Leaking pipe found at Allen Steam Station

CHARLOTTE, NC– “All these tons of ash that were dumped into the Dan River that could be us, and that should be concerning to everyone,” said Belmont resident, Amy Brown.

Amy Brown lives just a few streets down from the Allen Steam Station in Belmont. For the past 20 months, her family and neighbors have lived off bottle water because of the fear of what’s in their drinking water. Brown says news of a 24-inch pipe leaking water with coal ash is terrifying.

” You cannot trust them to monitor their own coal ash ponds,” said Brown.

Since the Dan River spill three years ago Duke Energy has been responsible for monitoring the Allen Station but the Catawba Riverkeeper says during their inspection it took them only 20 minutes to find a corrugated pipe just like the one that blew out in the Dan River, a pipe that Duke Energy has not reported in three years.

“I cannot believe this was something that was missed given the threat it poses like the disaster that happened at Dan River I am truly truly shocked by it,” said Catawba Riverkeeper, Sam Perkins.

Duke Energy released a statement saying it is repairing the leak and it wasn’t found earlier because “the pipe is visible on the shoreline only when lake levels are low.”

Also saying “ongoing sampling in the Catawba River and Lake Wylie indicates water quality remains well protected.” But Perkins says this is proof the coal ash sites are too large for Duke energy to monitor and they need a more permanent fix.

“You dig it up, you use some in concrete and you move the rest away from water to a lined site that’s all we’re asking for in our lawsuits,” said Perkins.