Jeff and Rhonda Locker tour their old farm property in Pavillion, Wyoming. The home now has a cistern and underground tank with clean water because the well is contaminated with benzenes and other substances, which the couple believes is from the oil and gas activities on their land. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

PAVILLION, Wyo. – Rhonda and Jeff Locker enjoyed hosting friends and family at their farm home in Pavillion, Wyoming. The 56 year old said she took pride in serving her guests water from the well on their land.

“It was the best I’d ever tasted,” Rhonda Locker said.

That changed in the early 1990s when the couple began to suspect something was wrong with their water. It would intermittently run black and release a strange odor, they said.

The Lockers were not alone. Similar complaints came from other residents near Pavillion – a town with little more than a couple hundred residents and an oil field.

Decades later, officials still can’t definitively identify the source of the contamination.

The Lockers, however, believe they know who is responsible. They are taking an oil and gas giant to court, claiming the company polluted their water and lied to them about it. They are seeking compensation after Rhonda Locker became ill.

In 2014, the couple filed suit against Encana Corp. for negligence, and the couple claimed the company convinced them to drink unsafe water and did not communicate water problems with them, according to court documents. The case is ongoing in U.S. District Court.

Encana officials deny any wrongdoing.

Couple tries to identify cause of mystery illness

The Lockers’ brown farmhouse sits between tall apple trees and has a view of the Rocky Mountains. Pavillion residents have learned to coexist with the dozens of gas wells on their hay and barley fields.

When the couple noticed changes in their water, they contacted Tom Brown Inc., a company that built and operated gas wells on their land. The company sent a hydrologist to test the Lockers’ wells.

The company assured them the contamination was not from their oil and gas activities, and there were no petroleum by-products in their water – and the Lockers believed them, they said. Tom Brown Inc. paid for a reverse osmosis water filtration unit for the home. In exchange, the couple signed an agreement releasing the company of any future liability.

“We wanted to believe them,” Rhonda Locker said. “I so badly wanted water to drink out of the faucet again. It was no fun to always bring jugs of water home, always having them on the laundry, on the washer machine – everywhere. And our house wasn’t that big, so It just got to me.”

Jeff Locker and his son still did not drink the water because they did not like the taste of it, but Rhonda Locker did.

“I just wanted to be able to take my vitamins and brush my teeth out of my own bathroom sink,” she said.

Four months after installing the filtration system, Rhonda Locker became ill. Her arms and legs tingled, she could not think clearly and she struggled to walk.

The couple became determined to find answers.

Rhonda Locker sought out numerous doctors, none of whom could give her a clear diagnosis for her mystery illness.

It was her declining health that lead the couple to file suit against Encana, the company that bought Tom Brown Inc.

Wyoming couple’s water problems launch national debate about oil and gas drilling from News21 on Vimeo.

EPA study suggests connection

The Environmental Protection Agency began an investigation into Pavillion groundwater in 2009, and it released a draft of its conclusions in 2011, pointing to the oil and gas industry as a possible culprit for the contamination.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry informed the couple their groundwater showed signs of contamination in 2010 and suggested the couple use an alternate water supply. This was the first time the Lockers were informed of specific contamination in their water since the problem began in 1992, they said.

It was not the first time someone knew of the contamination, however. According to court documents, Tom Brown Inc. tested the Lockers’ well in 2001 and found toluene – a harmful solvent oil and gas companies use that can cause “central nervous system depression and decreased memory,” according to World of Chemicals.

The EPA’s report confirmed Pavillion groundwater was contaminated with benzene, methane and other petroleum by-products. The lead author of the report said the contamination was most likely due to leakage from unlined pits carrying oil and gas wastewater.

Encana refutes the draft study, arguing that it was flawed science. They deny the chemicals in the Lockers’ well came from their activities, citing a number of other possible sources, in their official response to the EPA findings.

The company declined to comment on the court case since it is ongoing.

The well at the Locker family home near Pavillion, Wyoming, is contaminated with benzenes and other chemicals. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

EPA’s study causes scrutiny

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., in a statement called the EPA’s draft study part of the agency’s “witch hunt” aimed at harming the oil and gas industry.

“The Obama Administration has done everything it possibly can to destroy domestic production of oil, gas and coal,” Inhofe told the Senate floor in 2012.

The issue has become part of a national debate over the potential effects of hydraulic fracturing in the oil and gas industry.

The industry is a boon to Wyoming, which is one of the top 10 oil and gas producers in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Coal, crude oil and natural gas are produced in all but one of the state’s counties.

While the EPA said it “stands behind its work and its data” in a 2013 news release, the agency handed over the groundwater investigation to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Encana donated $1.5 million to the Wyoming Natural Resource Foundation for the state to fund the investigation and for a groundwater education campaign, according to the same release.

The state released a report in 2015 “discrediting” the EPA’s earlier report, according to a statement from the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The state’s report contended hydraulic fracturing had most likely not impacted the water supply.

The state of Wyoming did not return requests for comment.

Senior officials at the EPA had decided not to finalize the draft and hand the investigation over to Wyoming because of the “intense pressure from the oil and gas industry and the state of Wyoming,” said Dominic DiGiulio, the lead author of the EPA’s initial study.

“The findings affect hydraulic fracturing across the country,” said DiGuilio, a researcher at Stanford University. “That’s why the oil and gas industry was very defensive about the findings out there.”

DiGuilio released results from an independent, peer-reviewed investigation with Stanford University in 2016. It also concluded that the water contamination was due to the industry’s disposal of fracking waste into unlined pits.

In 2016, the EPA released a comprehensive national report that didn’t offer a conclusive answer to whether hydraulic fracturing effects water, and it suggested more testing.

