Duke Energy Corp. will pay $102.2 million in penalties and damages to settle criminal charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act by spilling tons of sludgy coal ash into North Carolina’s scenic Dan River last year. The electric utility, based in Charlotte, N.C., was charged Feb. 20 with nine criminal misdemeanor counts, four of them involving Duke’s Dan River power plant in Eden, N.C. The remaining counts include violations at power plants near Asheville, Charlotte, Goldsboro and Moncure. Duke was prepared to resolve the charges…
