Matt Wasson, director of programs at Appalachian Voices, walks up a path at Draper Landing after collecting samples to test for heavy metals in the Dan River near Eden. Duke Energy said that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a coal ash retention pond into the Dan River at the Dan River Steam Station which was closed in 2012.
In the first 2 months of 2014 the US has suffered three serious coal ash or slurry spills. North Carolina has 45 ash ponds classified as high hazard and Duke Energy owns 13 of them.