Eden Area Moves Forward Amid Coal Ash Concerns

Cities and towns along the Dan River are working hard to promote the safety of the river one year after a massive spill of coal ash turned the river black downstream from a retired Duke Energy plant. But getting the message out hasn't been easy. 

The effort to reassure residents and visitors that the Dan is safe comes against a backdrop of environmental uncertainty. 

Eden is among the small cities along the Dan that owe their existence to the river. Before there were highways or even a reliable train network, the Dan spurred the growth of textile mills by providing a means of shipping by small boats navigating the river's sluices.

That was long ago, in another era. The river is no longer a commercial transportation route, and most of the mills that once sprung up around the river now sit empty.

"Eden was a prosperous community when I moved here in the late 60s – 70s,  we had a very bright future," says T Butler. "Gradually as mills shut down and businesses followed them in leaving the area, Rockingham County - this whole area -  has lost its industrial base."

Butler is a founding member of the Dan River Basin Association. She says the area began to rely on tourism to support the local economy. So when a pipe at a retired Duke Energy plant ruptured, sending nearly 40,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River, it was a kick in the gut.

"We're struggling to figure out the new economy that will bring us back. So as Eden has been working on tourism for example, the idea that the Dan River is a bad place is the very wrong message to send, so it's been difficult for Eden," she says.

A year later, the long-term effects of the spill remain unclear. On the surface, the water and the landscape around the river seem unspoiled. But as much as 90 percent of the ash remains in the river. It is for the most part on the bottom and getting covered with sediment. Still, environmentalists warn that the coal ash contains toxic chemicals including mercury, lead and cadmium.

When tourists don't come, that affects local businesses. Rockingham County says many shops have reported loses in the past-year. Mark Bishopric's is one of them. He's a manager of Three Rivers Outfitters, which arranges canoe and kayak trips for visitors to the area's rivers.

"Our volume business activity was off fairly significantly during times of the year and we hope for that to improve this year," he says.

And for others, the issue is not so much the water but the land surrounding it that is a concern.

Mike Powell is a farmer in Ruffin who also has about 100 acres roughly 4 miles down from where the spill occurred.

"My part of it is if the river does flood and it goes out into the bottoms where I do farm, will it deposit the coal ash," he says. "That's just something we'll have to wait and see. Mother Nature's gonna do the course there, we just don't know."

He says scientists at North Carolina State University are already taking samples from his land so they'll have data to compare it to should a flood occur. As for any uneasiness about the future, Powell says that's all a part of farming.

"You can speculate all you want, but until it happens you just never know. I'm too old to keep worrying about it all the time," he says with a laugh.

So some wait, while others are making their way back to the river. Gordon Allen is a photographer who recently won a grant to showcase the wildlife of the Dan basin. It's part of the effort to get out the message that whatever lies beneath, the river still teems with life, and it's worth seeing.

“I may not be a scientist. All I know is what I see around me. And what I see around me is beautiful," he says.

In the meantime, monitoring of the river continues, and scientists will look to answer the questions about whether or not the toxins found in the coal ash could impact people or wildlife. For people like Cindy Adams, the tourism coordinator for the City of Eden, there's no time to wait for the full answer.