As someone who's spent a lot of time researching and writing about the two unlined, high-hazard coal ash ponds on the edge of Charlotte's main drinking water reservoir, my heart sank when I read the headline about a coal ash pond breach that occurred at a Progress Energy plant near Wilmington this week.

Fortunately, the situation appears to be under control. Though, the more I read about the breach, the more I wonder about the structural integrity of other coal ash ponds, most of which are also held in place by earthen dams. My sincere hope is they're all being well maintained and frequently monitored. (Of course, everyone in charge of such things says all is well.)

You should know, every indication is that the Duke Energy-owned ponds closest to the Queen City appear to be structurally sound; however, as I mentioned above, they too are held in place by earthen dams.

All you have to do to understand the power water has over earth is to look at one of the many streams in our city that have suffered through gully washer after gully washer thanks to poor urban planning — undersight that leads directly to flood warnings every time we have an even moderate rain event. Or, check out the Grand Canyon. It, too, was created by water eroding earth. Since water wins the erosion battle, it's critical the coal ash ponds behind earthen dams are constantly monitored, especially given their proximity to our drinking water.

At the same time, the breach in Wilmington couldn't come at a better time for environmentalists, who've been warning everyone about the dangerous potential these ponds possess, since the EPA is trying to decide how to regulate coal ash and the ponds that contain them. (Check out the reaction from an environmentalist after the jump.)

From the Raleigh News & Observer's John Murawski:

A giant gash in the 38-year-old waste reservoir Monday released an estimated 10 cubic yards of ash down a steep embankment, after heavy rains inundated the area around the company's Sutton Electric Plant.

The Wilmington Star News reported that the breach sent clay and ash cascading down the side of the pit's retaining wall. Raleigh-based Progress installed a temporary patch using rocks and soil to keep the breach from expanding.

Progress spokesman Scott Sutton said the breach was discovered by a pair of Progress employees who were inspecting the dam Monday night during a torrential downpour. The two were driving along the wall on top of the dyke in a light duty pickup truck, when the road gave way and swallowed their truck.

The vehicle dropped about 9 feet and came to rest in a bed of clay, dirt and ash. The workers were not injured.

"The truck was driving along the road and fell into it," Sutton said. "They throught [sic] along the lines that it was a sinkhole."

Read the entire blog post here.

This morning, I received an e-mail from Donna Lisenby, with the reaction from environmentalists. Here it is:

Statement on coal ash ponds from Progress Energy:

"In the process of generating electricity, coal-fired plants also generate coal-combustion products. As part of our ongoing commitment to the environment, we seek to handle these products in the safest, most responsible manner possible, either through storage or beneficial use."

Response from the NC Environmental Groups:

Dear Progress Energy. We learned earlier this week that two our your employees drove a truck into into a giant, gaping hole that developed in your Sutton coal ash pond dam near Wilmington. Apparently they were driving on the dam in the rain and didn't see the 9 foot deep, 22 foot wide hole. We are very glad they were not hurt but we wonder how on earth they failed to see a hole that big? We understand they left the truck in the dam pond breach until the next day, when it was winched out of the hole. While most of us aren't engineers, we don't feel using a pick up truck to plug a hole in an ash pond dam is the "safest, most responsible manner possible" to keep ash from contaminating nearby waterways. Especially in this case, since the truck was much smaller than the 22 foot wide hole.

Statement on coal ash ponds from Progress Energy:

"All of our ash ponds have been inspected within the last 12 months and all are considered to be structurally sound. We monitor the structural integrity of its ash ponds and landfills on a monthly basis and third-party experts evaluate each ash pond on an annual basis. A major engineering inspection is completed every five years and the information is submitted to the N.C. Utilities Commission."

Response from the NC Environmental Groups:

If all of your ash ponds are considered structurally sound, how do you explain the big hole that suddenly developed in the Sutton coal ash pond dam over night? Do you plan on deploying a fleet of pick up trucks on your other coal ash pond dams around the state so they can be used to quickly plug any other holes that spontaneously appear in your "structurally sound" ash pond dams? If so, would please consider outfitting them with remote controls rather than letting your employees drive them? We really don't think it is a good for the safety or your employees to drive trucks into these holes.

Statement on coal ash ponds from Progress Energy:

"According to the National Inventory of Dams, North Carolina has 2,894 dams and 1,062 of them are classified as "high hazard."

Response from the NC Environmental Groups:

Progress Energy, can you tell us how many of the 2,894 dams in NC developed giant holes big enough to lose a truck in this year? Come on now, there must have been one other one besides yours. Do tell, where was it? We know there are other dams on the coast of NC that experienced the same level of rainfall as your ash pond at the Sutton coal plant. Did any of those other dams fail this week? Or was it only your "structurally sound" and "inspected monthly" coal ash pond dam near Wilmington that failed? It's OK if you don't know of any other dams that failed this week or even this year. We have a bunch of Riverkeepers on the NC coast. They will be more than happy to fly hog lagoon dams to see if any of them failed with all the rain the hit the coast this week.

Statement on coal ash ponds from Progress Energy:

"The only ash pond dams owned by Progress Energy that are classified as high hazard are two dams at the Asheville Plant."

Response from the NC Environmental Groups:

Somehow we don't think your two employees whose truck fell into that dam hole in your ash pond near Wilmington would agree with you. Driving trucks into gaping holes holding back 550,000 cubic yards of dry ash seems a little hazardous to us.

By the way, if you haven't already, you still have time to comment on the EPA's proposed regulations for coal ash. The Catawba Riverkeeper has created an easy button for you, here it is.

If you'd like to read about the structural integrity of the coal ash pond nearest you, here's a list of the EPA's assessment reports.

Further reading: Is coal ash poisoning Charlotte-area drinking water?

Here's a video from the TVA's surprising disaster that was much, much worse:

Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. Additionally, she's on the steering committee for the Greater Charlotte Society of Professional Journalists. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.