Rhonda and Jeff Locker said they are happy they live in a new home with safe water in the Pavillion area of Wyoming. They are tangled in a legal battle over the source of contamination, which they believe came from oil and gas activity on their farm. (Photo by Lauren Kaljur/News21)

Couple still has unanswered questions

As Rhonda and Jeff Locker sit on the back porch on a warm summer evening, they still want answers.

The know there was something wrong with the water. In fact, the state of Wyoming started giving cisterns to residents with contaminated water in 2012. They just haven’t proven what caused it.

Without her medication, Rhonda Locker can’t walk properly. Her cognitive problems are becoming more severe. She feels much older than she should in her 50s, she said.

“It’s always, ‘Don’t hurt grandma, watch her legs,’ and stuff like that,” she said. “I did picture how much I was going to run around with them and do all these things with them because I was so active, and it didn’t happen that way.”

“In retrospect, if there’s anything I could change and go back,” Jeff Locker said. “I’d just soon not ever have heard the name Encana and Tom Brown.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Jessica Griffith, a resident of Garwood, West Virginia, holds her youngest son. She said she used the community’s water to prepare his bottle for nine months before learning the water wasn’t being treated. (Photo by Jordan Houston/News21)

GARWOOD, W.Va. – In southern West Virginia, hundreds of unqualified residents must now run their local water systems, which often draw water from abandoned mines.

As the state has lost coal-industry jobs, the miners who once ran these systems have abandoned this task to the remaining residents.

Environmental Protection Agency data shows that at least eight communities have no water operators, and residents say they face frequent outages and taps that deliver muddy water after heavy rains.

Some Wyoming and Fayette county residents said they are getting too old to continue upkeep on the systems and lack the funds to carry out proper treatment.

In Garwood, a 55-person Wyoming County town surrounded by coal mines, residents have struggled to keep their system afloat after it was deserted in 2014.

“Everybody just up and quit,” resident Jessica Griffith said. “There was no warning, no nothing. Nobody handed it over to anybody else.”

Since then, the mother of five and her neighbors have been paying to patch up leaks and fix busted pipes themselves. The community has had frequent water outages for nearly two years. Last November, Garwood went more than three weeks without water because the reserve in the mine was too low. Many residents had to shower in nearby towns, Griffith said.

Griffith said the community can’t afford to test its water, so residents have no way of knowing if it’s safe to drink.

“You don’t really know what you’ve come in contact with,” Griffith said. “Even just like animal feces, you can’t keep that from not getting in the water when it’s coming out of the ground like that.”

Garwood residents rely on bottled water donations they received from a church in Virginia. Griffith stores a large pack in her garage, which she leaves open for her neighbors. The community is down to its last row of bottles.

Two hours north, Kanawha Falls residents also face uncertainty with their drinking water. The town, known for its roaring waterfalls, has relied on volunteers to run the community water system for as long as anyone can remember, residents said.

Bobby Kirby, 80, has helped out as the system’s treasurer for more than a decade. He said he collects money from residents to pay for chlorine to dump into the storage tank, which sits half a mile up on a mountain that houses an abandoned coal mine. However, Kirby said he hasn’t tested or treated the water in years.

“We just don’t have the money to do it,” Kirby said. “It just got too expensive. Nobody was paying the bill to do it, so we just quit it.”

Kanawha Falls, West Virginia, resident Joe Underwood, who recently recovered form skull surgery, said he’s too afraid to drink his own water. His doctor told him not to drink or bathe in the town water to avoid infection from contamination. (Photo by Jordan Houston/News21)

Resident Joe Underwood, who recently had skull surgery after a four-wheeler accident, said he won’t drink or bathe in the town’s water. He said doctors told him the water gave him two infections near his brain following his surgery. Underwood said he now only drinks bottled water and showers with a cap.

“I just finally realized the importance of the type of water that’s coming in,” Underwood said. “I’m meaning that for people that have serious injuries. I’m meaning that for little babies. I’m meaning that for anybody that has any kind of health problems.”

According to EPA data, a number of other communities in the southern part of the state struggle with similar problems. The state’s Office of Environmental Health has placed many of these communities on boiled water advisories.

The West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council, the agency responsible for improving infrastructure across the state, announced projects to link Kanawha Falls and Garwood to surrounding city water systems.

However, Susan Small from the Public Service Commission, which oversees economic regulation for the state’s public utilities, said these types of projects are expensive.

“If money wasn’t an issue, we could extend water systems everywhere,” Small said. “But the topography in the mountainous terrain of West Virginia makes extending a mile of water line much more expensive than, say, Ohio.”

Officials expect to connect Kanawha Falls – a project that cost $1.8 million – by the end of the summer. Garwood will receive funding if the council has leftover money from another waterline extension project in a neighboring town, officials said.

Griffith said she has doubts Garwood will be hooked up to city water any time soon.

“We should be able to turn on the faucet and there’s water and not have to go day-by-day wondering if I’m going to have water today or if I’m going to have to drive down the road and give my kids a bath.”

Kanawha Falls, home to 55 residents, dates back to the Civil War. Union soldiers occupied the West Virginia town during the war and handed the water system over to residents after it ended. (Photo by Jordan Houston/News21)

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Bonnie Sicard, who lives in Beebe Plains, Vermont, said her water has problems: “It’s got arsenic. It’s got a bunch of other stuff in it.” (Photo by Fionnuala O’Leary/News21)

BEEBE PLAIN, Vt. – The residents of Beebe Plain in Derby, Vermont, have gotten used to the “boil water” notices that come in the mail.

“They send us a post every once in awhile saying that we should be boiling our water,” resident Bonnie Sicard said. “This has been going on pretty much ever since I’ve lived here. And that’s 27 years.”

