Duke Energy Will Try To Make Ratepayers Pay To Clean Up Coal Ash Disaster

[G_j]

http://greenpeaceblogs.org/2014/02/19/duke-energy-will-try-to-make-ratepayers-pay-to-clean-up-coal-ash-disaster/

Duke Energy’s executives want you to know they’re sorry for the tens of thousands of tons of coal ash they spilled into the Dan River in the third-largest disaster of its kind in US history. They’re sorry for the water that officials now admit is tainted with arsenic and is unsafe even to touch, no less for swimming, boating or fishing.

They’re sorry for the little animals — the clams, mussels and crustaceans — that form the base of the river’s ecosystem and are suffocating in a river of sludge. They’re sorry for the big ones — the birds, fish and turtles – that eat those little things. And most of all they’re sorry to the people living near the Dan who depend on all of it, directly or indirectly, for much of their local economy (and, as anyone who’s ever lived near a river knows, for much more than that.)

They’re just not sorry enough to pay to clean it up.

After all, why would Duke ask its executives or investors to pay to clean the mess they created when they can do what they always do when they screw something up: get their customers to foot the bill.

According to the Associated Press, George Everett, Duke’s director of environmental and legislative affairs, told state legislators on Monday:

that the company is sorry for the spill and will be accountable. Any costs incurred because of the cleanup will likely be passed on to ratepayers, not shareholders, he said.

“We have paid absolutely no attention to costs, to this point,” Everett said, responding to a lawmaker’s question about who will pay. “We’re focused on stopping the discharge and initiating the remediation of the river. But when costs do come into play, when we’ve had a chance to determine what those costs are, it’s usually our customers who pay our costs of operation.”

It takes audacity to say with one breath “we will be accountable” and also “but we won’t pay for it.”

..more..

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So sad! This is the first documented evidence of possible impacts on wildlife from the massive coal ash spill on the Dan River. Jenny Edwards from the Dan River Basin Association said “Turtles should be hibernating this time of year. It’s cold. They hibernate down in the mud. The fact that they’re crawling up on the bank and dying, even if it’s not in mass numbers… It’s highly unusual.”

TAKE ACTION and tell Governor McCrory that we want NC’s coal ash waste to be moved to dry, lined storage away from water sources: http://bit.ly/toxicspillsNC

[Scuba]

1. Won't the invisible hand clean it up?

Will the citizenry ever figure out that government isn't the problem, government is the solution?

[FiveGoodMen]

3. I think they were hoping that their hand in this WOULD be invisible.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Can't have the sharholders be exposed can we.

The check is in the mail. Thank you and we will leave the lite on!!!!

Where is the EPA and Justice Dept????

[okaawhatever]

4. In this case the state environmental board isinvestigating and it's the one issuing subpoenas and

the like. I don't know why that is. They're being investigated and a full fledged investigation is taking place so unless they tank the investigation they will face charges and/or fines.

[onethatcares]

5. we're paying for

a nuke plant that will never be built here in floriduh, and for another plant that was damaged by Progress Energy prior to

being purchased by Duke, making them the largest electric utility in the nation.

It's only a measly 3.5 Billion dollars of ratepayer money that will never be used to generate one fart of power.

They'll probably get away with polluting the Dan river too.

[hatrack]

6. Hmm, so NC residents don't even get a pizza gift certificate for getting fucked.

What a surprise.

[El_Johns]

7. Audacious indeed.

[LadyHawkAZ]

8. Never would have seen THAT coming.

But regulations hurt business.