Down and dirty: the threat from coal ash is not new, but fate dealt the governor a bad hand when his former employer spilled massive amounts in a river on his watch.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CapitalGoods

When a big story or scandal breaks, political observers look beyond the news and ask the most important question: "Has it got legs?" They want to know if it will have lasting ramifications. If so, to what extent? Operating in an environment where even the fairly trivial (anyone remember the Thom Tillis college-credentials flap?) warrants a day or two of coverage, it's easy to get caught up in the moment. Politicians and their handlers may view a bump in their road as Mount Mitchell.

But there are peaks that cannot be scaled without puncturing political dreams. A mountainous upheaval occurred when coal ash started pouring into the Dan River in early February (cover stonj, April). Fair or not, the political career most imperiled by the spill was that of Pat McCrory. Imagine a screenwriter pitching a script to a Hollywood producer. It's the story of a governor facing an environmental catastrophe. With his critics nipping at his heels, the feds launch a criminal investigation. "Here's the kicker," the writer would reveal. "The governor worked most of his life for the company that caused the disaster." He'd probably be laughed out of the office, the producer deeming the plot too contrived.

Sometimes real life feels that way. McCrory worked nearly 30 years for Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corp., which operated the coal-fired Dan River Steam Plant in Rockingham County. The company shut it down in favor of a gas-turbine one a few years ago. But coal ash, in a 27-acre reservoir next to the river, remained. When a pipe under the pond ruptured, at least 35 million gallons of gray sludge laced with toxic metals leaked into the river.

It's not obvious that McCrory, at that point, could have done anything different than he did to improve the situation. His environmental chief, John Skvarla, made public assurances and answered questions. Four days after the spill was made public, McCrory was at the site. He formed a task force to study how to deal with other coal-ash ponds around the state, almost all of them on Duke property. After some initial cautiousness, he berated his old employer. In a letter to CEO Lynn Good, the governor wrote "as a state we will not stand by while coal-ash ponds remain a danger due to their proximity to where so many North Carolinians get their drinking water." On April 16, he proposed legislation to close the lagoons or convert them to landfills.

Of course, he cannot undo the past. The leak had barely been stopped before...