Neighbors of Duke power plants could be offered financial compensation
RALEIGH — Duke Energy said Wednesday there are plans to offer compensation for depressed property values or a future with municipal water bills with the neighbors of coal ash pits, who fear the unlined storage basins have polluted their water wells.
The announcement by the country's largest electricity comes in the face of pending lawsuits by neighbors at some of the company's 14 North Carolina coal-burning power plants, including the Allen Steam Station on South Point Road in southeastern Gaston County. Law firms based in Raleigh, Salisbury and Dallas, Texas, said they represent hundreds of clients who are concerned about what the company may offer.
Duke Energy has "forced us to get an attorney because they couldn't acknowledge our concerns from the beginning," said Amy Brown, who lives less than 1,000 feet from the company's Belmont plant and has consumed only bottled water for 20 months.
Duke Energy also said it will expand its delivery of bottled water for drinking and cooking to neighbors within a half-mile of its coal plants, nearly doubling the scope of that preventative measure.
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