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Riverkeeper

French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson works for the Western North Carolina Alliance, a grassroots group promoting livable communities and environmental protection.

May 2, 2012

Tr-Ash Talk: Clean Up Your Coal Ash!

By Hartwell Carson  /  Washington, D.C. Office

The Progress Energy plant in Asheville, NC operates two of the nation’s tallest high-hazard coal-ash ponds. “High-hazard” means that if either of the pond’s decades-old earthen dams were to break, loss of life would be likely. In Asheville, such a break would completely swamp the French Broad River and Interstate 26. Absent a dam break, …