( September 14, 2015, 11:45 AM EDT) -- GREENSBORO, N.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Duke Energy Corp. on Sept. 10 entered into a consent decree in North Carolina federal court in which the company agreed to pay a $975,000 civil penalty for violating the Clean Air Act (CAA) and agreed to spend $4.4 million on environmental mitigation projects to resolve a lawsuit claiming that it made illegal modifications to 13 coal-fired electricity-generating units at five power plants in the state (United States of America, et al. v. Duke Energy Corporation, No. 00CV1262, M.D. N.C.)....