Note: Scroll to the bottom of the story to view a table listing all of the known coal combustion residual structural fill projects in the state, listed by county. This list does not include coal ash landfills designed to merely store the material.
The Family Dollar store on East Second Street in downtown Weldon is a convenient spot for kayakers to grab a bottle of water and a bag of snacks before heading to the Roanoke River just three blocks away. But in late 2009 and early 2010, state environmental inspectors learned that coal ash from Roanoke Valley Energy, whose material three years earlier had been used to build the parking lot, was seen on the west side of the property.
Car traffic had eroded the dirt — too little dirt to actually seal the ash, state regulators speculated — and potentially exposed the public and the environment to toxic materials, such as arsenic, lead, radium and cadmium. More than 10,000 cubic yards of ash were used for the project, although only a small portion was exposed.
Last week the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) unveiled a new interactive mapping tool that shows the locations of more than a dozen classifications of disposal sites, including old dumps, underground storage tanks and coal combustion byproduct landfills. The icons then link to documents about a particular site. Viewers can also enter the data, such as the address, into the EPA’s Environmental Justice Screening tool to determine if the sites are near low-income areas or communities of color. For example, the residents within a mile and a half of the Family Dollar store in Weldon are nearly three-quarters Black.
The release of the mapping tool, particularly for coal combustion byproduct landfills, is important now because the Trump administration has weakened federal coal ash disposal rules, including those governing structural fill and beneficial reuse. States now have the latitude to set their own rules, as long as they are not less stringent than the EPA.
“A state permitting program is not acceptable if it’s simply a stand-in for a federal CCR rule,” said Hope Taylor, executive director of Clean Water for North Carolina. “It must be stronger, and have a wider range of protections. It must have a strong focus on protecting vulnerable communities, not on saving money for industry. Duke Energy must be required to remove coal ash from every unlined basin, so that the ash will be quickly and permanently isolated from both surface and ground water. The ‘Unifying Principles’ for the Alliance of Carolinians Together Against Coal Ash call for no dumping of any coal ash in other communities and no capping in place.”
DEQ is hosting four public hearings over the next month to take comment on its proposed rules. Those comments can now be informed by a history, albeit an incomplete one, of many coal ash reuse sites in the state.
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Duke Energy is a main generator of coal ash in North Carolina, but there are nearly a half-dozen more, including Cogentrix, Roanoke Valley Energy, DuPont and Weyerhauser. These companies often get rid of their coal ash byproducts, also known as residuals, by shipping it to contractors that then mix it with concrete or other materials to build roads, tarmacs and parking lots. As long as the ash and its toxic compounds remain sealed in these materials, they are relatively safe, especially compared to leaving the material in open pits or even lined landfills.
But when engineers or property owners get sloppy, the benefits of encasing the coal ash in concrete are erased.
At the JS Turner Lumber Yard, which is down the street from the Family Dollar in Weldon, coal ash had been misapplied for more than 10 years. (In 1999, Hurricane Floyd interrupted the project, which was to use coal ash to raise the lumber drying yard; construction resumed afterward.)
In 2001, state inspectors saw that some of the 250,000 cubic yards of coal ash had been dumped outside of approved areas, including within two feet of the seasonal high water table. If the ash had become mixed with groundwater, the toxic material could have then traveled to rivers and streams, or depending on conditions, even drinking water wells.
In late 2007, household trash, furniture, mattresses, metal, plastic, wood had been dumped atop a coal ash site near the Turner sawmill, according to a DEQ warning letter.
Inspection reports filed nearly five years later show that “there does not appear to have been any work done to bring the site into compliance. Weeds and native grasses are growing up on the exposed coal ash. Coal ash had also washed down to the railroad tracks and inspectors also saw material in the road.” The status of the site: Unresolved. “Mr. Turner states he does not have money to make the corrections.”
In 1997, a neighbor of a coal ash structural fill site near Battleboro in Nash County called state inspectors to complain fly ash was being blown onto her house. The woman, Deborah Amato, told investigators that she suffered from “swollen lymph nodes, gastro intestinal problems, and fatigue” and that she believes the “exposure to the blown fly ash intensifies her health problems.”
