".....Fountain takes the helm at a critical time as Duke undertakes a multibillion dollar project of cleaning up more than 150 million tons of coal ash steeping at 14 sites in the state. These ash repositories have no liners and are contaminating local groundwater and some drinking wells. The state legislature in 2014 directed Duke to move ash from four sites that lawmakers deemed high-priority to lined landfills by August 2019. Duke is reviewing which sites will require removal of the ash to off-site lined landfills and which sites can host lined landfills....."