Dive Summary:
- Duke Energy announced the company will begin demolishing the Cliffside retired coal plant this fall and two other retired units, H.F. Lee and Weatherspoon, by 2015.
- Demolishing the North Carolina plants will take place over the course of several months, with Duke taking down four of six units at Cliffside and closing the ash ponds at Lee and Weatherspoon. Duke will continue to operate unit 5 and 6 at Cliffside.
- “By retiring the older, less efficient coal units, we have the opportunity to modernize our generation fleet to better serve our customers,” said Craig DeBrew, Duke Energy district manager for Cliffside. “Just as we took great care to build unit 6, we’ll be just as deliberate and methodical in demolishing these retired units.”
From the article:
"Treatment of the ash ponds is likely to be controversial. Environmental groups want the ponds removed or converted to fully lined ponds to prevent seepage of pollutants from the coal ash."
