Cape Fear Steam Electric Power Plant has 13 groundwater monitoring wells, 9 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between December 01, 2010 and March 04, 2015. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of manganese, sulfate, selenium and arsenic.
Site descriptionDuke Energy's Cape Fear Steam Electric Power Plant is located near Moncure, North Carolina. At its height, the plant had six coal-fired units. All of these units have now been retired; two were closed in 1977, two in 2011, and the final two closed in 2012. In addition, one oil-fueled unit was retired in 2012, while three continue to operate. Since the 1950s, five coal combustion waste disposal basins were constructed and operated at the site.
In March 2014, the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources cited Duke Energy for violation of the site's wastewater permit because the company pumped an estimated 61 million gallons of untreated wastewater from two of the site's ash ponds into a tributary of the Cape Fear River.
This site is among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's list of potential damage cases, indicating that it has potentially polluted groundwater or surface water at levels which threaten human health and the environment. For more information regarding Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant, visit SoutheastCoalAsh.org.