Coal Ash, Race & Class

In response to a massive coal ash spill in 2014, North Carolina passed the Coal Ash Management Act, the first state law to regulate coal ash waste. This project, funded by the American Planning Association Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment division, explores methodologies for environmental justice screening, then uses geospatial and statistical analyses to describe who is impacted by coal ash in North Carolina. The findings suggest that disproportionate impacts to communities of color exist at some coal ash sites. The case of coal ash in North Carolina supports the use of environmental justice screening as a necessary but insufficient condition for addressing environmental justice concerns when building environmental policy.

Duke Energy owns fourteen coal plants in North Carolina, half of which are currently operational. Coal ash ponds are present at all fourteen sites. In addition, the State has permitted two structural fill sites that will landfill coal ash from cleanups at four high priority sites. A map shows the location of the fourteen coal ash sites and two coal ash landfills, here noted as 'structural fill sites.'

The Asheville Power Station is a site with environmental justice concerns on several dimensions. The proportion of people of color doubles from the outermost to the innermost buffer zone. Likewise, the median income estimate drops $13,000 from the outermost to the innermost buffer zone.

The site also has a cluster of polluting facilities nearby. Nine facilities tracked by the EPA Toxic Release Inventory are situated within 5 kilometers of the site. The pounds of chemicals released onsite at these facilities amounts to 70% of all toxic releases in Buncombe and Henderson Counties combined.