Environmental inspectors went to the Reuse Techonology /RT Soil Sciences site and found what appeared to be coal ash dust inside her home. The fly ash had been deposited less than 25 feet — a little longer than two basketball goals lying on their sides — from her property. The ash was also closer than 50 feet to Swift Creek, a major tributary of the Tar River. Cogentrix was the source of the ash.
More recently, in 2015, DEQ cited Duke Energy and engineering firm Charah for violations related to erosion at a deposit site at the Asheville Regional Airport. Rain had washed away a dirt layer, exposing the ash. The material was being used to expand airport facilities, including taxiways and road bedding.
State law requires owners of land where more than 1,000 cubic yards of coal ash has been disposed to file documents with the respective county’s register of deeds. The records are supposed to show a “plat map” or legal description of where the ash was used or buried. Family Dollar’s owners — at that time, Eastern Pride out of Wilson — didn’t file those records. Nor did Eastern Pride notify state regulators that it had completed the project, which then triggers an inspection.
But there is no notification requirement if the amount of ash is less than 1,000 cubic yards. Nor do state records document all of the old “legacy” sites — coal ash dumps from the 1950s, for example — when such activity was virtually unregulated. At a recent hearing in Garysburg about a proposed coal ash landfill to be operated by VistaGreen, one man brought an Mt. Olive pickle jar that contained coal ash, he told Northampton County commissioners. (He had inscribed a skull and crossbones on the lid.) He had collected the gray material, he said, from an area near a road.
| County | Name/Phase | Generator | Property owner | Location | Acreage | Tons | Cubic yards | Proposed use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRUNSWICK | Irving Farm Rd | Dupont, Cape Fear | George G. Irving, Sr | North of NC 1410 near Winnabow | 10,000 | Land-based application to elevate land for farm access | ||
| Willetts’ Lewis Swamp Property | Dupont | Hugh Derek Willetts | North of NC 1410 pit located on Lewis Swamp | 30,000 | Structural Fill | |||
| Lanier Property Project | Dupont | William D. Lanier | 30,000 | Structural Fill | ||||
| Roans Branch Hunting Preserve | DuPont DAK Americas Plant | Warren and David Knox | Near 600 block of Green Lewis Rd (east side), Bolivia | 8.4 | 22,000 | 28,000 | Structural Fill | |
| Southport Gymnasium | Cogentrix | City of Brunswick | 211 N Atlantic Ave, Southport | 560 | Subgrade for the restoration of flooring in the City of Southport Gymnasium | |||
| Brunswick County Airport Phase I | Cogentrix | Brunswick County Airport Commission | Just west of State Highway 133 | 30,000 | Structural fill for additional parking and hangar space | |||
| Phase II | 48,000 | Structural fill for portion of sub-base for a parallel taxiway to existing one | ||||||
| BUNCOMBE | Asheville Area Regional Airport Area I | Duke Energy | Asheville | 18 | 730,000 | Structural fill projects for airport expansion. Area I | ||
| Area II CANCELLED | 1.26 million (proposed) | 0 | canceled | |||||
| Area III | 34 | 1.3 million | for additional hangars and commercial development. | |||||
| Area IV | 53 | 2.3 million | ||||||
| CABARRUS | Fieldcrest Cannon Plant #1 | Fieldcrest Cannon | Fieldcrest Cannon | 1 Lake Drive, Kannapolis | 10.4 - 18.9 | Expand existing landfill to include tank area and existing parking area | ||
| CATAWBA | Marshall Steam Station Industrial Landfill 1 | Duke Energy | Duke Energy | 8320 East NC Highway 150, Terrell | 21 | 705,000 | Structural fill to bring industrial landfill up to grade. Fill is on closed pond. Landfill is on this fill. | |
