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Although nowhere near as damaging at the Johnston Flood, about two weeks ago some North Carolinians experienced a different sort of flood themselves when a storm water pipe broken beneath one of Duke Energy’s 14 coals ash ponds. Duke Energy reported that 50,000 to 82,000 tons of coal ash and up to 27 million gallons of water were released from a coal ash pond in Eden, about 130 miles northeast of Charlotte. The containments are still flowing into the Dan River. The preliminary reports suggest that the coal ash ponds in North Carolina lack stringent regulations and that the pipe that broke had not been properly maintained. (Sound familiar?) These reports led the New York Times to publish, “North Carolina citizens have good reason to wonder just whom their environmental regulators are trying to protect.” The question now: who are we to blame?
In the case of the Johnstown Flood, I agree with Jean and Catherine, we should hold people accountable. Jean pointed out that using a more structuralist approach we can blame “Ignorance and focus on capital, reputation and pride that a person holds often clouds the vision of doing what is right.” We can also blame the mindset of the people in Johnstown. As Victor Hesier would later recall, “The townspeople, like those who live in the shadow of Vesuvius, grew calloused to the possibility of danger. ‘Sometime’ they thought, ‘that dam will just give way, but it won’t ever happen to us!’ (66).” And if you want to point fingers at someone specific, maybe try Benjamin Ruff, the man in charge of the dam’s restoration.
But with so many running narratives – is it even useful to attribute blame? This is the question that the current North Carolina and federal governments are facing in dealing with the coal ash. Federal prosecutors recently order dozens of subpoenas seeking documents from Duke and the N.C. Department of Environment and National Resources. Critics are also looking to Governor Pat McCrory for appointing businessman John Skvarla as head of the department.
But at the end of the day we must hold people responsible for the coal ash and the Johnston Flood; ignorance is not a good enough excuse. If you are going to intentionally manipulate nature, you better intentionally manage it, if not for the sake of environmentalism, for the people. These two tawdry tales illustrate the need for stricter regulation and enforcement. Why can’t we learn from the past?