largely as a result of the attention brought to duke energy's handling of coal ash ponds by the 2014 disaster, the north carolina state legislature ordered duke energy to close its 32 ash ponds in the state by 2029. on may 2nd 2014, duke energy and epa agreed to a 3 million dollar cleanup agreement. part of the agreement is having duke energy identify areas of necessary cleanup on the dan river that is estimated to cost around 1 million dollars. the other 2 million dollars is allocated to epa to address future response methods needed in order to clean up the dan river. a spokesperson for duke energy announced that the company plans to exit the coal ash business. associates have said that well before the dan river incident the company had allocated 130 million dollars to transitioning plants to handle fly ash in dry form and manage it in lined landfills. duke energy said that it created an advisory group of researchers to help with cleaner coal combustion at its facilities.