WATER
continued from page 2
contains chemicals like arsenic
and mercury. These chemicals
can be harmful in higher con
centrations, Diaz said. After the
coal ash spill at the Kingston
Fossil Plant, the EPA sampled
the water and found elevated
levels of arsenic in surface wa-
ter.
North Carolina ranks ninth
in the country in coal ash pro
duction at more than 5.5 mil
lion tons per year, according to
Earthjustice, another environ
mental nonprofit organization
that pushes for stricter regula
tions on coal ash disposal.
Chemicals from industrial
waste often seep into ground-
water, Diaz said, but water
treatment plants have tests and
processes to make sure wa
ter does not get to residential
homes. She said her worries
lean more toward environmen
tal destruction.
The North Carolina Depart
ment of Environment and
Natural Resources closely
monitors water treatment labo
ratories, making sure the water
consistently meets standards,
according to Brenna Cook, a
laboratory supervisor at the
North Fork treatment plant
in Asheville. Their technolo
gy, although not sophisticated,
accurately tests for levels of
many different harmful chemi
cals, Cook said.
“We do have to monitor our
entry points - the water leaving
the plants every year - for inor
ganic materials, and we never
have a hit on any metals like
arsenic,” Cook said.
North Carolina has 37 coal
ash holding ponds or landfills
from 14 coal-fired plants. Of
those holding ponds, the EPA
considers 29 of them to be high
hazard. High hazard means
a dam failure like the one in
Roane County, Tenn., in 2008
and would most likely cause
death and economic and envi
ronmental damage or loss, ac
cording to the EPA. Buncombe
"Basically, the apple core you throw
in your trashcan has more regulation
around it than the coal ash."
Sandra Diaz
campaign coordinator for Appalachian Voices
County’s Progress Energy Lake
Julian Plant operates two of
those high hazard ponds.
“The pollutants coming from
the smokestacks (at the Lake
Julian plant) are not as high as
they used to be, but matter is
neither created nor destroyed
so the pollution has to go some
where, and more of the pollu
tion is going into these ponds,”
Diaz said.
State regulations impact
residential trash disposal more
than industrial waste disposal,
according to Diaz. Many of the
regulations for coal combus
tion are outdated and do not
adequately protect the environ
ment, she said.
“Basically, the apple core
you throw in your trashcan has
more regulation around it than
the coal ash, which contains
a host of toxic heavy metals
just sitting there by the river,
so that’s something we would
obviously like to see change,”
Diaz said.
Although a coal ash hold
ing pond failure in Buncombe
County could be deadly, Gary
Higgins, the director of the
Buncombe County Soil and
Water Conservation District,
said coal ash causes less water
pollution than sediment and
soil erosion.
“The pollutant we deal with
mainly is sediment, which is
the largest pollutant in North
Carolina rivers and streams, by
volume and probably by impact
as well,” Higgins said. “With
those soil particles you have a
variety of pesticides and fertil
izers that get in the stream.”
Higgins, a Buncombe County
native, said the state regulates
industrial waste more than it
does soil erosion and farm
land waste. The Soil and Water
Conservation District mostly
deals with agricultural issues
such as soil erosion and run-off
from farmlands. They imple
ment management practices to
protect land and water through
incentive-based programs.
With the work of Appalachian
Voices and other nonprofit envi
ronmental organizations, Diaz
said people will hopefully learn
how to navigate the political
systems despite the opposition
from coal-fired plants.
“That feeling of helplessness
is a pretty big motivator for
people to get involved in the is
sues,” Diaz said. “If we don’t
have clean air and water, then
the other issues really don’t
matter.”
EGYPT
continued from page 3
seats in the parliamentap' elec
tion because of lack of poll i-
cal organization. The Supreme
Constitutional Court later dis
solved the newly elected par
liament after the mandatory
independents switched to the
Brotherhood after the election,
said Traboulsi, a Lebanon na-
“Tbe big election happened in
June 2012 for the presidential
elections. For the first round,
there were several candidates,
but it ended up with two can
didates. One is Ahmed Shafik,
who is secular, but he used to
be a minister under Mub^ak,
Traboulsi said. “ A lot of peo
ple, even secular youth, oppo
sition, everyone, sided back to
the Muslim Brotherhood can
didate, and that’s how the Mus
lim Brotherhood won.’
