State regulators in North Carolina are facing claims they intentionally blocked lawsuits against Duke Energy, the company behind one of the worst coal-ash spills in U.S. history, in order to shield Duke, where Republican Gov. Pat McCrory worked for 28 years. Earlier this month, a Duke coal-ash pit spilled enough toxic sludge to fill more than 70 Olympic swimming pools. Now, the Associated Press reports that over the last year, following the election of McCrory, North Carolina’s environmental agency blocked lawsuits over Duke’s coal-ash pits three times, eventually shielding all 31 pits from potential lawsuits. The agency proposed settlements for a fraction of Duke’s worth that did not require Duke to clean up the pits. Beyond his work for Duke, McCrory’s campaign and affiliated groups have received more than a million dollars in recent years from Duke and related groups and individuals. The state agency has also admitted it wrongly declared arsenic levels in the Dan River safe after the spill; arsenic in one sample was actually four times higher than maximum levels for prolonged contact.