The picturesque community, which straddles the Canadian border, is more than two hours away from the nearest city, Burlington.

Although the local water district draws its water from Stanstead, Quebec, Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation regulates it.

But several Beebe Plain residents said they’re frustrated that officials on both sides of the border can’t seem to fix the problems, despite the fact residents still have to pay for the water.

Residents must rely on bottled water because “nobody knows half the time whether you can drink it or even take a bath in it,” Sicard said.

But, she said, nobody wants to take responsibility.

“When you’re talking to the mayor (of Stanstead, Quebec) in Canada, they tell you it’s not their problem,” she said. “Then you go to the town and you talk to them about it, and they say it’s not their problem. Whose problem is it then?”

Ben Montross, a representative from Vermont’s environmental department, said it’s a complicated relationship. The community had to switch to the Canadian water source after its local well water source became contaminated with arsenic, but they have still run into problems.

Montross said the latest boil water notice was issued to warn residents of potential bacterial contamination after a leak in Vermont’s water distribution system.

For some residents, paying an annual fee of $254 for drinking water is a major source of contention.

“It’s just scary to think about drinking water not being safe to drink,” said Paul Therrien, a father of three. “That’s your drinking water. That comes out of your faucet. You’re paying. We’re expected to pay (nearly) $300 a year for water that we can’t use.”

Therrien and his girlfriend, Alyssa Coburn, said they wanted to “settle down, be happy and have our family” in Beebe Plain. But they received an arsenic warning with their first bill.

“Kids are quite a bit of work anyway on their own nevermind having to boil water to bathe my children,” Coburn said. “For a household of five people every single day, it just kind of felt like the workload got even worse.”

The couple, who received the latest boil water notice two months ago, said they are never informed when and if the water is safe to drink again. Stacks of water bottles line their hallway along with children’s toys.

“There’s no freedom,” Therrien said. “You’re not able to go to the kitchen cupboard and grab a glass and fill it up with water and know that you’re drinking a safe substance. It’s very, very stressful.”

Montross told News21 that the boil water notices were just a “precautionary” measure after that leak in the distribution system.

But Therrien said he still worries about the health of his children, ages 3, 4 and 9. He is terrified they will accidentally drink water laced with arsenic or contaminated with bacteria.

“You can’t be in every room of the house with three kids,” he said. “You’ve got one running up the stairs. You can’t stop them from washing their hands. And the little ones, they want a drink – they don’t understand.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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Daily military operations have contaminated the water on and around bases across the United States for decades, affecting service members and their families, as well as the surrounding communities.

Veterans and families suffering from years of health problems are speaking out.

Lita Hyland is a military wife who lived on three contaminated bases with her husband and family. She met reporter Adrienne St. Clair at “Operation Stand Together” in Washington, D.C., an event addressing toxic contamination on military bases. She’s fought for this cause for nearly 20 years.

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

Lita Hyland attended an event called “Operation Stand Together,” in Washington, D.C., where she joined with veterans and families affected by water contamination on military bases across the country. (Photo by Adrienne St. Clair/News21)

Veterans and families from every military branch gathered at the base of the Washington Monument in D.C., to rally against decades of toxic contamination on hundreds of U.S. military bases. (Photo by Adrienne St. Clair/News21)

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A whitetail deer passes by a pond about 300 meters downstream of the Fenimore Landfill in New Jersey. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

ROXBURY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – At first glance, Ledgewood Park in Roxbury Township, New Jersey, is the epitome of a small-town park. The fishing pond is stocked with bluegill and largemouth bass, a basketball court stretches along the gravel parking lot and a pristine-looking stream runs along hiking trails in the woods surrounding the park.

The stream, Ledgewood brook, eventually flows into the Raritan River. Environmental scientists have deemed it “impaired,” which means they found fewer insects in the stream – an indication something is wrong with the water. They’re concerned about the drinking water of 1.5 million New Jerseyans downstream.

“If I didn’t know there was a dump about 200 meters upstream, I would think this should get a perfect score,” said Bill Kibler, director of policy at the Raritan Headwaters Association, a nonprofit conservation group. “‘Impaired’ sounds pretty innocuous. It doesn’t sound all that bad, but in a headwater stream, frankly, that’s shocking.”

Water flows under the Fenimore Landfill before reaching the surface to form the brook near the park. The landfill made national news in 2013 when toxic gas leaked from the site, posing a health risk to the residents. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection decided to place an impermeable cap on the landfill.

“If you see the cap, it’s very attractive. It’s landscaped, you know, so it’s out of sight out of mind,” Kibler said. “It doesn’t address the issue of groundwater, which is something the Department of Environmental Protection has to address on this site.”

Elliott Ruga (left) and Bill Kibler check out the area surrounding the Fenimore Landfill in Roxybury Township, New Jersey. The landfill is capped, but these two environmental workers believe it wasn’t done correctly and is contaminating the waters surrounding the site. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

Kibler is part of the Raritan Headwaters Association team that tests the health of the streams in the area. He has been monitoring the Ledgewood and Bound brooks in Roxbury Township that run down from the landfill.

More intensive testing takes place at groundwater monitoring wells closer to the dump. A 2015 groundwater report  shows the carcinogenic chemical benzene is contaminating the groundwater near the landfill. Levels of benzene above New Jersey’s groundwater quality standards have been found since 2011. Both have proven adverse effects on human health, including increased risk of cancer.

“The folks that live here in Roxbury, in particular the folks that live around the dump, have wells – private wells,” Kibler said. “Well, they’re relying on groundwater for their drinking water. That creates a real problem for the local folks.”

The state environmental department found conflicting results at sites near the landfill.

