Under court settlement, no coal ash for Colon mine in Lee County
Coal ash will not be disposed of in a former clay mine in Lee County, according to a settlement between three environmental groups, Charah, Inc., and the NC Department of Environmental Quality.
After a five-year legal battle, Charah has agreed that it would not deposit ash in the Colon mine, five miles north of Sanford, in Lee County. The state had originally permitted Charah to put 8 million tons of coal ash on the 411-acre site.
Debbie Hall and Keely Wood of EnvironmentaLee issued a statement that read in part, “We knew we were on the right side of environmental justice … Winning this five year court case just proves that community involvement and Lee County residents’ voices can and do make a difference.”
Forty-one percent of households in the census block that includes the Colon mine are from a community of color, but is well above the state average of 33%.
Read more: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/12/17/under-court-settlement-no-coal-ash-for-colon-mine-in-lee-county/