A Commonwealth Court judge has approved the consent decree agreed to by PPL Corporation and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to settle DEP’s litigation regarding the 2005 fly ash spill at the company’s former coal-fired units at the Martins Creek power plant.

Approval and entry of the consent decree had been delayed because of objections from interveners in that litigation, which was brought by DEP in 2005. Judge Dan Pellegrini denied motions by the interveners, the Delaware Riverside Conservancy and three individuals.

Now the only outstanding issue related to the spill is the findings of the National Resource Damage Assessment Team, expected later this year. Judge Pellegrini reserved the right for the interveners to file comments on the final NRDA report after it is approved by DEP. PPL is allowed to respond to any comments filed by the interveners.

“We’ve always believed that this settlement is fair and appropriate,” said Bob Barkanic, PPL’s director-Environmental Management. Under the settlement, PPL will pay a fine of $1.5 million, which includes reimbursement of DEP’s costs.

“PPL cleaned up as much ash as it possibly could without doing more harm than good, just as we said we would do right from the beginning,” Barkanic said. “Thorough study has shown there is no evidence of adverse ecological impact to the Delaware River, and no evidence that the spill caused any adverse health effects.”

A defective drain in an ash basin led to a release of water and ash on Aug. 23, 2005, resulting in the ash being deposited onto the land surrounding the plant and being released into the river. PPL acted immediately to stop the spill and clean up the ash from the land and river. The coal-fired units at the plant were retired in September 2007 and the ash basin is now being closed permanently.

PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), headquartered in Allentown, Pa., controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom.