on february 2, 2014 a drainage pipe burst at a coal ash containment pond owned by duke energy in eden, north carolina, sending 39,000 tons of coal ash into the dan river. in addition to the coal ash, 27 million gallons of wastewater from the plant was released into the river. the broken pipe was left unsealed for almost a week before the draining coal ash was stopped. the ash was deposited up to from the site of the spill and contained harmful metals and chemicals. this catastrophe occurred at the site of the dan river steam station, a retired coal power plant which had ceased operation in 2012. duke energy apologized for the incident and announced detailed plans for removal of coal ash at the dan river site. workers were only able to remove about ten percent of the coal ash that was spilled into the river, but cleanup is ongoing and duke energy plans to spend around 3 million dollars to continue the cleanup efforts.