Hurricane Florence's potential for destruction also includes increased risks for the environment and public health as torrential rains could overwhelm the pits where toxic waste from power plants is stored. Animal-manure lagoons are also at risk of flooding.Update Sept 17: A coal ash-pit near Wilmington has collapsed.
Duke came under pressure to address coal-ash storage after about 39,000 tons spilled in 2014 from a pond near Eden, North Carolina. In 2016, the state gave the company until Aug. 1, 2019, to dig up and close some coal-ash pits and almost a decade more to deal with others. Duke has begun work at several high-risk sites...
Duke is moving staff and equipment toward North Carolina's coast to monitor the disposal sites for coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity. It contains metals including arsenic, chromium, and mercury that pose risks to public health and the environment if spilled into drinking water supplies. After the storm hits, staff are prepared to inspect the sites by foot, boat, and drone...
From the livestock industry, one environmental impact from the storm could be from the lagoons, or lined earthen pits, that hold treated manure. They are commonly used to manage swine waste... More than 10 billion pounds of wet animal waste is produced annually in the state, according to a June 2016 report by the group, which has monitored the impact of past storms. North Carolina is the top U.S. turkey producer, ranks third for chicken and is home to more hogs than any state other than Iowa, government data show...
"This increasingly severe, potentially unprecedented storm is hurdling to the epicenter of animal agriculture in North Carolina," said Will Hendrick, a staff attorney and manager for a water campaign in the state for the Waterkeeper Alliance. "Because waste is managed using archaic practices, it presents a significant threat to water quality, primarily through run off and/or breach or inundation of hog lagoons."
Update Sept 19: Some hog waste lagoons have breached. More at the Wall Street Journal.
This is what you get when you excuse farmers from taking precautions against predictable inclement weather.
ReplyDeleteIt bothers me to no end how often I see officials hide behind the nonsense that "no one could have foreseen this act of God", thereby excusing themselves form taking (unpopular and expensive) action against the foreseeable.