Last week, Duke Energy, the nation’s largest electric power company pleaded guilty in federal court to illegal pollution for discharging ash and water from leaking coal-ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. The company’s plea to nine misdemeanor counts involved violations of the Clean Water Act was part of a negotiated settlement with federal prosecutors. According to the Greensboro News & Record, Duke confessed to a pattern of negligence in handling coal ash that spanned 35 years and included disregarding several warnings from its own employees that could have prevented last year’s Dan River spill. U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard imposed $102 million in fines and restitution as he accepted the utility’s guilty plea to nine criminal misdemeanors linked to the February 2014 spill and to less-overt misdeeds at four other plants with leaking or improperly maintained coal ash storage ponds.
