Duke Energy Sued for 2014 Coal Ash Spill Environmental Harm
The Associated Press reports that federal, North Carolina and Virginia governments asked a court Thursday to declare the country’s largest electricity company liable for environmental damage from a leak five years ago that left miles of a river shared by the two states coated in hazardous coal ash.
The AP’s Emery P. Dalesio writes: “Government lawyers sought to have Charlotte-based Duke Energy declared responsible for harming fish, birds, amphibians and the Dan River bottom. Hazardous substances like arsenic and selenium poured into the river at levels high enough to harm aquatic life, according to a complaint filed in the North Carolina federal court district near the site of the 2014 disaster.”
Duke Energy pleaded guilty to federal environmental crimes in 2015 and agreed to pay $102 million.
