Environmental organizations call for investigation into coal ash contamination

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Two organizations are calling on the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a full investigation of contamination in Mooresville.

The request comes after they claim to have found a sample of coal ash in a Reed Creek Park streambank that contained a higher-than-allowable level of radioactivity.

Lisa Evans, an attorney with Earth Justice, said coal has run into the stream from a sinkhole that formed in a parking lot earlier this year.

“We found in our very small sampling effort that the radiation level was four times the background soil that we tested in Mooresville. So, it is not true that coal ash is like soil,” Evans said.

Evans went on to say that the lot where the hole formed was built on coal ash. The sinkhole then formed after a pipe burst underground in 2020.

Earth Justice now fears that the problem is more widespread than just the stream in the park.

Coal ash is the residue left behind after coal is burned and has been handed out by energy companies to be used instead of dirt. It has been used on construction sites since the 1980s.

Experts have linked coal ash to cancer.

Allegedly, Iredell County has more than any other part of the state.

“It’s a particular concern to have it in places like a daycare or park or under someone’s home or in their yard. But because so much coal ash was placed in Mooresville, you have the potential for exposure to all sorts of different people,” Evans elaborated.

Channel 9 has reached out to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to see if they will be following through on the request for the investigations.

In a statement, they responded:

“The EPA is in the process of reviewing the request and working with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to assess information received as well as determine a path forward for an investigation.”

VIDEO: Town addresses sinkhole formed over coal ash fill in Mooresville

Town addresses sinkhole formed over coal ash fill in Mooresville

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