Orange County NC Website
<br /> <br /> 1 <br />Orange County <br />Commission for the Environment <br /> <br />Meeting Summary <br /> <br />June 9, 2014 <br />Orange County West Campus Office Building, Hillsborough <br />_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />PRESENT: Jan Sassaman (Chair), May Becker, Peter Cada, Loren Hintz, Donna Lee Jones, <br />William Newby, Jeanette O’Connor, Lydia Wegman <br /> <br />ABSENT: David Neal, Steve Niezgoda, Rebecca Ray, Gary Saunders, David Welch <br /> <br />STAFF: Rich Shaw, Tom Davis GUESTS: Indira Everett and Mark McIntire (Duke Energy) <br />________________________________________________________________________________________________________ <br /> <br />I. Call to Order – Sassaman called the meeting to order at 7:38 pm. <br /> <br />II. Ad ditions or Changes to Agenda – No changes or additions. <br /> <br />III. Minutes – Sassaman asked for comments on the minutes for May 12. Hintz motioned to <br />approve as written; Cada seconded. Approved unanimously. <br /> <br />IV. CFE Appointments – Sassaman welcomed Newby to the CFE. Newby introduced <br />himself, and CFE members followed with brief introductions. Sassaman said the other <br />new members (Leath and Miller) would attend the August meeting. <br /> <br />V. Coal Ash site remediation by Duke Energy – Sassaman welcomed Indira Everett and <br />Mark McIntire from Duke Energy, who had asked to present an update on the Dan River <br />coal ash spill and Duke Energy’s strategy for addressing 33 coal ash sites that they <br />manage throughout North Carolina. <br /> <br />Everett said she is Duke Energy’s District Manager for Government and Community <br />Relations for Orange, Durham, Lee, and Chatham counties. She thanked Commissioner <br />Barry Jacobs and the CFE for arranging this opportunity to speak on these issues. <br />Everett said she and McIntire were here to talk about any matters and answer any <br />questions about coal ash. Both are actively engaged in addressing the Dan River spill <br />and are working hard to talk to the community in that area and near any of their plants. <br /> <br />Everett referred CFE members to handouts in their meeting materials: 1) an update on <br />the company’s response to the Feb. 2 coal ash spill, and 2) a background sheet about <br />coal ash in NC. She handed out a summary of Duke Energy’s ash management plan <br />from the company’s website: www.duke-energy.com/ash-management. She said Duke <br />Energy has 33 coal ash basins in NC—14 of which are near current or former coal- <br />powered power plants. Everett said Duke Energy hired an independent engineering firm <br />to assess the conditions of all 33 sites. Duke Energy is reviewing the findings they <br />received on May 31 and will develop a strategy to address each site on a case-by-case <br />basis. A report will be out by the end of 2014. McIntire noted that considerable work is <br />going on at many sites prior to that report coming out. <br /> <br />McIntire said he is Director of Environmental Affairs for Duke Energy in NC. He provided <br />background on his previous work experiences, including NCDENR and Progress