Newly released emails are adding more fuel to a controversy over tainted water near Duke Energy coal ash pits. The emails show that a North Carolina state official challenged the McCrory administration on the quality of the state's well water.
Last year, State Toxicologist Scott Rudo drafted letters advising well owners against using well water for drinking or cooking, pointing to elevated levels of a carcinogen.
But administrators with the state Department of Health and Human Services altered the letters, claiming the water would be considered safe under the federal Safe Water Drinking Act.
The emails show that Rudo removed his name from the do-not-drink letters, insisting that the department's statements were “scientifically untrue.”
The warning letters were issued without Rudo's name on them.
The Winston-Salem Journal reports the emails were obtained through a public-records request by a conservation group.
Rudo recently provided testimony in a deposition related to coal-ash litigation. Duke Energy is moving to have Rudo's statements sealed.
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