Neighbors Say New Dust Screen at Cane Run Isn't Working

Neighborhood residents say a dust screen that was installed last weekat Louisville Gas and Electric’s Cane Run Power Station isn’t working.A videotaken this weekend by neighborhood residents shows clouds of dust billowing over and around the 50-foot-tall screen the company installed near its sludge processing plant.Greg Walker lives across the street from the plant, and shot the video.“It’s ridiculous that a neighborhood has to police a company that size,” he said. “I don’t understand it.”Walker says it felt like sand was pelting him as the dust moved off of LG&E’s property.LG&E spokeswoman Chris Whelan says Saturday’s events aren’t indicative of how the screen will operate in typical weather.“We had a heck of a storm the other night,” she said. “We had winds in excess of 40 miles an hour.”Whelan added that the company believes the dust in the video originated from LG&E’s roads inside the perimeter of the plant and did not include coal ash. She says LG&E is looking into the matter.The company recently settled two other coal ash violationswith Metro Government, paying $22,500 in penalties and donations.Last week, Tom Nord of the Air Pollution Control District noted the company wasn’t required to install the dust screenby Metro Government, and he couldn’t say whether it would be effective. Nord says regulators have seen the recent videos and continue their investigation into the ongoing complaints near the site.