This past Thursday, the electricity company pleaded guilty to nine criminal violations of the country's Clean Water Act

May 15, 2015 09:37 GMT  ·  By
US electricity giant Duke Energy pleads guilty to violations of the country's Clean Water Act
   US electricity giant Duke Energy pleads guilty to violations of the country's Clean Water Act

Just yesterday, May 14, Duke Energy, which happens to be the largest electricity company in the US, pleaded guilty to as many as nine criminal violations of the country's Clean Water Act

Specifically, it was three of the company's subsidiaries that admitted to having illegally dumped coal ash in waterways in North Carolina.

As explained by environmental protection officials, coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal for energy, can contain compounds such as selenium, arsenic, mercury, chromium and lead.

It is highly toxic and, therefore, a threat both to the environment and to public health. For this reason, it's supposed to be stored in special ponds.

The Duke Energy subsidiaries charged with environmental crimes by federal prosecutors are guilty of having illegally discharged coal ash from their storage ponds since at least 2010.

Having pleaded guilty to the charges filed against them, the subsidiaries agreed to pay a fine amounting to $68 million (nearly €60 million).

Apart from this fine, they agreed to spend another $34 million (almost €30 million) on initiatives and projects to benefit and protect rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and nearby Virginia.

“Duke Energy's crimes reflect a breach of the public trust and a lack of stewardship for the natural resources belonging to all of the citizens of North Carolina,” said US Attorney Thomas G. Walker.

It was a spill in February 2014 that got Duke Energy in trouble

Federal prosecutors started snooping around the facilities owned and operated by Duke Energy following a major coal ash spill that happened back in February 2014.

This spill occurred when a pipe under a coal ash pond in Eden, North Carolina, ruptured and dumped about 39,000 tons of the toxic material into nearby Dan River.

The coal ash that spilled from the pond was carried by currents and eventually came to coat about 70 miles (over 112 kilometers) of the waterway in a grayish sludge.

This February 2014 coal ash spill caused so much environmental pollution that, of the environmental crimes Duke Energy pleaded guilty to this past Thursday, four were in direct relation to it.

As for the other criminal violations of the US Clean Water Act, officials say that they were discovered after the spill prompted an investigation into the company's working agenda.

“The massive release at the Dan River coal ash basin revealed criminal misconduct throughout the state,” US Attorney Thomas G. Walker told the press in an interview.

As for Duke Energy's take on the Dan River spill and the charges filed against it following this environmental disaster, it looks like the company would much rather see this entire affair as an opportunity to grow.

“We've used the Dan River incident as an opportunity to set a new, industry-leading standard for the management of coal ash,” Duke Energy wrote in a statement.