WALNUT COVE – State officials announced they will be taking extra steps to make sure Duke Energy coal ash landfills don’t “negatively impact” minority communities.

In a press released, The Department of Environmental Quality said it will go beyond state and federal requirements. Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder made the announcement at a town hall meeting in Walnut Cove.

“The McCrory administration is a national leader in addressing the decades-old issue of coal ash and continues to set an example for the federal government and other states on this issue,” Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder said. “The McCrory administration will go beyond federal and state requirements to protect minority communities from negative impacts when evaluating Duke Energy’s applications to store coal ash in a new landfill.”

The state environmental department will conduct an environmental justice review of each Duke Energy coal ash landfill application and ask the EPA Office of Civil Rights, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and its North Carolina Advisory Committee to review and approve the environmental justice analysis before the permit is issued. The additional review by outside groups with expertise in environmental justice issues will help ensure Duke Energy’s construction of a landfill will not have an adverse disparate impact on a minority or low income community protected by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.