"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."

Anne Blythe reports for the Raleigh News and Observer February 13, 2014. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Feds Launch Criminal Probe in Wake of Massive Coal Ash Spill Into NC River" (AP) [3]

"Federal Grand Jury To Hear From State, Duke in Coal Ash Spill' (Greensboro News & Record) [4]

"U.S. Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe of Duke Energy Coal Ash Spill" (Reuters) [5]

"Subpoena Caps Bad Week for Fossil Fuel" (Aljazeera) [6]