Duke Energy pleaded guilty Thursday for spilling nearly 40,000 tons of coal ash into a river in North Carolina and for polluting other rivers in the state. The utility faces more than $100 million in fines for violating the Clean Water Act.
For years, environmental groups lobbied the government to regulate coal ash, a byproduct from coal-fired power plants. Coal ash can contain toxic materials, including arsenic, mercury and lead. And there have been other high-profile accidents. Now a new rule from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is about to go into effect, but it may not change much about how coal ash is handled in Georgia.
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