The failure Sunday of a 48-inch storm water pipe at a coal-fired power plant's ash settling basin near Eden, N.C. released water and solids into the Dan River that can be expected to contain arsenic, selenium and other toxic and radioactive materials. Avner VengoshProfessor of geochemistry, Duke University.vengosh@duke.eduhttp://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/avnervengosh/Vengosh has studied coal ash contamination in lakes and rivers throughout North Carolina as well as the catastrophic failure of a TVA ash basin in Eastern Tennessee in 2008.Quote:"Even without a spill, these settling ponds have been releasing continuous contamination into the rivers downstream from coal-fired power plants."