By Deborah Graham

Special to the Post

Looking over the Duke Energy website while waiting on a return call for water, I noticed their “commitment to ethics” statement.

“It reads “Acting with honesty and integrity is a core value of Duke Energy. It applies to the behavior of everyone in the organization as well as the board of directors. And, it applies to our relationships with everyone, including customers, suppliers and public officials. We recognize the essential nature of our service and our special accountability to conduct our business at high standards of performance and transparency. In the long run, our company’s business success depends on our ability to earn trust and confidence daily with our many stakeholders.”

Knowing that Duke Energy has dumped toxic waste as my neighbor for over 60 years in the unlined ground ponds and now saying that their company has nothing to do with the contamination, is just not being a good neighbor. The way Duke Energy continues to treat the people who live around all their coal ash locations does not follow their own ethics statement.

Some families have gotten water since November of last year, along with information on vanadium from Duke Energy, but the company continues to say they are not guilty and the contamination is not coming from the unlined ponds that are here in my community.

Duke is doing a groundwater study of the area, assigned by Duke, researched by Duke and paid for by Duke. Do you really think they will come back and say they are guilty? Duke Energy has a proven record of adamantly denying any wrongdoing for years, but finally conceding that about 200 leaks at its ash dumps statewide together ooze out more than 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater each day. Again, that took years for Duke to finally admit any wrongdoings. And, it’s just one of the many finding of news articles where Duke Energy is listed over coal ash pollution.

Just be honest. We all make mistakes. Do the right thing for the betterment of all.

As a resident of Dukeville who has a contaminated well which the State of North Carolina tells me not to drink or use, I look to Duke to do the right thing and stand by their own ethics commitment. Their company success depends on their ability to earn trust and confidence with everyone, including customers. It is time for Duke Energy to read and understand its own ethics statement and apply it to being a good neighbor.

Deborah B Graham lives in the Dukeville area.