RALEIGH, N.C. — The nation’s largest electric company is negotiating with North Carolina’s environment agency over a $6.6 million fine to punish Duke Energy for a big spill of liquefied coal ash.
Attorneys for both sides said delaying Monday’s hearing may help resolve the disputed fine for polluting the Dan River in 2014. Duke Energy Corp. has called the proposed fine disproportionate and arbitrary.
Spokeswomen for the company and the state Department of Environmental Quality declined comment on the negotiations.
Duke Energy also objected last year when the agency sought an unprecedented $25 million fine for persistent groundwater pollution at the closed Sutton power plant in Wilmington.
The agency later reduced that fine to $7 million and agreed it would cover groundwater contamination at all 14 coal-burning plants in North Carolina. Environmental groups called that a sweetheart deal for the company where Republican Pat McCrory had worked for nearly three decades before running for governor.
McCrory’s environmental agency said it was forced to reduce the fine because of a policy adopted under McCrory’s Democratic predecessor that favors offenders taking corrective action over paying fines.
Attorneys for Duke Energy said DEQ has again exceeded its authority “in an effort to ratchet up the Dan River penalty to a newsworthy amount.”
North Carolina officials began pursuing stronger regulations and enforcement of coal ash after a pipe burst at a holding pit at Duke Energy’s power plant in Eden in 2014, coating 70 miles of the Dan River in more than 30,000 tons of sludge.
Coal ash — what’s left after burning coal for electricity — can contain toxic chemicals including arsenic, chromium and lead.
Duke Energy denies that the 112 million tons of coal ash in its 33 storage pits are polluting water supplies.
