Federal prosecutors investigating Duke Energy’s 82,000-ton coal ash spill

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/13/federal-prosecutors-investigating-duke-energys-82000-ton-coal-ash-spill/



Federal prosecutors investigating Duke Energy’s 82,000-ton coal ash spill
By Reuters
Thursday, February 13, 2014 18:20 EST
By Colleen Jenkins

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors are investigating whether a crime was committed when thousands of tons of coal ash sludge spilled from a Duke Energy power plant in North Carolina in early February into a river that supplies drinking water for nearby towns.

Subpoenas were received this week by Duke Energy, which retired the coal-fired power plant in Eden in 2012, and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources regulator, spokesmen for the two entities said on Thursday.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh ordered officials with the state agency to appear before a grand jury next month with documents related to the spill that began on February 2, according to a copy of the subpoena provided to Reuters by the department.

The spokesman for Duke, which installed a permanent plug at the site to stop releases from the ash basin on February 8, declined to share a copy of the company’s subpoena. He said the utility, the largest electric power provider in the United States, was cooperating with all state and federal investigations.