Coal Ash Neighbors File Class Action Lawsuit Against Duke Energy

BELMONT, NC – Neighbors living near Duke Energy coal ash pits are slapping the company with a class action lawsuit.

The neighbors want a no strings attached offer from Duke Energy and they’re going to court to try and get it.

“I mean it’s their mess, it’s not ours, we didn’t, we don’t want to be doing this,” explains Belmont resident Amy Brown.

In January, Duke Energy offered $5,000 in what it called a “goodwill offer” for neighbors concerned about possible toxic chemicals seeping into their wells.

But to get it, neighbors like Brown would have had to sign away their rights to sue Duke Energy.

“Acknowledge that they have fully compensated my family and that would, that’s asking me to lie,” she says.

Now Brown is one of the plaintiffs named in a class action lawsuit filed Wednesday.

She and eight others who live near coal ash pits across the state argue they should be able to collect the money without signing a waiver.

The suit also accuses Duke of negligence and says neighbors have suffered anger, discomfort, and annoyance.

For more than two years, Brown and others have relied on bottled water provided by Duke.

In response, a Duke Energy spokesperson tells WCCB Charlotte in part, “This is obviously another effort by trial lawyers to make money for themselves when the company is already doing more than anyone to care for our plant neighbors.”

By law, Duke will pay to provide neighbors with a permanent new water supply and pay for 25 years of water bills.

The company maintains that the levels of chemicals found in neighbor’s well water is naturally occurring and is not connected to coal ash.