Chapter 21: The Settlement

The settlement was announced in July. The holding company agreed to pay $47 million in penalties, fund full environmental remediation of the mine site, and cooperate with the ongoing investigation into Driscoll's involvement and the broader network of permits that had been expedited through the same channels. Dana wrote the settlement story from her desk. She had already written this story in draft three months ago, when her DOJ source had told her the negotiations were heading this direction — she'd needed only to fill in the specific numbers and the formal language. The story ran on the front page. It was read widely. Marcus told her it had been their best-trafficked piece of the year. She called Pete. 'Did you see the settlement number?' she asked. 'Forty-seven million,' he said. 'Katherine says it's not enough. I told her nothing ever feels like enough but something is better than nothing.' 'Katherine's right and you're right,' Dana said. 'Martin says the remediation timeline is six years. The water tests are going to be quarterly until they come back clean.' A pause. 'He's organizing a town meeting next week to go over the remediation plan.' 'That sounds like Calloway.' 'That's what we do,' Pete said, with the simple accuracy of someone describing a fact. 'We figure out what needs to be done and we do it. Loudly sometimes. Quietly sometimes.' He paused. 'Mira ran the settlement story in this week's Register. She cited your piece.' 'I cited hers,' Dana said. 'The original documentation.' A short pause. 'Yeah,' Pete said. 'That's how it works, isn't it.'