Listen, I didn't mean to become the Queen of Coal Ash, but since I am, I feel obligated to remind y'all of the finer details involved in the ongoing melodrama of coal ash pollution in the U.S. and North Carolina.
And since we've got some real American royalty in town today - Robert F. Kennedy Jr., of the Waterkeeper Alliance - discussing Crown Town's coal ash issues, and since I got the title of Queen from from the Central Piedmont Sierra Club because I've been writing about the stuff for Creative Loafing for more than four years, I figured we'd give y'all a royal history lesson. (Look for news of RFK Jr.'s press conference later today.)
Coal ash is a big deal nationally and statewide. With Congress taking up the coal ash issue this week, debating a bill that would essentially prevent regulation of coal ash pollution federally, and the North Carolina General Assembly actively weakening environmental regulations as if we can buy another water source at Walmart, you'd think folks would be boned-up on coal ash. You'd think folks would give a shit about what's in their water, or that they'd notice a couple of coal ash ponds next door. But, alas, collective memory is short, and the water looks fine.
So, let's bolster the collective memory with a brief history of Charlotte's coal ash issues, shall we? We shall ...
Editor's note: This story originally credited Richard Nixon as the president who oversaw the 1963 Clean Air Act. Nixon didn't become president until 1969.
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