Duke Energy takes coal ash message to public

“Our work on responsible coal ash management continues,” the company wrote in full-page ads that appeared in newspapers from Asheville to Wilmington on Sunday.

And an advertisement was the perfect way for the company to make its case unfiltered by the media, according to one crisis communications expert.

The ad, which also appeared in the News & Record, was written hours after the General Assembly failed last Friday to pass regulations aimed at preventing another accident like the one that dumped up to 39,000 tons of coal ash into the Dan River in February.

Gov. Pat McCrory and Senate and House leaders had called for the legislation after the accident at the retired Dan River Steam Station near Eden.

But conference negotiators could not agree on a final bill so nothing was passed.

Duke didn’t want to remain silent on the issue, a company spokesman said.

“This is a significant development,” Tom Williams said Monday. “We had expected the legislation to be approved, and we wanted to be clear with the customers that none of our work would slow down despite lack of legislation.”

Williams said the company issued a statement on Friday, but advertising is the only way to guarantee that the statement wouldn’t be edited.

“We wanted to make sure that it was in some of the key papers in the state,” he said.

The ad was hard to miss Sunday.

“Although the North Carolina General Assembly adjourned without passing coal ash legislation, our work to address this important issue continues,” the ad said. “And we continue to advance the comprehensive plan we proposed last March.”

One communications expert said going straight to the public was the best thing to do. “If they were doing absolutely nothing, the interpretation would probably be quite negative,” said Lois Boynton, an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC-Chapel Hill.

“Is this going to make everything better? No, but OK, they are expending the effort to communicate with me. It appears they want to take responsibility and they really are trying to fix things,” she said.

The state director of the Sierra Club wasn’t persuaded by the ad.

“North Carolinians and the communities near toxic coal ash pits deserve better,” Molly Diggins wrote in an email. “All of the attention the past six months seemed to signal that a legislative solution was in sight. Sadly, families living near Duke Energy sites are in the exact same place they have been since the February spill — worried about contaminated groundwater and wells.”

Regardless, Boynton said, the worst thing a company can do is to remain silent during a situation with so many variables. Having a plan for every possibility is essential. Duke Energy has to run through every scenario and be ready to communicate its point of view.

That’s what Sunday’s ad was all about.

“Crisis planners,” Boynton said, “are sort of the pessimists in residence.”