News and Observer: A federal judge ordered Duke Energy to pay a record $102 million criminal penalty Thursday for a humbling litany of ignored warnings that preceded last years coal ash spill into the Dan River.
The penalty is the largest criminal fine in North Carolinas federal courts, Senior U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard said in accepting a plea agreement between Duke and prosecutors.
It is our hope this prosecution speaks loudly, said U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker of Raleigh, whose office convened the...