Public Radio for the Piedmont and High Country
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

EPA plans environmental justice listening session in Rockingham County

The Dan River near Eden, North Carolina. KERI BROWN/WFDD

The Environmental Protection Agency will hold a listening session Thursday night in Rockingham County to collect public input, as it develops limits on polluted water released by power plants.

Federal regulators are considering revisions to the Steam Electric Power Generating Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards.

The EPA updated limits for coal-fired power plants in 2015 and 2020. The focus now is on updating standards for different types of polluted water released from these sites.

As part of the process, the EPA is conducting an environmental justice analysis to look at pollution exposure for potentially affected communities.

Steven Pulliam is the Dan Riverkeeper. He says it's hard to forget the major coal ash spill in the waterway in 2014 or the fight for coal ash cleanup in the Belews Creek area. He says the meeting is a rare opportunity for the community to share its thoughts.

“This is a safe place that you can speak your mind for things that you are concerned about whether it be from a power plant or not," he says. "If it's a concern of water quality in general, the EPA is willing to listen at this meeting.”

The meeting will take place from 6 - 7:30 p.m. in the Lakeside Special Events Center at Carolina Marina on Belews Lake in Stokesdale. It will also be held online.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

Support quality journalism, like the story above,
with your gift right now.

Donate