Agency finalizes streamlined New Source Review process for project adds to air emissions and coal ash storage mandates for power plants in site specific cases, despite environmental group concerns.

Under a new settlement with state regulators, communities and environmental groups, Duke Energy will spend $3.5 billion to close its last nine coal-ash storage impoundments in North Carolina, bringing the company’s cost of closing all of its coal-ash sites in North and South Carolina to between $8 billion and $9 billion.

Consolidation and management of coal-ash is dirty, dangerous work, and heavy equipment brought in to shift and compact the waste from coal-fired power plants can pose a hazard for workers.