A push to regulate coal ash

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer: For more than 80 years, North Carolina has done almost nothing to regulate coal ash. Duke Energy and other utilities have been free to burn coal for generations and dump the toxic ash into unlined ponds. There was minimal protection for groundwater and nearby lakes and rivers.

Looked at in that context, the bill N.C. Senate leaders unveiled Monday is remarkable. The legislation from Republican Sens. Phil Berger and Tom Apodaca requires Duke to close four of its 14 N.C. ash pond complexes within five years and remove the ash from them. It requires that the other 10 sites be closed in the 10 years after that. It ends the practice of dumping ash into lagoons and requires all future ash to be stored in dry, lined landfills. No ash could be stored within 300 feet of a body of water. And it creates 29 new positions, paid for by utilities, to regulate coal ash.

The legislation is a meaningful response to a February spill that dumped 40,000 tons of sludge — and its arsenic, mercury and other toxic substances — into the Dan River north of Greensboro.

While the Berger-Apodaca bill is a relatively large step forward, it has several flaws.

Utilities have been allowed to store toxic waste in a way that cities can’t even store routine garbage. It’s past time for that to change.