RALEIGH -- A North Carolina Senate Committee Monday afternoon is meeting to review their own version of a measure that would require Duke Energy to clean up its coal ash ponds throughout the state. NC Sen. Tom Apodoca says the legislation on the table for review would require that the power company either close or cap the wet storage ponds at 14 active and shuttered power plants.

The bill being reviewed by the Senate Agricultural, Environment and Natural Resources Committe would require Duke Energy to close all of its coal ash dumps across the state within 15 years, and orders the company to stop pumping its ash into water-filled pits by the end of 2019.

In another development related to coal ash, N.C. A&T researchers have developed a 'miracle material' that’s lightweight, waterproof, fire resistant, anti-corrosive and nontoxic. Oh, yeah, it also deflects explosions. And, perhaps most notably, the stuff is 95 percent coal ash.