GOLDSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA (AP) — Environmental activists fear flooding in North Carolina following Hurricane Matthew may have unleashed coal ash spill on the banks of the swollen Neuse River.
A portion of the river is adjacent to three inactive coal pits at the H.F. Lee Steam Plant in Goldsboro.
The area flooded after Hurricane Matthews.
An official with the Water Keeper Alliance believes the pits were compromised and that the white substance in the trees and floating in the water is a type of coal ask called “fly ash”
Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks says the white substance is not fly ash but what is called cenospheres, which he explains is not toxic by nature.
To be sure, Duke is in the process of further testing.
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