| MSS solar power project | Duke Energy | Duke Energy | 83 | 4,698,500 | Property development for a solar photovoltaic system (never built - presently being used as lay down yard for landfill) | |||
| MSS access road | Duke Energy | Duke Energy | 127,982 | Structural fill to construct a service road at plant | ||||
| Jeten Property | Duke Energy | E&N Tarantino | 7836 NC Hwy 150E, Terrell | 7.91 | 102000 | 76,500 | Intended for office, warehouse, offices, shops and parking lot | |
| CHATHAM | Brickhaven No. 2 | Duke Energy | Charah | 1473 Moncure-Flatwood Rd, Moncure | 1966961 | Mine reclamation to original grade, final cover will have 6-ft soil on top of synthetic cap to allow for underground utilities for construction. | ||
| COLUMBUS | Small Aircraft Landing Strip | Cogentrix | James S. Grice | Located on the west side of SR 1836 and SR 1838 | 9500 | Structural fill for a landing strip for small aircraft | ||
| CRAVEN | Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station | US Govt | Near Havelock | |||||
| Marine Corps Impact berm for live firing range | 16000 | Firing range | ||||||
| Marine Corps wastewater treatment plant | 5000 | Replace 2 trickling sand filters at the plant | ||||||
| CUMBERLAND | NorthSide Mine | Miscellaneous | Robert J. Waldrop | US 401 near Linden and the Harnett/Cumberland Co. line | 15.52 | 66618 | Previously mined area, fill used to raise ground elevation back to pre-excavation elevations | |
| Boogle Bay Phase I | Cogentrix | 9340 Chickapee | 3 | Structural fill to expand parking area | ||||
| Boogle Bay Phase II | Linden Burlington Industries | Hwy 401 at the Boggle Bay Racetrack, Linden | 2.6 | Create a gently sloped surface area adjacent to lot | ||||
| Crowell Constructors | Phillip Morris | 5600 Murchison Rd, Fayetteville | 3 | 18000 | Structural fill | |||
| Crowell Constructors | JP Stephens | 5600 Murchison Rd, Fayetteville | Structural fill | |||||
| Crowell Constructors | Burlington Industries | 5600 Murchison Rd, Fayetteville | 50,000 cubic yards | Structural fill | ||||
| DUPLIN | Kilpatrick Farms Phase I | Cogentrix | John Kilpatrick | 3 miles south of Kenansville | 38000 | All phases structural fill used as a building pad to construct livestock pens | ||
| Phase II | Cogentrix | John Kilpatrick | 6 miles east of Highway 50, Kenansville | 30000 | ||||
| Phase III | Cogentrix | John Kilpatrick | 2 miles south of Kenansville off Highway 11 | 9700 | ||||
| DURHAM | Duke University West Campus (Levine Science Research Center) | Duke University | 308 Research Dr, Durham | 4,000-5,000 | 3750 | |||
| EDGECOMBE | Fountain Industrial Park Lot 1 | Cogentrix | Edgecombe County Development Corp. | Fountain Park Drive; off US 301 | 13 | 200 tons | Structural fill for a lot, road bed base, pipe bedding, landscaping filler | |
| Lots 9, 10, 11 | Cogentrix | Edgecombe County Development Corp. | Northeast corner of Fountain Park Dr & College Rd, Battleboro | |||||
| FORSYTH | Lowery Street | City of Winston-Salem | 2000 Lowery St | 40000 | Storage space for city projects | |||
| Tobaccoville Project | RJ Reynolds | RJ Reynolds | Adjacent to RJ Reynolds Tobacco company's Tobaccoville Power Plant | 176000 | Industrial development | |||
| GASTON | Allen Steam Station Retired Ash Basin | Duke Energy (Allen) | Duke Energy | 235 Plant Allen Rd, Belmont | 74000 | Test pad to ensure structural stability of ash as subgrade for proposed landfill | ||
| Monitoring & Reporting | JTM Industries, Inc., 6135 Brookshire Freeway Charlotte | 12406 | JTM Industries, Inc. | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | Transmission Line NC. 273, Belmont | 172722 | Allen Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | Marvin Phillips' Property NC 16, Triangle | 51740 | Riverbend Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | 6152 Brookshire Freeway Charlotte | 45600 | Riverbend Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church 1915 Oakdale Rd. Charlotte | 13230 | Riverbend Ash Reuse | |||||
