"U.S. power company Duke Energy Corp agreed to a $2.5 million settlement proposed by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality relating to the 2014 coal ash spill into the Dan River in North Carolina, the DEQ said on Friday.

Duke, the largest in the United States by power generation capacity, will spend $2.25 million in carrying out environmental projects to benefit Virginia localities affected by the spill.

The remaining $250,000 will be placed in a DEQ fund to respond to environmental emergencies."

Yashaswini Swamynathan reports for Reuters April 3, 2015. [2]