Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a bill today that will increase inspections of high hazard coal ash ponds in North Carolina.

“Because of potential risk posed by the location of North Carolina’s coal ash ponds, we must provide greater oversight and more frequent inspections,” Perdue said in a statement. “This legislation will keep our citizens safer and our dams more secure.”

The Environmental Protection Agency has identified 12 coal ash dams in North Carolina, the most of any state in the country, reports Rob Christensen.

The issue drew attention because a dam burst in Tennessee last year, causing five million cubic yard of sludge containing many metals to escape.

Power companies dispose of their coal ash by mixing it with water and pumping it into ponds near their power plants.

Currently, power companies are only required to file reports every five years by private engineers on the structural conditions of the dams.

The new law, sponsored by Rep. Pricey Harrison, a leading environmentalist from Greensboro, and Sen. David Hoyle, a major voice for business from Gastonia, requires a state inspection every two years.

* A proposal to subject power companies’ coal ash ponds to more government oversight cleared a key committee last week and appears on a fast track to become law before summer’s end. (G-N&R)

* Beer tastings are headed to a grocery near you. (N&O) 

* The state expects to have enough vaccine for the H1N1 influenza for everybody in North Carolina by the time the fall flu season arrives. (N&O)

* The nation's governors fear the federal government is about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations through a health care bill without providing the money to pay for them. (NYT)

Gov. Beverly Perdue is pushing a bill that would increase oversight of coal ash ponds.

North Carolina is home to 12 potentially high-hazard ponds of the sludge byproduct of coal-fired electric plants, more than any other state. The EPA's high-hazard designation means people would probably die if a dam failed, not that the agency has found structural problems.

The bill would subject the dams that create coal ash ponds to direct inspection by the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“Because of where some of the ponds are located, greater safety oversight and more frequent inspections will help reduce potential risks,” Perdue said in a news release.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, would subject coal ash dams to the state's Dam Safety Act, which would more closely regulate the impoundments and would require a state inspection every two years.