Coal Ash Cleanup: SCE&G Exceeds Schedule

According to a recent report under a settlement agreement with conservation groups, South Carolina Electric & Gas removed over 600,000 tons of coal ash from its lagoons on the Catawba-Wateree River near Columbia, South Carolina, by the end of 2014. 

A settlement of litigation brought by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation obligates SCE&G to remove all the coal ash from its lagoons by the end of 2020 to dry, lined storage away from the river or for appropriate recycling.

“SCE&G’s progress shows that utilities can clean up their unlined, leaking, dangerous riverside coal ash lagoons,” said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represented the Foundation in the litigation. “The Catawba-Wateree River and the people who depend upon it are safer today because of the removal of this ash.”

The 600,000 tons represent one-quarter of the ash that was in the lagoons. Over 100,000 tons were removed during the last six months of 2014.