Members of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality come to Wilmington Thursday evening for a public meeting about coal ash. The DEQ is drafting new rules to govern its recycling and disposal.
Coal ash produced by coal plants is the toxic by-product that is left over after the coal is burned. It is not subject to federal protections.
Existing state rules require power plant operators to build coal ash landfills with protective linings to prevent impacts to groundwater. Jamie Kritzer is DEQ’s spokesman.
“The new rules would add detailed criteria for how landfills are to be constructed, and they would also widen the buffers between the landfill and any adjoining properties as well as bodies of water.”
Thursday night's meeting at Cape Fear Community college, which begins at 6, will include a presentation of the new rules and also allow for the public to comment.