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Coal ash is the waste that remains when coal is burned. It is usually collected in a dump, known as a pond. North Carolina has more than 30 such sites in 14 different locations across the state. A pipe running under one of the ponds run by Duke Energy in Eden NC ruptured in February of 2014. The coal ash spilled, largely affecting the Dan River which flows into Virginia. The spill is the third largest of its kind in U.S. history.Many see potential complications because North Carolina's governor, Pat McCrory, worked for Duke Energy for 28 years.

NC Gov. Pat McCrory Sues General Assembly Leaders Over Separation Of Powers

Pat McCrory
Dave DeWitt

Governor Pat McCrory has filed a suit against House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate Leader Phil Berger, saying he's trying to stop them from usurping executive powers.

The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, alleges violations of the separation of powers, executive power, and appointments provisions of the state Constitution, the Raleigh News & Observer reported. Former governors Jim Hunt, a Democrat, and Jim Martin, a Republican, joined McCrory in the filing.

Most visibly, McCrory is taking issue with a commission that will oversee the state's 32 coal ash ponds. The governor says he should have been able to name more members of the commission, which met Friday morning for the first time.

Lawmakers have also considered creating an independent commission to oversee the Medicaid system, effectively taking away that oversight from the governor and his Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos.

"These commissions make government less accountable to the will of the people," McCrory said in a statement Thursday. "Citizens and voters must be able to distinguish which branch of government is responsible for making the laws and which branch is responsible for carrying out the laws and operating state government."

McCrory, Berger and Tillis are Republicans, but they have publicly disagreed over these commissions, the state budget and teacher pay. Berger and Tillis say these commissions are meant to be independent, and that they have the constitutional right to create them.

"The General Assembly’s right to appoint members to independent boards – which are beholden to no single appointing authority and provide truly independent oversight – is far from new and has long been upheld by our state Supreme Court," they said in a joint statement Thursday. "The governor’s costly and time-consuming lawsuit to ensure he picks the majority of regulatory board members ignores history and detracts from their important work."

Jorge Valencia has been with North Carolina Public Radio since 2012. A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Jorge studied journalism at the University of Maryland and reported for four years for the Roanoke Times in Virginia before joining the station. His reporting has also been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald, and the Baltimore Sun.
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