Duke Energy plead guilty to nine federal misdemeanors related to illegally discharging pollution from coal ash ponds in North Carolina on Thursday afternoon, and agreed to pay $102 million in fines and restitution. ....
Coal ash swirls on the surface of the Dan River.
CREDIT: AP Photo/Gerry Broome
....Duke, the nation’s largest electricity company, had already worked out a plea bargain with the federal government at the time of the charges, and Thursday’s proceeding finalized the deal. It also stood as a reminder of the damage caused by the company’s environmental negligence.
As the Associated Press reported, Judge Malcolm Howard went through each of the misdemeanors individually, asking Julia Janson, the company’s chief legal officer, if the company had engaged in each action. After responding “yes” to each instance she then replied “softly” that Duke was indeed pleading guilty to each count.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/0 ... pollution/
The money can't be charged to rate payers, but, of course, no one goes to jail even though gross negligence was involved. Like nuclear waste, nobody is quite sure what to do with this stuff:
After Toxic Ash Spill, Energy Company And Locals Struggle Over Solution
When utility companies burn coal to make electricity — and it generated 39 percent of U.S. energy in 2013 — it leaves behind ash that can contain arsenic, selenium, boron and many other toxic substances.
For decades, that ash simply has been buried in pits near the power plants and covered with water. Now, in North Carolina, it's become a multibillion dollar problem. After a massive spill into the Dan River last year, the state ordered Duke Energy to clean up more than 100 million tons of stored coal ash, and the company has drawn up a plan that involves transporting it to two abandoned clay mines in Lee County.....
more: http://www.npr.org/2015/03/18/393672334 ... r-solution
It doesn't escape me that most of those objecting to "solutions" and consequences are grid customers.....
