Duke Energy pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to environmental crimes and agreed to pay $102 million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution into the Dan River from coal-ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants.

That's how AP reported the event, using words like pleaded and guilty and crimes and illegally to capture the point that Duke messed up big time. Again.

Did Duke show the slightest remorse? Nope. Without a whiff of regret, Duke issued a statement avoiding every one of those key words. Duke said Thursday's federal court approval of an agreement with the U.S. government to end an investigation of a coal ash spill "closes this chapter in our company's history. We've used the Dan River incident as an opportunity to set a new, industry-leading standard for the management of coal ash."

Wow. Using that fractured reasoning, the more messes Duke makes, the closer it gets to sainthood.

Duke, the nation's biggest power company, is based in Charlotte, N.C. But at times it seems to live in Oz. Pay no attention to that bumbling environmental and management track record hiding behind the curtain.

But Duke proved less smug in Thursday's courtroom in Greenville, N.C., where the final sentence is up to the judge.

Holding Duke's plea agreement in his hand, U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard went through each of the nine misdemeanor counts involving violations of the Clean Water Act. He asked if Duke had engaged in these actions.

Julia Janson, Duke's chief legal officer, replied yes. Then the judge asked how Duke was pleading to each count.

"Guilty," she replied softly.

Duke CEO Lynn Good did not appear in court. Bad call.

The investigation into Duke began last February after a pipe collapsed under a coal ash dump at a plant in Eden, N.C., coating 70 miles of the Dan River in gray sludge. Prosecutors argued that Duke's illegal pollution extended back to at least 2010.

Duke admitted Thursday it twice denied worker recommendations to spend $20,000 on a video examination of an aging stormwater pipe installed in 1954 and made of corrugated metal. Had Duke been less cheap, it might have spared North Carolina the Dan River coal-ash spill and saved Duke $19 million in repair and remediation costs.

Not to mention the $102 million in fines and restitution, and another black eye to its flagging reputation.

Here's part of the court's 42-page plea agreement that Duke ignored in its statement but that the public really needs to know more about.

First, Duke must serve five years of probation under a court-appointed monitor.

Second, