DEQ being raked over the coal (ash) on Duke Energy settlement

And some of it is internal criticism:

But last week, a News & Observer reporter dug through piles of transcripts from depositions given during Duke's appeal and found statements like this from Thomas Reeder, the state's assistant secretary for the environment: "If it was up to me, it would have been about $50 million," he said. "They've nuked this whole drinking water source for the Wilmington area (around Duke's Sutton plant). Haven't done anything about it. Haven't owned up to it. So in my opinion, the penalty should have been a lot more severe than it was."

It would be disingenuous to say Tom Reeder has received "mixed reviews" here at BlueNC. His attitude during the early part of Republican control was often appalling, buying into the GOP meme that DENR had been hostile to business interests and needed stark reform. But he has been there for 17 years and is genuinely concerned about water quality. No doubt he will catch some heat for these observations, but he's right. DEQ's capitulation on these fines (and apparently future fines) will have an adverse effect on NC's water quality, along with the reputation of DEQ itself.

http://ift.tt/1G9u2te