The messages sent by coal-ash penalty

Published May 24, 2015

Editorial by Jacksonville Daily News, May 22, 2015.

Duke Energy is going to pay, and pay heavily, for its admitted negligence regarding coal ash lagoons and the environmental disasters that occurred as a result.

But in larger sense, there is equal importance in the message sent by the case not only to Duke Energy — the nation’s largest electric utility — but to other utilities with coal ash ponds. Federal criminal penalties are not only possible but likely. And the cost in terms of penalties will be high.

Duke Energy will now pay $102 million in fines and restitution after pleading guilty last week in federal court to nine federal misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act. The plea deal was the result of negotiations with federal prosecutors.

In accepting the plea, U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard set in motion a signal that echoes well past the much documented coal ash spill of toxic waste into the Dan River last year. That incident, in which tons of coal ash polluted the Dan River in Eden, spreading into Virginia, touched off the federal probe.

Duke is paying $68 million in fines and $34 million for mitigation. The utility also must set aside $3.4 billion to address all its coal-ash problems at its active and retired power plants in five states, not just at its 14 North Carolina plants. Duke’s handling of the coal ash will be under federal scrutiny, especially during the five years of the company’s probation.

While it’s heartening to see the U.S. Department of Justice take this case seriously, it also pays to remember that this situation was the result not only of Duke’s negligence but negligence by state and federal regulators who allowed it to happen.

While the probe began with the massive ash spill last year from a Duke containment pond in Eden, the federal charges included other plants as well, including the company’s decommissioned plant in Moncure, on the Cape Fear River.

At the Moncure plant, federal investigators said, Duke employees told supervisors in 2011 about a riser pipe that was leaking, but the company did nothing about the leaks for two years. That’s the same plant where last year, the state cited the utility for illegally pumping 61 million gallons of coal-ash wastewater into the Cape Fear.

Duke’s headaches aren’t over with this settlement. Federal officials say they’re considering bringing additional civil actions against the utility, and citizens groups have sued as well.

The company is also fighting a $25 million state fine imposed in March for pollution from its Sutton plant in Wilmington. That represented a newfound enthusiasm for state enforcement of environmental-protection law. In the past, state regulators blocked citizen lawsuits against Duke and imposed fines that were pocket change for a utility that reported $1.9 billion in earnings last year.

Does this case mark a turning point in protecting North Carolinians from toxic spills and corporate indifference? We hope so. But we also hope it will make political and government leaders more wary.

http://www.jdnews.com/opinion/our-opinion/the-messages-sent-by-coal-ash-penalty-1.481914?ot=hmg.PrintPageLayout.ot&print=nophoto

May 24, 2015 at 11:26 am
Norm Kelly says:

Duke obviously failed the citizens of NC and the environment. The state has sued and will supposedly collect huge fines. The feds have piled on and will supposedly collect huge fines.

The blame definitely does not stop with Duke. The responsibility does not stop with Duke. But who is being punished? Duke! Is there more to the story and others who are responsible and should be punished? Of course, but that's not likely to happen.

Why, you may ask, will responsible individuals and groups NOT be held responsible? Because they are government employees. This group is rarely, if ever, held responsible. They don't have to do their job and are allowed to slide by. The facts show that both state and federal regulators refused to do their job. Yet, which state or federal employee who failed to do their job has been punished? Can we expect ANY state or federal employee to be punished for failure to do the job they are paid to do? No. Don't even think about it! This would be a foolish thought and one that might actually get YOU, the thinker, in trouble.

Witness the VA health system. Deplorable service to those most deserving. But, typical of both government and socialism, virtually NO responsibility or punishment.

Witness the group of federal employees who spent hours & hours & hours doing NOTHING on the job but viewing porn on their office computer. Wasting not just valuable tax-payer resources by not doing their job, but actually having the audacity to view porn at WORK!

Witness the gun-running fiasco in Mexico/Texas. Americans died. Which federal employee was punished? Then think about which federal employees who were involved in the fiasco that were PROMOTED. Not just deadly to citizens, but costing even more because the promotion didn't just create a higher income for the perp, but it will garner a larger retirement for the perp. No punishment! Reward instead!

Private citizens are referred to as 'stupid' by the community organizer unqualified occupant. But government employees at all levels appear to KNOW without doubt that they are protected for life in their positions. They seem to KNOW without doubt that they don't even have to do their job in order to keep their pay coming in. And if they fail miserably enough, they just might get promoted.

So, the proper follow-up for media types in NC is to follow the government employees who were DIRECTLY responsible for the Duke coal ash spill. Find out what they were doing instead of enforcing environmental regulations. Then find out what they've been doing since, how their job has changed, how much MORE they are being paid for their current job, and whether ANY government employee, state or fed, has been punished for failure to perform the job they are paid handsomely to do! If we start making government employees responsible for their jobs, as the current regime seems to make private employees, then maybe, just maybe, we'll be one step closer to a responsible government. Cuz we sure ain't anywhere close to a responsible government now! And only a true socialist would argue otherwise! Like the ever-senile Harry, or the socialist 'you have to vote for it before you can see what's in it' Nancy. Maybe even the 'penalize the rich' Billary - who doesn't seem to know that she's one of 'the rich'! Will news outlets do their job by following up on government employees who refused to do their jobs? I won't hold my breath. That would be attacking their ally and we know for sure the N&D won't attack such a close ally! There MAY be hope for real news outlets though.

May 24, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Rip Arrowood says:

That's like punishing police because they didn't catch a bank robber....