Spencer Town Manager Larry Smith issued the following statement in relation to Monday’s report that the EPA has placed Spencer on a list of communities most threatened by coal ash storage ponds, such as those at the Buck Steam Station along the Yadkin River:
“The town of Spencer obviously does not take issue with the EPA’s report about coal ash basins in the United States.
“It very much needs to be clarified on a local level, however, that the town of Spencer is simply the nearest community with which to identify the Buck Plant geographically. The absolute farthest points of the town of Spencer’s actual corporate and planning limits are almost a full mile upstream of the Buck Plant on the Yadkin River.
“So although we are assured that Duke Energy has comprehensive monitoring, maintenance and inspection programs in place to ensure the structural integrity of each of their ash basin dams, we share that assurance just the same as our other member communities within Rowan County.”