Kibler said he needs to know more about what’s in the landfill, which means the environmental protection department would have to reopen parts of the cap.

“Until we know what’s in the landfill, we don’t know what to test for,” Kibler said.

Bill Kibler explains the water systems underlying the Raritan Headwaters in New Jersey. Kibler and the Raritan Headwaters Association test waters for contaminants in the area. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

The landfill opened in the 1950s and was temporarily shut down in 1979. The area sat deserted until 2001. It was sold to Strategic Environmental Partners, owned by Richard Bernardi, who reopened the landfill. A grand jury had convicted Bernardi for conspiring to bribe a city official seven years earlier.

New Jersey state law prohibits convicted felons from “holding even a ‘beneficial interest’ in licensed solid waste businesses,” according to an investigative report commissioned by the state. But, according to the report, the ban is ambiguous and can be “easily defeated by enterprising operators.”

In 2016, a state grand jury indicted Bernardi on charges related to his operations at the Fenimore Landfill. Environmental groups claim that Bernardi’s former landfill is leaking toxins that could reach the drinking water of millions of people.

The landfill has been a contentious topic for residents and local and state governments. Groups have urged the complete removal of the waste within the dump while officials argue that the current cap is sufficient. The landfill is currently under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection, essentially leaving the township’s hands tied.

“They (DEP) just showed up one day with state troopers and seized the property,” said Dan Kline, a councilman in Roxbury.

Kline proposed community well testing to the council, but he said they did not spend money on it last year.

Environmental groups such as the Raritan Headwaters Association monitor water in the area near the Fenimore Landfill in New Jersey. They are concerned about contaminants polluting the brook. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

“Given the limited amount of things in the township’s control with this issue, why aren’t we doing more?” Kline said. “Giving money for well testing is a start, or giving money to the environmental committee is a good start, but it seems like there’s been a lot that we could do to alleviate people’s concerns.”

Community activists confronted Gov. Chris Christie about the landfill at two town hall meetings in 2014.

“I understand there is a group of people in Roxbury who want this stuff trucked out,” Christie said during one town hall. “Digging out that landfill and trucking it out will take years, and the disturbance of those materials will create more smell and a bigger problem.”

Even though the governor made his stance clear, Kibler said the landfill still poses a real threat to millions of people.

“Frankly, there are 1.5 million people downstream in New Jersey that don’t know this is their problem,” he said. “People in Roxbury know this is their problem. Folks downstream don’t realize that. That’s a bigger crime to me.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

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A flag in the city of Waukesha is displayed downtown. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

WAUKESHA, Wisc. – The city of Waukesha has a radium problem, and it’s looking to Lake Michigan for a solution.

Although talks of drawing water from nearby Lake Michigan began in 2002, Waukesha has struggled with radium contamination since the late 1970s when the Environmental Protection Agency lowered the acceptable limit for radium in public drinking water systems.

In 2010, Waukesha submitted an application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for an alternative water supply from Lake Michigan, citing its radium contamination, depleting aquifer and unsustainable water supply.

The more than $200 million proposal, known as the Great Water Alliance, will return 100 percent of the used water back into the lake. The city plans to draw 10-million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan.

The Great Lakes Compact, the legally binding agreement crafted by the eight Great Lakes states and two Canadian provinces, details how the states and provinces regulate the Great Lake Basin’s water supply. Any community applying for a diversion must demonstrate it has exhausted all other options for getting water, according to the compact’s website.

Waukesha met the compact’s requirements, and the governments involved supported the agreement.

However, individuals have mixed feelings about the alliance. While residents mainly argue the project will hurt the city economically because water rates will increase, water advocacy groups cite the effect the diversion will have on the Root River carrying water back to Lake Michigan and on the lake itself.

Sandy Hamm, Waukesha resident, said he thinks the diversion of water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha is unreasonable. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

Waukesha resident Sandy Hamm said the diversion is unreasonable.

“It’s just foolhardy to be pumping water from Lake Michigan 20-some miles out here and then pumping it back,” Hamm said.

Cheryl Nenn, riverkeeper at the nonprofit group Milwaukee Riverkeeper, said her organization also opposes the diversion.

Cheryl Nenn, riverkeeper at the Milwaukee Riverkeeper group, said her organization opposes the diversion of water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

“We’ve never thought the diversion was the best option for Waukesha. We always thought they were asking for a lot more water than they were currently using,” Nenn said, referencing the city’s average daily water use of 6 million gallons in contrast to the proposal’s 10 million gallons. Nenn said the city must be prepared to extinguish a fire with its largest facility out of service.

Nenn said the Root River, which will carry water back to Lake Michigan, could have increased algae blooms due to higher amounts of nutrients entering the river.

“When there’s lower flow (during the summer), the pollution is more concentrated in the river so that’s something we would be concerned about,” Nenn said.

However, Waukesha resident Chris Curren said he supports the project.

“Other than figuring out how to pay for it, I’m for it,” Curren said. “Those against it seem to be because they think it will open up a floodgate, allowing other cities to do the same.”

One of those residents, Laurie Longtine, said she thinks the city is setting a negative legal precedent.

“I can just see a scenario where another community within the Great Lakes basin decides to apply for water … to grow and keep expanding,” said Longtine, a board member of the Waukesha County Environmental Action League. “All of these other communities could all stick a straw in it at any time and withdraw.”

While officials said they believe the city’s aquifer is declining and cited that as one of the reasons for the diversion, residents say otherwise.

Like Longtine, Waukesha resident Steve Edlund agrees the aquifer is rising. He began researching the United States Geological Survey’s data on the city’s aquifer in 2013 and found it was no longer declining 5 to 9 feet per year, but rather increasing.

However, Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility general manager, said the aquifer levels frequently fluctuate, causing the aquifer to appear to be rising.

