RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s top environmental official said Monday that he briefed Gov. Pat McCrory before intervening in lawsuits against Duke Energy, resulting in a negotiated settlement that fined the $50 billion corporation $99,000 to resolve violations over groundwater contamination leaching from two huge coal ash dumps.
Environmentalists criticized the modest fines as a sweetheart deal that included no requirement to force the nation’s largest electricity provider to actually clean up its pollution.
The state has now put its proposed settlement on hold following the massive Feb. 2 spill from one of Duke’s coal ash dumps into the Dan River, which turned the water cloudy and gray for miles.
State Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary John Skvarla told lawmakers at an oversight hearing that he spoke with the governor before his agency used its regulatory authority to intervene in lawsuits filed by a coalition of environmental groups under the federal Clean Water Act.