2018 Cape Fear River coal ash spill
In September 2018, a dam failure caused by Hurricane Florence led to the leakage of coal ash into the Cape Fear River about five miles northwest of Wilmington, North Carolina. The coal ash came from two storage areas (ash ponds) owned and operated by Duke Energy. Contaminants from the coal ash may have leached into the water source but long term testing has yet to be done by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or other environmental agencies. Clean up efforts were led by Duke Energy and mostly consisted of skimming the coal ash off the top of the water. Incident On September 14, 2018 Hurricane Florence hit the coast line of North Carolina. While the almost of water that the area received was bad for the dams and catch ponds of the area, the real issues came along when the storm moved inland, dumping more rain water into the Cape Fear River. The flood water produced by the storm damaged the earthen dams built around Sutton Lake, which is used as a reservoir for cooling water. The breach in the earthen dams allowed for water to rush into several coal ash storage areas where roughly of coal ash was stored.