Loopholes in the North Carolina Draft Coal Ash Landfill Rules

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The public hearing started with an apology and without many members of the public. Only four days before, the NC Department of Environmental Quality had published a notice on its website that it would hold the first hearing on 89 pages of draft rules governing coal ash landfills. It wasn’t surprising then that the seats in the Person County Office Building in Roxboro last week were largely occupied by DEQ employees. 

“I apologize,” said Ellen Lorscheider, chief of the Division of Waste Management, who attributed last-minute changes and legal review for the short notice. “We wanted to take public comments now” to meet future deadlines set by the Environmental Management Commission to put the rules in place, she added.

However, the notice requirement is 15 days, said Megan Kimball, attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. She questioned whether DEQ was “serious about accepting public comment,” considering the late notification.

The second and third hearings are scheduled for this week:

•   Tuesday at the Myers Center Meeting Rooms at Gaston College, 201 Hwy. 321 South, Dallas;
•   Thursday U-170 building at Cape Fear Community College, 411 N. Front St., Wilmington.

Both meetings start at 6 p.m.

The draft rules about coal ash landfills incorporate state law with federal Coal Combustion Rules, passed by Congress in 2016 as part of the WIIN Act. (Coal ash impoundments are different than landfills. The former are unlined, seeping pits, regulated under the state’s Coal Ash Management Act. The latter are lined and have leachate collection systems, but by no means environmentally foolproof.)

Courtesy: https://wasteadvantagemag.com