Good discussed how Duke Energy would manage its coal ash deposits in the wake of the leak that caused 39,000 tons of coal ash to leak into the Dan River.

Goods defended the company’s response to the coal spill incident and said it would continue to work alongside the EPA as inquiries continued.

At the lunch, Good did not stray far from Duke’s earlier public statements, evading questions that queried the differences between those statements and Duke’s legal positions.

Good insisted that Duke’s future approach would be based on fact and discipline in its long-term strategy to remove its 650 basins across the US.

The 33 basins that are currently operating in North Carolina will be the first on the company’s agenda.

Good said, “effectively dealing with it is going to take science, it's going to take time and it’s going to take engineering”

She went on the say that each site will receive a uniquely engineered solution in order to comply with upcoming EPA regulations.

“We need to make sure that, as we develop solutions, those solutions make sense given where the federal regulation of coal ash is going”, she said.

"Our commitment to our customers in North Carolina is that, as we work through this, we will work through it in a fact-based and disciplined way. This state and its lawmakers have demonstrated ability, over time, to lead on energy policy.

“I think about the early part of the 2000s -the Clean Smokestacks Act was an initiative in North Carolina to really move forward and lead nationally on air quality.

We now have the opportunity for North Carolina and Duke Energy to also lead on policies around ash and ash basins” Good said.

Good confirmed previous statements that said Duke planned to remove ash from ponds at its Riverbend power plant west of Charlotte and from the Dan River plant.

It will continue moving ash from its Asheville plant, while other plants will move to dry-ash handling as outside engineers evaluate the company’s ash operations.