The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
February 11, 2014

Report: NC Regulators Shielded Duke Energy from Coal Ash Lawsuits 
------------------------------------------------------------------


 
State regulators in North Carolina are facing claims they intentionally
blocked lawsuits against Duke Energy, the company behind one of the
worst coal-ash spills in U.S. history, in order to shield Duke, where
Republican Gov. Pat Mc Crory worked for 28 years. Earlier this month, a
Duke coal-ash pit spilled enough toxic sludge to fill more than 70
Olympic swimming pools. Now, the Associated Press reports that over the
last year, following the election of Mc Crory, North Carolina's
environmental agency blocked lawsuits over Duke's coal-ash pits three
times, eventually shielding all 31 pits from potential lawsuits. The
agency proposed settlements for a fraction of Duke's worth that did not
require Duke to clean up the pits. Beyond his work for Duke, Mc Crory's
campaign and affiliated groups have received more than a million dollars
in recent years from Duke and related groups and individuals. The state
agency has also admitted it wrongly declared arsenic levels in the Dan
River safe after the spill; arsenic in one sample was actually four
times higher than maximum levels for prolonged contact.

 

.