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This entry represents The Associated Press coverage within the first 30 days of the massive coal ash spill that began Feb. 2 at a Duke Energy plant in a remote part of North Carolina, near the Virginia border. The company and state regulators initially downplayed the severity of the spill, the third largest of its kind in the nation's history. AP was the first media outlet to survey the damage to the river, then followed quickly with a series of investigative scoops that resulted in a still-ongoing federal criminal investigation of the administration of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory.