"Coal Ash Unmonitored in Fill Sites Across N.C."

"Coal ash, infamous for its recent splash into the Dan River, also lies along Charlotte’s outerbelt.

It’s next to a Huntersville car dealership and under a Lowe’s store in Mooresville.

The ash was used to level ground and fill gullies. Duke Energy once sold it for 50 cents to $1 a ton, disposing of waste – and a liability – it would otherwise have had to store in ponds or landfills.

At least 1.8 million cubic yards of dry ash are buried in nearly two dozen places around Charlotte, not counting power plants. That’s enough to cover 1,100 acres a foot deep in ash."

Bruce Henderson reports for the Charlotte Observer April 20, 2014.