| Retired Ash Basin | 235 Plant Allen Rd, Belmont | 21 | 410000 | Subgrade for cells | ||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | 91400 South Point Rd Belmont | 190289 | Allen Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | 156 Lake Mist Drive, Belmont | 325289 | Allen Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | New Covenant United Methodist Church Site NC 16 North, Lucia | 30860 | Riverbend Ash Reuse | |||||
| Ash Reuse | Riverbend Steam Station | 417000 | Duke Energy Ash Reuse | |||||
| Monitoring & Reporting | New Covenant United Methodist Church Site NC 16 North, Lucia | 300000 | Riverbend Ash Reuse | |||||
| HALIFAX | Family Dollar Store and adjoining property | Roanoke Valley Energy | intersection of US 158 and 301, Weldon | 10000 | Structural fill | |||
| Weldon Acceptance Facility | Roanoke Valley Energy | Town of Weldon | North side of Aurelian Springs Rd, approximately .5 miles west of its intersection with County Club Rd | 5.35 | 127739 | Structural fill, access road, parking lot, garage, office building, replace previously excavated material | ||
| Wayne Long Mini Storage | Roanoke Valley Energy Facility | Wayne Long | NC Hwy 125, Halifax | 11.52 | 127776 | Mini storage facility | ||
| JS Turner Sawmill | Roanoke Valley Energy | Wommack & Son, Corp | South end of Turner St., west of the railroad, across from W 10th/Elm St intersection, Weldon | 25 | 905238 | Raise elevation of lumber drying yard | ||
| Old Coca Cola Plant | Cogentrix | BB Pierce | US 158 and 301, Weldon | 2.49 | 154000 | Materials testing facility | ||
| Weldon Fire Station | Roanoke Valley Energy | Town of Weldon | US 158 West, Weldon | 6689 | Structural fill new fire station | |||
| BB Pierce/ Basnight Building Supply | Roanoke Valley Energy (Weldon) | DOT & BB Pierce | US 301 & River Rd | 243848 | ||||
| I-95/NC 125 | Cogentrix | DOT | Interstate 95 at NC 125 approximately 2 miles south of Roanoke Rapids | 7000 | Structural fill, embankment | |||
| O.N. Vaughan Property | Roanoke Valley Energy Facility | Otis N. Vaughan | 4752 US 301, Weldon | 6 | 64000 | Structural fill, pasture | ||
| HENDERSON | Cranston Print Works | Off US 25 (Dixie Highway), Fletcher | 3.34 | Area 1, retired holding basin, Area 2, adjacent holding cells, both filled to original ground surface | ||||
| IREDELL | Lake Norman Airport Tract 1 | Duke Energy | Yeager Rd, off State Rd 1494 | 6500 | Structural fill for airport expansion: aircraft hangars and taxi ways | |||
| Lake Norman Airport Tract 2 | Duke Energy | 14 Alpha, Inc. | 8000 | Structural fill for airport expansion on all tracts and lots | ||||
| Lake Norman Airport Tract 3 | Duke Energy | 10000 | ||||||
| Lake Norman Airport Lot 1 | Duke Energy | |||||||
| Lake Norman Airport Lot 2 | DS Associates | 8000 | ||||||
| Carolina Eagles Aviation's Lake Norman Airport Property Lot 3 | Duke Energy | Carolina Eagles | 10000 | |||||
| Port Village Business Park | Duke Energy | NC150 near I-77 intersection (Exit 36) | 500000 | Shopping mall with Lowes, restaurants and parking | ||||
| Race Park, USA | Duke Energy | JB Mallory III, Pres. Race Park; | NC150 E on Doolie Rd, Mooresville | 45000 | Entertainment facility | |||
| Duckworth Food Markets | Duke Energy | Oth Holdthings, LLC | Northwest quadrant NC 150 and Bluefield Rd, Mooresville | 60000 | Gasoline/convenience mart | |||
| EJ Bill Simpson Property | Duke Energy | Bill Simpson | Between Bluefield Rd and NC 150 near I-77 intersection | 120000 | Structural fill to develop the property for marketing | |||
| Brawley School Rd | Duke Energy | Marlo Corporation | US21 and Brawley School Rd | 60,000 cubic yards- 100,000 | 100000 | Structural fill to develop the property for marketing | ||
