More than 14 years after a catastrophic coal-ash spill from a storage site at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston, Tenn., power plant, its then cleanup contractor, Jacobs, has agreed to settle claims by workers that the company did not protect their health in remediating 5.4 million cu yd of claimed toxic material spread across 300 acres and into the Emory River.

“In 2023, to avoid further litigation, the parties chose to enter into an agreement to resolve the cases. The terms of this settlement are confidential,” the company said in a statement regarding its work responding to the 2008 disaster and the long-running litigation that resulted.