Dan Duchniak, Waukesha Water Utility general manager, said the Great Water Alliance will likely be completed by 2023. The alliance will divert water from Lake Michigan to Waukesha. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

Edlund said the radium problem is practically a nonissue, citing the city’s reluctance to install radium filters on four of the system’s wells that he said would effectively eliminate the contamination.

Duchniak said the diversion is not just about radium. He also identified total dissolved solids, or saltwater, as an additional contaminant.

“If this was just about radium, it would have been an easy solution,” Duchniak said. “It’s not just about radium – it’s about a sustainable water supply because we have other contaminants that we’ll have to deal with, and there’s other emerging contaminants that are coming down the pipeline.”

Edlund said he is also concerned with the socioeconomic impact the diversion will have on the community.

“There is no public assistance for your water bill and that’s scary,” Edlund said. “This is going to have a huge impact, especially on people that are lower income or fixed income. They are not going to be able to afford to live in the city of Waukesha. They’ll be forced out of their homes.”

The diversion does not have a definitive route for the pipeline yet. However, the project is expected to be completed by 2023, Duchniak said.

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

The post Great diversion: City of Waukesha looks to receive Lake Michigan water appeared first on Troubled Water.

Belews Creek Steam Station is one of Duke Energy’s largest coal-burning power plants in North Carolina. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

PHOENIX – On June 1, 2015, then Republican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory held a private meeting with environmental regulators and Duke Energy executives at the Governor’s Mansion.

Months before the meeting, state regulators issued Duke a $25 million fine – the largest in state history – for leaks from coal ash ponds into groundwater at the Sutton Plant near Wilmington.

A few months after the meeting, Duke’s fine dropped to $7 million for contaminated groundwater near all of the company’s coal ash ponds statewide.

Coal ash waste – a byproduct of coal-fired power plants – can contaminate groundwater, and ultimately, people’s drinking water with arsenic, mercury, lead and other metals when stored improperly.

“It was not a secret meeting,” said McCrory, who was governor from 2013 to 2017. “I met with a lot of CEOs. I met with their team, and it was actually a very tough meeting.”

McCrory had previously worked at the Charlotte-based electric company for 29 years, primarily in the engineering and recruiting departments. McCrory said he had “no connectivity” to Duke during his time as governor and that his past ties did not affect his decision making.

According to environmental groups and long-serving politicians, Duke Energy has repeatedly warned lawmakers that heavy fines and cleanup costs would cause the company to raise its customers’ billing rates.

“Like others who serve customers, we have an obligation to represent and protect their interests as public policy is made at the local, state and federal level,” Duke said in a statement to News21. “We do so constructively and appropriately.”

“Listen, we levied the largest fine against Duke Energy in North Carolina history, and Duke then appealed the fine,” McCrory said.

“I believe the reason the fine had to be scaled back was due to an email from the (Democratic Gov. Beverly) Perdue administration,” he added, referring to a 2011 memo from the state’s environmental quality agency.

The memo from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which News21 obtained, suggested the agency would be kinder to companies that worked with the water quality division and took necessary steps to comply with state standards. The memo played “some role” in the company’s ability to drop the fine to $7 million, Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said.

McCrory hosted the June 1, 2015, meeting with his chief of staff, general counsel and environmental quality secretary. Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good and three other company executives also attended.

McCrory said he discussed state legislation and a pending court case he had involving the Legislature. He added that Duke sided with lawmakers and was actively opposing him.

Duke declined to reveal the specific contents of its meeting and did not make company executives available for comment.

State lawmakers created the Coal Ash Management Commission in 2014 and gave themselves the power to appoint many of the people onto it. McCrory won a lawsuit against Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, accusing Berger and the General Assembly of overreaching into his executive authority.

The state Supreme Court determined it was unfair for the General Assembly to make the majority of appointments onto the commission. The McCrory administration disbanded the commission within a couple months. Berger did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

“I’m not aware of the company taking a position on the court case related to the Coal Ash Management Commission,” Sheehan said.

Duke Energy continues to excavate coal ash from the Riverbend Steam Station, one of several plants that continue to be cleaned up, in North Carolina. (Photo by Chelsea Rae Ybanez/News21)

Duke holds large influence over lawmakers

Duke Energy is a major driver of North Carolina’s economy, employing 16,000 people and serving more than 3 million customers across the state.

According to Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center tracking environmental damage, the Environmental Protection Agency has fined Duke more than $120 million for 20 environmental violations, including a $102 million penalty for the Dan River coal ash spill – the largest EPA-issued environmental fine against a North Carolina company.

Duke also incurred the state’s largest penalty for environmental damage when it agreed to pay $7 million for groundwater contamination at its coal ash pits statewide and pollution caused from its Sutton Plant in Wilmington.

Though state and federal regulators have held Duke responsible for contamination, Duke has a large influence in the political process.

“Nothing gets passed in the Legislature that they have not signed off on,” said Pricey Harrison, a Democrat from Guilford County who served in the state House since 2005. “I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience where I’ve seen anything that they objected to get passed in the Legislature.”

Coal ash awareness across the state grew after the 2008 Tennessee Valley Authority coal fly ash spill, Harrison said. She feared North Carolina did not have a robust plan for managing coal ash waste, so she introduced bills to ensure the state better handled coal ash management. Though her party controlled the House and Senate at the time, none of the three bills she proposed during the 2009-2010 session became law.

“I did not make a lot of progress even when the Democrats were in charge because Duke Energy resisted pretty strongly any efforts to regulate coal ash,” Harrison said. “They pushed back really hard. I kept filing my bills, and they would go nowhere.”

