hard for McCrory to impose fines and regulations on a company that funded his entire political career. It is because of reasons like this why work to regulate and clean up the ponds is stagnant.
In response to uproar over the state of the coal ash ponds, a committee was elected by the North Carolina government to oversee the (allegedly) timely remediation of the coal ash sites. This seemed like a great step in political justice had the legislative branch been allowed to vote on the committee’s members. But the state’s governor Pat McCrory fought the constitutionality of the committee until he was allowed to appoint three of it’s nine members, while Republicans senators Thom Tillis and Phil Berger were allowed to pick the other six. That is a third of the committee that is affiliated with the oversight of Duke Energy! It seems like this committee was formed to create the façade that coal ash pond remediation is actually happening.
McCrory would not even sign a coal ash bill proposed by this committee in regards to a spill of 39000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The bill was based off of legislation McCrory proposed in the wake of the coal ash spill, yet now, when the time comes to enact the regulations he proposed, McCrory refuses to support his legislation. The bill does not even call for the closing of all the coal ash ponds by 2024, yet McCrory said there would have to be reformations of the bill before it is enacted as law. What is the point of having a coal ash commission if it has a voice smaller than the company it is trying to regulate? The people of North Carolina still have a long uphill battle in regards to removal of coal ash ponds. This is an example of the power lobbying has in politics.
It is the government’s responsibility to hold Duke accountable for the damage it has done to the state. However, that system of checks and balances goes out the window due to the current Governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory’s strong political and economic ties with Duke Energy. McCrory, who worked for Duke Energy for 28 years, retired only to focus on his campaign for governor, and he actively held a job at Duke the entire time he held office as the Mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest and most populated city. It is hard for McCrory to impose fines and regulations on a company that funded his entire political career. It is because of reasons like this why work to regulate and clean up the ponds is stagnant.
In response to uproar over the state of the coal ash ponds, a committee was elected by the North Carolina government to oversee the (allegedly) timely remediation of the coal ash sites. This seemed like a great step in political justice had the legislative branch been allowed to vote on the committee’s members. But the state’s governor Pat McCrory fought the constitutionality of the committee until he was allowed to appoint three of it’s nine members, while Republicans senators Thom Tillis and Phil Berger were allowed to pick the other six. That is a third of the committee that is affiliated with the oversight of Duke Energy! It seems like this committee was formed to create the façade that coal ash pond remediation is actually happening.
McCrory would not even sign a coal ash bill proposed by this committee in regards to a spill of 39000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River. The bill was based off of legislation McCrory proposed in the wake of the coal ash spill, yet now, when the time comes to enact the regulations he proposed, McCrory refuses to support his legislation. The bill does not even call for the closing of all the coal ash ponds by 2024, yet McCrory said there would have to be reformations of the bill before it is enacted as law. What is the point of having a coal ash commission if it has a voice smaller than the company it is trying to regulate? The people of North Carolina still have a long uphill battle in regards to removal of coal ash ponds. This is an example of the power lobbying has in politics.