Update: This version of the story includes comments from Mike Giles, coastal advocate for the N.C. Coastal Federation.

Area residents will have an opportunity to voice their opinions next week on Duke Energy’s draft solid waste and isolated wetlands permits that are required for an industrial landfill at its L.V. Sutton Energy Complex.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will host a public hearing in Wilmington on Tuesday at 6 p.m., according to a news release.

“Our agency is in the public comment period right now. That is what Tuesday’s public hearing will be about: a wetlands permit and the solid waste permit that Duke Energy is required to have in order to build the onsite industrial landfill and put coal ash from Sutton and other waste products ... in there,” DEQ spokesman Jamie Kritzer said Friday.

Duke Energy is in the early phases of cleaning up the roughly 7 million tons of coal ash at Sutton.

“Duke is proposing to transport about 2 million tons of coal ash to a fully lined engineered structural fill at a former clay mine in Chatham County, with the remaining 5 million tons of ash stored site in a fully lined landfill on Sutton Plant property,” Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said in an email.

Coal ash is already being excavated and removed to the Chatham County locale, Kritzer said, adding that full details on the removal of coal ash and water from the unlined ponds will likely not be available until the end of 2016. That is when the utility company must provide a closure plan for Sutton and its other three high-priority coal ash sites in North Carolina.

Looking at what has been done at similar coal ash sites in other states, however, Kritzer said that the existing unlined ponds will be dewatered, and the ash dried elsewhere on site and moved to the lined landfill or the brick mine. All wastewater will be treated.

In general terms, what is happening at Sutton is “what we wanted to happen,” said Kemp Burdette, director of environmental group Cape Fear River Watch. “They are taking ash stored in unlined pits right next to Sutton Lake – which  is right next to the Cape Fear River – out to a synthetically lined landfill. The other key part is that they are drying the ash out [before] excavating it into this new lined landfill and putting a cap on it. The cap is sealed to the liner.”

Because the proposed new Sutton landfill would be located in an area classified as wetlands, Duke Energy will need the isolated wetlands permit, Kritzer said.

Burdette explained that the landfill will not be a pit dug into the wetlands.

“Rather than digging a hole in the ground and hitting the water table, they are going to mound up. It’s an above-ground landfill with a certain amount of topsoil around it on all sides for protection,” he said.

Cape Fear River Watch had the opportunity to review the draft permit applications and make suggestions. Most of the group’s suggestions were taken by Duke Energy, Burdette said.

“It’s not a perfect solution; there is no perfect solution. But it stops the leaching of toxic chemicals into surface water, ground water and air,” he said, explaining that the proposed process is “essentially like wrapping [the coal ash] up in a giant, heavy-duty burrito.” There is also a system in the landfill that will collect and treat any water that does squeeze out of the "burrito," Burdette said.
 
“It’s going to take monitoring by people who use Sutton Lake,” he added. “I will certainly be paying attention, but we’re cautiously optimistic that this is a good plan and that Duke will do a good job carrying it out.”

The N.C. Coastal Federation is a bit more skeptical, according to spokesman Mike Giles.

"We support the overall plan but have some concerns," he said Monday in an email. "Placing the coal ash within close proximity to the river and to our groundwater aquifers is a concern. They say that the liners on these pits last for hundreds of years. How do they know that and what if one does fail, it poses an immediate hazard to our waters."

Lining the landfill with clay and using liners is a good step, Giles continued, but questioned what would happen in the event of a hurricane, massive flooding or sea level rise.

Tuesday’s public hearing takes place at Cape Fear Community College’s Union Station Auditorium, 502 N. Front St. People who want to speak can begin signing in at 5 p.m., the release stated.

To view the information about the draft solid waste permit, click here. To view the draft wetlands permit, click here.

Those who cannot attend but wish to comment may submit their comments to DEQ in writing before the deadline of April 15, Kritzer said.