The companies will pay a fine and conduct community service and wetlands mitigation Three subsidiaries of North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corporation, the largest utility in the United States, pleaded guilty in May 2015 to nine criminal violations of the Clean Water Act at several of its North Carolina facilities and agreed to pay a $68 million criminal fine and spend $34 million on environmental projects and land conservation to benefit rivers and wetlands in North Carolina and Virginia. Four of the charges are the direct result of the massive coal ash spill from the Dan River steam station into the Dan River near Eden, N.C., in February 2014. The remaining violations were discovered as the scope of the investigation broadened based on allegations of historical violations at the companies' other facilities.
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