Dan River spill spurs lawmakers into action 

Lawmakers drew greater attention to coal ash in February 2014 after a ruptured Duke storm drain dumped up to 39,000 tons of ash into the Dan River.

McCrory found himself at the center of an issue he had not anticipated addressing in his first year in office.

“With coal ash, it was a 60-year problem, and it was pushed off to the side until an accident occurred. … I frankly had very little knowledge of coal ash until it actually happened,” McCrory said.

Citing the 2015 meeting and the reduction in Duke Energy’s fine, environmental groups criticized the McCrory administration’s handling of coal ash.

“We disagreed with his policies on this very important issue and how he and his appointees were handling a matter of serious public concern,” said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center based in Virginia. “It was nothing personal, nothing about him as a political figure. It was the way he handled this issue and other environmental issues.”

During McCrory’s unsuccessful reelection bid in 2016, the National Resources Defense Council ran frequent attack ads tying McCrory to Duke Energy. One of the more commonly played ads accused McCrory of having coal ash on his hands.

“With any group of politicians, there comes a point politically they feel like they can’t go any further for Duke,” Holleman said. “But so far, we have not hit that point.”

In an election year dominated by Republican victories, McCrory lost to then-Attorney General Roy Cooper by just 10,000 votes. Cooper did not respond to repeated requests for comment about how he plans to address Duke’s coal ash management practices.

Many factors could have swayed the results in McCrory’s favor, but coal ash likely played a role in the outcome.

“Coal ash certainly raised critical concerns in the minds of residents and probably those that lived around the areas affected,” said Michael Bitzer, a political science professor at Catawba College. “That kind of an issue that’s so basic – water  – is going to have a direct relatability to any voter.”

Come back Aug. 14 to see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water.”

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Andree Davis stands in front of her home in Walnut Cove, North Carolina. Davis said she believes her well water has caused dark spots on her skin. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

WALNUT COVE, N.C. – Andree Davis said she tries not to go out in public: She’s afraid of how people will react when they see her.

The 67-year-old North Carolina resident has dark spots all over her body. Davis said when she absolutely has to leave her house, she always wears long sleeves and pants – even in the hottest weather.

“I started getting all these spots, and I thought it was the water of course, but I couldn’t prove it,” she said. “It’s everywhere – like on my stomach and just everywhere. It’s unbelievable.”

She moved from South Carolina to Walnut Cove in 2007 after inheriting family property. In 2012, she started developing the spots. Davis said new spots only appear when she showers with the water from her well. For a while, she showered at a nearby hotel and said she didn’t get any new spots, but the hotel became too expensive.

Davis blames her well water because she knows it contains chemicals such as chromium 6 and vanadium. In 2015, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality sent notices to nearly 1,000 households located near coal-fired power plants across the state advising them to use bottled water for drinking, cooking and brushing their teeth. The water wasn’t safe, the notice said, but it didn’t indicate the source of the pollutants.

Residents later received a second letter telling them their water was OK to drink, leaving many residents unsure of whether or not their water was safe.

Davis lives next to a Duke Energy power plant that burns coal and creates a byproduct referred to as coal ash. Companies often store this type of waste in large pits called impoundments, usually near waterways.

Duke Energy officials said they plan to excavate coal ash ponds at eight of its 14 plants across the state. However, the company plans to leave coal ash at Belews Creek Steam Plant (pictured here) near Walnut Cove, North Carolina. (Photo by Chelsea Ray Ybanez/News21)

Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said the company is not the source of well pollution. However, the state passed legislation, the Coal Ash Management Act in 2014 and House Bill 630 in 2016, that requires Duke to close all coal ash impoundments, either by digging it up and storing it elsewhere or by putting a protective covering over the ash and leaving it where it is, a practice known as capping-in-place.

Environmental groups across North Carolina have pushed Duke to dig up the coal ash the company has stored in ponds across the state. Duke has roughly 150 million tons impounded in the state, a company spokeswoman said in an email.

Duke officials said they plan to excavate coal ash ponds at eight of the 14 plants across the state, but the company plans to leave coal ash in place at several locations, including Belews Creek Steam Plant near Walnut Cove, where Davis lives.

As part of the state legislation, Duke must provide alternative drinking water sources, in the form of city water or filtration systems, to anyone living within half a mile of its coal-fired power plants. Duke has until 2018 to provide the alternative water sources, and it has been providing bottled water for residents since 2015.

The company also has offered affected coal-plant neighbors an optional $5,000 payment and money to offset other costs, but accepting it means waiving their rights to sue Duke in the future.

Tracey Edwards, a Walnut Cove resident, said nobody she knows plans to take the money because “people aren’t that stupid.” She believes coal ash is the source of the chemicals in the water.

“You’re trying to be a good so called ‘neighbor’ by providing water, who does that? If you aren’t guilty, why are you getting involved at all? Am I right or wrong? Why would you give all these people, for this period of time, all this free water?” Edwards said. “That’s not being a good neighbor. You’re guilty, and you’re trying to buy people off, simple as that.”

Tracey Edwards stands in the front yard of her home in Walnut Cove, North Carolina. She blames coal ash for contaminanting the water in her community. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

Debra Watts, from the North Carolina Division of Water Resources, said they are still working on site assessments to determine the source of the contamination. But the state legislation mandating Duke provide water to residents near coal ash was a protective measure, she said.

Duke will connect residents to city water if they live in more urban areas such as Belmont. But for rural areas such as Walnut Cove and Roxboro, Sheehan said the residents live too far from city water sources to provide water, and filtration systems are the best and most cost effective option.

Cathy Cralle Jones, an attorney representing some residents, said access to city water is important for the future of these communities.

“It brings value to that community, to be able to embrace future development,” she said. “If filtration systems are the only option for those communities, in my perspective, those areas are doomed to long-term economic depression.”