The Supreme Court swore in
Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim
Brotherhood candidate. Fol
lowing his election, Morsi took
back control over the Supreme
Court of the Armed Forces,
which played a large role in the
transitional period of the revo
lution after Mubarak’s resigna
tion, Traboulsi said.
"Youth movements are important
often as instigators to political change,
but they have less staying power than
some more established institutions."
Linda Cornett
UNCA politicai science chair
“One of the players among
those remnants is the Supreme
Court of the Armed Forces,
who are still active,” Traboulsi
said. “During the revolution,
they were neutral. They were
trying to mediate, not to attack
the protestors, but at the same
time, protecting the state insti
tutions. After the revolution
when they became in power,
they played a role in ferment
ing tension between Christians
and Muslims.”
After the revolution, instanc
es of police brutality continued
on civilians, causing more pro
tests, Traboulsi said.
“There are outside parties that
have an interest in this. So he
has to be sensitive, too, to how
the international community
is viewing what’s going on,”
Cornett said. “I think his most
immediate interest, though, is
getting control of the violence
in the country.”
Although the Muslim Broth
erhood remains the most orga
nized party in the revolution,
other groups play a crucial role
in the unfolding events, includ
ing the Al-Nur party and the
April 6 Youth Movement, who,
stalled the revolution, Traboul
si said.
“The other very interesting
groups are the Ultras of the
Ahly soccer team, and the Ul
tras are the most feared of the
opposition, because the Ultras
are a group of soccer fans. They
have nothing to do with poli
tics,” Traboulsi said. “When
the revolution started on Jan.
25, the Ultras were one of the
first to go into the streets.”
On Feb. 1,2012, at a game in
Port Said between the Ahly and
Masry soccer teams, the Masry
Ultras locked some of the Ahly
Ultras in the stadium, and sent
Masry thugs in with swords and
other weapons, where almost
80 Ahly Ultras died, with no
resistance from police. Twen
ty-two Masry Ultras received
the death sentence, after which
protests broke out in Port Said,
Traboulsi said.
“Port Said went out of the
control of the state, which led
Morsi to announce a state of
emergency again, after it was
lifted in 2012, resulting in a
complete uprising against him,
because here, we’re back, Mor
si’s playing the same game as
Mubar^,” said Traboulsi, who
speaks English, Arabic and
French and studied Persian.
Even within the past two
weeks, new opposition groups
continue to form. The Egyp
tian Black Block Anarchists are
under state scrutiny.
They wear masks and nei
ther state nor press knows their
identity, much to the concern
of Morsi’s administration, Tra
boulsi said.
“There’s a lot of optimism
that things will be better in the
end, but there’s a lot of anxiety
that things could get worse be
fore they get better,” Cornett
said
TOPLESS
continued from page 2
said he and Moffitt diverge when
it comes to the philosophical ap
proach to governance, and this
is making the Republican Party
look bad, as if it is the most im
portant item on the agenda. He
does not want the party to shoot
itself in the foot.
“When you pass a law to ad
dress a loeal issue like this state
wide, that’s big governance. I
disagree with that. More pressure
should have been put on the city
and the county to do something.
If you’re going to be a conserva
tive Republican, be one,” Mum-
power said of Moffitt.
Bothma said the mentality
behind all of this is a need to
eontrol women and their bodies.
She said she does not understand
why Moffitt does not have some
thing better to do with his time,
like working with the economy.
“I think that this is another
example of how we demonize
women and their bodies and
sexualize them. In most parts of
the world, there isn’t this kind of
conservative attitude towards nu
dity, especially breasts,” Bothma
said. “They’re boobs. It’s not a
big deal.”