Tests to show water safety after coal ash spill in North Carolina

By Colleen Jenkins WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) – As many as 82,000 tons of ash have spilled into a river after a pipe break at a retired coal plant in North Carolina, and environmental officials said on Thursday that preliminary water quality tests showed no violations of state standards. “The Dan River does not have a clean bill of health,” said Tom Reeder, director of the North Carolina Division of Water Resources. The ash release was discovered on Sunday at a Duke Energy power plant in Eden. The company said the broken stormwater pipe under a 27-acre ash pond released enough coal ash to fill between 20 and 32 Olympic-size swimming pools.