She also said rural communities are at a disadvantage because they don’t have as strong a voice as some more populated areas.

“It is just harder for these more rural communities to organize in the same way,” she said. “I do think there is a low-income, racial component that has prevented the kind of attention and equity for these plants versus the more urban settings.”

Davis saw a doctor about her skin condition initially, but she said none of the creams they prescribed helped clear up her spots.

She was in the process of selling her home when she got her letter. Davis said she feels stuck in a house she can’t sell because of the contaminated well.

She spent a large portion of her retirement savings on fixing up the house, and can’t afford to move until it’s sold. Davis said she feels like she’s in prison.

“I’m not going to say I haven’t been through things, but I can work them out and take care of them,” she said. “But this is non-ending. And I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. And I don’t want to end up this being my final resting place.”

Come back Aug. 14 to see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water.”

The post North Carolina residents struggle with well contamination appeared first on Troubled Water.

Brady is known as the “heart of Texas” because it sits at the geographic center of the state. This tiny, rural town is home to 5,400 residents. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

BRADY, Texas – Tony Groves cannot get clean drinking water for his city.

Brady, a historic city proudly known as the “heart of Texas,” has the second-most contamination violations in the country from the radium that has seeped into its drinking water for decades, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And this tiny, rural community is running out of options to fix the problem.

The radium is naturally occurring in the Hickory Aquifer, the city’s only drinking water source. Groves, Brady’s mayor, knows concerns of cancer, kidney damage and birth defects from the radium drive many residents to buy case after case of bottled water.

“There’s a lot of bottled water sold in Brady to different people, both for convenience of drinking the water and for concern,” Groves said. “I drink the (tap) water. It’s just a matter of personal integrity, I guess, that says ‘I can’t get you any better water than this, so I’m gonna drink the same water you’re drinking.’”

In fact, water bottles are just a way of life for many of Brady’s 5,400 residents. Children take water bottles to school every day so they do not have to drink from the fountains.

“The kids are aware,” said Angie Borrego, a first grade teacher at Brady Elementary School and lifelong Brady resident. “There will be times when the kids will leave (their water bottle) at home, and they’ll be like, ‘Oh gosh, I don’t have my water, and I’m not going to go to the water fountain,’ because they are drilled that this water is not safe.”

The “Clean Water For Texas” sign is displayed outside of Brady’s water treatment plant. Brady has the second-highest number of contaminant violations for the naturally occurring radium in its drinking water. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

The city made progress in correcting the problem by building a system to mix its groundwater with water from the nearby Brady Lake. However, the success was short lived as a multiyear drought nearly dried up the lake, forcing the city to shut down its $20 million investment in 2015.

The radium levels spiked once again, violations poured in and notices went out with the water bills month after month. The notices became so common, some residents said they just throw them out.

“We’ve gotten a lot of notices from the city saying that the amounts of radium or the amounts of whatever – honestly, I haven’t even read them. I just know it’s bad, “ said Melissa Regeon, a Brady resident and a teacher’s aide at Brady High School.

Since the drought, the city has been planning a $22 million water system overhaul to finally bring clean water to residents. However, the state considers Brady an “economically distressed area” because its median household income is far below average. The city’s economy relies heavily on hunting at local ranches and fracking sands sales from mines surrounding the area.

“That makes us eligible for grants, so funds are very significant in paying for that project,” Groves said. “Otherwise, we would be severely financially impacted by doing this process.”

Brady set its sights on Texas’s Economically Distressed Areas Program, a $250 million fund distributing $50 million every two years to help cities such as Brady afford major infrastructure projects.

City officials hoped the grant would cover, at best, 85 percent of the water system project. However, three things stand in the way of the funds: Brady is not the only applicant city. This $50 million is the program’s final allocation. And state senate committees have rejected a bill to renew the program’s budget.

Amy Greer, a local farmer at Winters Family Beef, walks on her ranch’s property line. Greer’s family is working with city officials to prepare easements for a new water system. (Photo by Elizabeth Sims/News21)

“If we don’t get it this time, and the state doesn’t reauthorize that program, I don’t know what we’ll do,” said Amy Greer, a sixth-generation farmer at the locally operated Winters Family Beef.

Her family is collaborating with the city on easement agreements. Part of the plan includes upgrading the aging distribution pipes throughout the community if the funds for the project come through.

“I really want our state legislators to know how terrible it is that they are not renewing a program that will help small rural communities face and tackle these kind of massive health and safety problems,” Greer said. “I’m just ashamed of them.”

Texas legislators deferred the final allocation to the state’s 2019 budget, further complicating matters for the city – already under a strict timeline from the EPA to fix its radium problem. Greer worries the EPA will take over the system entirely or the city will end up with no water, but Groves stands by the city’s ability to take care of residents.

“Nobody understands their problems better than we do, so nobody can figure out a solution better than we can,” Groves said.

Groves said the city will find another way to get funding if the grant falls through, and he is confident residents will support their efforts to provide clean water, even if water rates have to go up.

“If it needs it, we’re all for it. Let’s go. Giddy up,” said Joe Evridge, a Brady resident and co-owner of D and J’s Good Ole Days Antiques and Oddities. “How are they going to pay for all that? They’ve got to go get some revenue somewhere. So there’ll be an adjustment, I’m sure. But that’s just life. Deal with it. What can you do?”

The post ‘Heart of Texas’ struggles to overcome radium contamination in water appeared first on Troubled Water.

Experts say Cape Cod’s sandy soils make the groundwater especially susceptible to contamination, a factor in Hyannis’ recent contamination that resulted in a 2016 drinking water health advisory. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

HYANNIS, Mass. – When Hyannis officials discovered that unacceptable levels of contaminants from firefighting foam had leaked into the city’s water supply, they took action.

