New Expert Study Says Duke Manipulated Facts

BELMONT, NC — “Knowing what we know today, they are a flat out liar and we have no reason to trust them,” said Belmont resident Amy Brown.

Amy Brown lives right down from the Allen plant and has been on drinking water for two years because she says they know their well water is contaminated.

Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins says an expert they hired to look at Duke’s models confirmed It.

“This goes against every time Duke has said their models consistently show there’s not groundwater moving towards these people’s homes and drinking water wells,” said Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins.

Duke Energy responded to the SELC study results in a statement saying, “This is another unfortunate example of SELC and its client organizations willfully misrepresenting information in an effort to scare the community”

It goes on to say:

“These neighbors’ wells do not have elevated boron and are not being impacted by ash basins.”

But Perkins says in fact the study shows as far back as 2006 Duke knew the contaminated water was flowing towards the homes.

“The model was manipulated so that it would show that there was not a problem, certainly not one they would have to deal with,” said Perkins.

Click here to read the full statement from Duke Energy.

“That means that my children’s whole childhood has been they potentially have been exposed to something I had no control over,” said Brown.

People living near the Allen plant gathered at Belmont City Hall Thursday evening to voice their concerns to the council.

Neighbors say the latest expert results just confirm what they’ve always believed.

“That’s like me going out here committing a crime and they let me prove I didn’t do it and I just come back, yeah I didn’t do it,” said Belmont resident, Larry Mathis.