NC Environment Agency Lawyer In Federal Probe Defended Duke In Past Criminal Case
RALEIGH, N.C.—The lawyer hired to represent North Carolina's environmental agency during a federal investigation into its regulation of Duke Energy's coal ash dumps once represented the utility company in a different criminal probe.
The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources has hired Mark T. Calloway of Charlotte to help respond to 20 grand jury subpoenas the agency and its employees have received after the Feb. 2 spill at Duke's Eden plant, which coated 70 miles of the Dan River in toxic sludge. Duke has been issued at least two subpoenas as part of that investigation.
The state regulatory agency has issued notice of eight environmental violations against Duke in the last month arising from the Eden spill and issues at the utility's other coal-fired plants, including the recent dumping of 61 million gallons of contaminated water into the Cape Fear River.
The state agency's chief lawyer said Monday that he saw no conflict of interest in Calloway's prior representation of Duke, the nation's largest electricity company. Calloway did not respond Monday to messages seeking comment.
Legal experts said Calloway's representation of the state agency likely doesn't violate ethical standards, as long as Duke doesn't object to its former lawyer now representing a client with potentially adverse interests in the current criminal probe.
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