Officials immediately provided cases of water to 18,000 residents of the Cape Cod community and spent $6 million to install an activated carbon filtration system. Now, they are cleaning the contamination site.

Phil Brown, a professor of sociology and health sciences at Northeastern University, praised the response after the city discovered the contamination in 2007.

“The local government has been incredibly responsive,” Brown said. “They’ve done their best to use a filtration system, to educate people and to come speak to public forums to help people understand that they are doing a lot working to shut down (contaminated) wells in the community.”

Brown leads the university’s Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute and recently worked with the Environmental Working Group, a national organization specializing in toxic chemicals research, to create a national interactive map that cross references the locations of public water systems with known per- and substance contamination. These substances, man-made and toxic to humans, prove difficult to remove from the environment and are found in a variety of stain-resistant, waterproof and non-stick products.

The map combines federal drinking water data with documented cases of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination from manufacturing plants, military air bases, civilian airports and fire training sites, according to the project’s website.

“A lot of (regulation) does have to be done at the local level because local water districts are where we’re measuring a lot of this,” Brown said. “We’re actually very pleased to see the level of interest by the local government.”

But some Hyannis residents hesitate to drink the tap water, which officials have deemed safe.

“After the whole Flint thing, I woke up one morning, and they said the Hyannis Water System is contaminated, too, so we have to lay off (the water) until they fix it,” resident Calvin Wiggins said.

Calvin Wiggins has lived in Hyannis, a community in Cape Cod, for 20 years. He buys bottled water for drinking because he doesn’t trust the water there. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

Wiggins, who moved to Hyannis from Jamaica 20 years ago, said he continues to buy bottled water for drinking but uses the tap water for showering and washing dishes.

“It is a little expensive to buy bottled water. But at the same time, you’ve got to work it into your budget,” Wiggins said. “You’ve got to pay for the water anyway, so add a little more to it. I make sure I’m on the safer track.”

Wiggins said he moved to Hyannis to achieve economic prosperity. He relied on his tailoring experience in Jamaica and now owns and operates his own upholstery company while working as a part-time musician. Known as the “Capital of the Cape,” Hyannis leads Cape Cod’s commercial and transportation sectors while capitalizing on its summertime tourist industry.

Experts say Cape Cod’s sandy soils make the groundwater especially susceptible to contamination, a factor in Hyannis’ recent contamination that resulted in a 2016 drinking water health advisory.

“Cape Cod is a deposit of a glacier 15,000 years ago and basically comprised of sand outwash and a sandy deposit,” said Thomas Cambareri, director of water resources for the Cape Cod Commission. “It’s very porous, highly permeable sands that comprise Cape Cod.”

Cambareri, a hydrogeologist, said the county is trying to better understand the contamination and how to effectively clean it up.

The Silent Spring Institute first discovered these emerging contaminants on Cape Cod in 2009, but they didn’t reach unacceptable levels until the EPA raised its standards. The institute concluded the contamination in Hyannis came from aqueous film-forming foam, commonly used at military bases and firefighting academies. These findings helped researchers and officials determine the source of the contamination: the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy.

Laurel Schaider, a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute who has tested Hyannis water, said the contamination problem is twofold.

“When we talk about the firefighting foams getting into the wells, that’s related to environmental contamination. When the foams are used, they can run off into the soils and then ultimately percolate down into the groundwater,” Schaider said. “When we’re talking about household wastewater, we know that (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are used in many household items, such as stain-resistant carpets, furniture and nonstick cookware.”

Brown said researchers have a long way to go.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done in green chemistry to find chemical alternatives that are safer,” Brown said.

In addition to finding chemical alternatives, Hyannis is exploring other ways to help ensure residents are drinking safe water.

“One approach is the trend toward more municipal water supplies,” said Mark Forest, chairman of the Cape Cod Conservation District.

While less than 20 percent of residents rely on private wells, Forest said they can better ensure their safety by hooking up to the municipal water supply.

Forest praised the Cape’s advancements thus far, highlighting one development being tested at the Joint Base Cape Cod military site.

Mark Forest, chairman of the Cape Cod Conservation District, praised the response to water contamination in the area. (Photo by Rachel Konieczny/News21)

“One innovative way of dealing with this (contamination) is called permeable reactive walls,” Forest said. “What the wall does is it sort of intercepts pollution as it moves along the surface or just below the surface of groundwater.”

According to the EPA, the walls will be introduced once data from the military site has been collected and analyzed.

Barnstable County Administrator Jack Yunits, who oversees the fire training academy, said the academy stopped using the foam in 2007 after learning of its potential harm. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said studies have suggested that exposure could cause cancer and low birth weights in infants.

“Now we’re in the process of cleaning up the site,” Yunits said. “We’ve removed a lot of the contaminated soils, and we have a treatment system out there where we try to grab the water before it gets to the wells and run it back.”

Yunits said he hopes the federal government better regulates these emerging contaminants.

“I just wish they’d deal with it like they did with the Agent Orange problem and start to address people’s concerns,” Yunits said. “I don’t think (these contaminants are) going to be an epidemic of proportion that Agent Orange was if we control it. But if it starts to become a problem for mothers and kids, then we’ve got an issue.”

In June, Barnstable County agreed to pay the town of Barnstable $2.95 million for reimbursement associated with the contamination from the chemicals used in the firefighting foam at the academy. The town of Barnstable, Hyannis’ neighbor to its north, owns the academy. Both the town of Barnstable and the county have filed separate lawsuits against the foam manufacturers, including industrial giant 3M. The lawsuits are currently in federal court, Yunits said.

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