Coal Ash Updates

The Town of Chapel Hill’s Police Station property consists of approximately 10 acres, located at 828 Martin Luther King Boulevard. An environmental consultant hired by the town has estimated the size of the coal ash dump on this map.

In the 1960s and 1970s, coal ash was dumped in a former borrow pit area on the property, but the origin of the coal ash is not known. In 1980, the Police Station property was acquired by the Town of Chapel Hill from a private owner. The town apparently did not discover the coal ash dump until 2013 when it began to prepare to sell the property.

A 2013 environmental consultant’s report on the coal ash dump states, “Groundwater sampled at the site has been impacted from leaching of the fly ash.” The report also noted, “Groundwater appears to be impacting Bolin Creek.” Moreover, the report says, “Surface water sampled from Bolin Creek exhibited results indicative of environmental contamination above established action levels.”

To date, the Town of Chapel Hill has drilled several different groundwater monitoring wells. It has abandoned some of these wells after finding high levels of coal ash pollutants, citing issues with turbidity in the samples. You should know the test results:

• July 2013 – The Town of Chapel Hill hires an environmental consultant to test groundwater. Testing reveals high levels of arsenic (8.5 times the regulatory limit), barium, total chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, manganese, thallium, and zinc. 

• March 2014 – Sampling of two new groundwater wells reveals high levels of arsenic (14 times the limit), total chromium (93 times the limit), lead (more than 16 times the limit), barium (more than 9 times the limit), selenium (nearly 5 times the limit), and mercury.

• September 2, 2014 – In another round of sampling, the Town of Chapel Hill filters the groundwater before testing it and claims the results show the groundwater has not been contaminated.

• September 19, 2014 – N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) informs Chapel Hill that its recent filtered sampling results are “not valid.” It also says the town’s statements about groundwater not being impacted are contradicted by the data. N.C. DENR requests additional unfiltered sampling results. 

• October 3, 2014 – Chapel Hill submits unfiltered sampling results in response to N.C. DENR’s request. Results show high levels of arsenic (5 times the limit), hexavalent chromium (428 times the “Do Not Drink” health screening level), total chromium (nearly 8 times the limit), lead (twice the limit), and barium.

• May 2015 – Chapel Hill installs two deeper monitoring wells at new locations further east on the site. Later that month, it takes samples. Results from these new wells and one existing well contain high levels of arsenic (11 times the limit), total chromium (46 times the limit), lead (nearly 6 times the limit), and barium. Later, the town’s report states the new wells had not yet stabilized.

• July 2015 – Chapel Hill re-samples the new deeper wells, but does not sample the older well. Results from the new wells contain measurable levels of barium and boron that are below legal limits.

• October 23, 2015 – N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ, formerly DENR) directs Chapel Hill to test for more pollutants in the groundwater. It also instructs the town to map the site’s groundwater flow. N.C. DEQ expresses concern that coal ash may be eroding from a steep slope above the public greenway.

Nearly three years after the discovery of its coal ash dump, Chapel Hill developed a webpage concerning the dump site. A few years later, when the Bolin Creek Greenway was reconstructed to join up with the new trail, the town discovered tons of coal ash next to the creek and the greenway, and that portion was removed. However, the majority of the coal ash pile is still on site, continuing to erode and pollute the property.

Currently, the town says it will follow the direction of N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (N.C. DEQ). Yet the N.C. DEQ has been widely discredited – and investigated by a federal criminal grand jury — for its handling of coal ash in North Carolina, and has even opposed coal ash cleanups in court. Meanwhile, the Chapel Hill Town Council has proposed a plan to add affordable housing and offices on the site, and is awaiting N.C. DEQ’s comment. Chapel Hill lists only the following next steps on their coal ash website: “…additional testing, supplemental mitigation measures, and/or the placement of future use restrictions on the property.” However, a recent memo sent on September 13, 2022 from the Chapel Hill Town Manager Maurice Jones states that the town may delay the housing component due to rising interest rates.

That’s not good enough! Chapel Hill needs to remove the coal ash and stop the pollution now!

 News Coverage:

“The Silent Threat in Our Back Yards,” Hannah Petersen

“Activists Call for Council Action,” Chapelboro, May 2014