EPA's vow to join North Carolina in a waste and water law enforcement suit against Duke Energy for a coal ash spill has the potential to result in a settlement previewing EPA's pending coal ash waste rule, sources say, as any control requirements in such a pact would likely mirror what will be in the rule. "Let's assume they reach an agreement with Duke this year," an industry attorney says. "I would expect to see [in a settlement] with some certainty what the final rule would look like for the management of coal ash." A second industry source adds of either a potential settlement in the Duke Energy suit or the agency's rule due in December, "Whichever one gets done first will be read as a signal of how the other one will go."
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