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" RALEIGH — The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the state environmental agency tasked with regulating Duke Energy after a coal ash spill left the Dan River so polluted that people were advised to avoid contact with the water.
The probe, environmentalists say, might also open a window into the relationship that state regulators have with the country’s largest electricity provider, a company that also was a 28-year employer of Gov. Pat McCrory.
Subpoenas were issued this week summoning officials from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy to produce records before a federal grand jury scheduled to meet in Raleigh March 18-20.
The subpoenas demand that DENR provide regulatory documents, including any correspondence with Duke since January 2010.
Thomas Walker, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said Thursday he could not comment on specific targets of an investigation.
But since his appointment to the post in 2011 by President Barack Obama, Walker has been committed to pursuing polluters in an effort to protect the state’s scenic and natural resources. His office has won rulings against hog farmers that resulted in criminal sentences and civil penalties.
A letter signed by Walker attached to the subpoena that went to DENR states: “An official criminal investigation of a suspected felony is being conducted by the United States and a federal grand jury.”
Officials at Duke Energy and DENR had little to say publicly about the criminal probe. "
" RALEIGH — The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into the state environmental agency tasked with regulating Duke Energy after a coal ash spill left the Dan River so polluted that people were advised to avoid contact with the water.
The probe, environmentalists say, might also open a window into the relationship that state regulators have with the country’s largest electricity provider, a company that also was a 28-year employer of Gov. Pat McCrory.
Subpoenas were issued this week summoning officials from the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy to produce records before a federal grand jury scheduled to meet in Raleigh March 18-20.
The subpoenas demand that DENR provide regulatory documents, including any correspondence with Duke since January 2010.
Thomas Walker, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, said Thursday he could not comment on specific targets of an investigation.
But since his appointment to the post in 2011 by President Barack Obama, Walker has been committed to pursuing polluters in an effort to protect the state’s scenic and natural resources. His office has won rulings against hog farmers that resulted in criminal sentences and civil penalties.
A letter signed by Walker attached to the subpoena that went to DENR states: “An official criminal investigation of a suspected felony is being conducted by the United States and a federal grand jury.”
Officials at Duke Energy and DENR had little to say publicly about the criminal probe. "