| BK Barringer, Jr, Industrial Park Lot 14 | Duke Energy | Mazzeppa Rd off NC 150 | 9500 | All Barringer sites use structural fill to develop property for marketing | ||||
| BK Barringer, Jr, Industrial Park Lot 13 | Duke Energy | 9500 | ||||||
| BK Barringer, Jr, Industrial Park Lot 7, 8 | Duke Energy | 9500 | ||||||
| BK Barringer, Jr, Industrial Park Lot 1-4 | Duke Energy | 9500 | ||||||
| BK Barringer, Jr, Industrial Park Lot 5-6 | Duke Energy | 9500 | ||||||
| Terry K. Smith; NC 150 Project | Duke Energy | NC 150 | 55000 | Structural fill to develop the property for marketing | ||||
| LEE | Colon Mine Site | Duke Energy | Charah | 352 Brickyard Rd, Sanford | 7.1 million | Mine reclamation | ||
| MECKLENBURG | I-485 | DOT | I-485 (Charlotte Outer Loop) from NC27 (Mt Holly Rd) to East of SR2042 (Oakdale Rd) | 329193 | Interstate road | |||
| Huntersville Ford Dealership | Duke Energy | West side of US 21 and east of I-77, 25 miles south of Huntersville exit 23 on I-77 | 75137 | Fill | ||||
| NASH | Imperial Tobacco | Imperial Tobacco | Imperial Center Partners, LP | Arts Center and Children's Museum (McDonald Street Building) | 225 | Back fill, foundation for the planetarium, at the Art's Center and Children's Museum, to be built inside McDonald Street building | ||
| Turn Key Contractors Project | Cogentrix | Wright Dev. Co. | 2700 block of N. Wesleyan Blvd, Rocky Mount/Business Park Drive | 41000 | Structural fill, industrial and business park development | |||
| Swift Creek/US 301 | Cogentrix | US 301 | 134000 | 100500 | ||||
| Randy Vann Property | Cogentrix | Randy Vann | Maple Creek Plaza, US 301 | |||||
| Home Gallery Site | Cogentrix | R&M Investments | 505 S Wesleyan, Rocky Mount | 3.8 | Undeveloped | Structural fill, development of tract | ||
| Carolina Eagle Distributing, Inc. | Cogentrix | US 301 at College Park Rd | 15000 | 11250 | Structural fill, building pad roadway, parking lot subsurface | |||
| EB Grain Co. Expansion | Cogentrix | EB Grain Co | US 301 - close to Swift Creek | 25000 | 18750 | to expand coal ash structural fill project at the EB Grain Facility on HWY 301 north of Rocky Mount.- to construct a building and a pad | ||
| EB Grain Co., Inc. | Cogentrix | EB Grain Co. | US 301 north of Rocky Mount | Road bed material | ||||
| Englewood Baptist Church | Cogentrix | Englewood Baptist Church | 1 mile south of Winstead and Sunset Ave. | 8000 | Structural fill, building pads | |||
| Brandywine Industrial Park | Cogentrix | GB & IS Holderness | Between US 301 and State Rd 1560 | 40000 | 72000 | |||
| NORTHAMPTON | Arthur's Creek | Roanoke Valley Energy (Weldon) | Henry Long | South side of NC 46, 1 mile east of I-95 and west of Garysburg | 408612 | Use has changed, considering using site for pasture, shops | ||
| PERSON | All phases | Duke Energy (Roxboro) | Duke Energy | 1700 Dunnaway Rd, Semora | 20 | 131319 | Storage pad | |
| Roxboro Power Plant | 25000 | |||||||
| 28 | 725000 | Base grade for landfill | ||||||
| ROBESON | Antone Project | Cogentrix | Bob Antone | 4828 Fayetteville Rd Lumberton | 5000 | Structural fill for Heritage Realty | ||
| Alamac Rd | Cogentrix | Almac Rd | 12.8 | 45000 | 33750 | |||
| ROWAN | Jake Alexander Blvd. Exten | Fieldcrest-Cannon (Spencer) | DOT | East of I-85 to SR 1004, Stokes Ferry Rd, Salisbury | 30000 | Highway construction | ||
| Fieldcrest Cannon Ash Handling | Fieldcrest Cannon | Fieldcrest Cannon | Pump Station Rd and Glenn Ave | 360000 | ||||
| STOKES | Belews Creek | Duke Energy | Duke Energy | SR 1908 | 55 | 918274 | Equipment/material staging area & overflow parking lot | |
| Belews Creek Sand Filter System | 475 | Fill abandoned sand filter system | ||||||
| WASHINGTON | Crystal Ford Mercury | Weyerhaeuser | Crystal Ford | US 64, Plymouth | 2 | 9700 | Elevate property for car dealership |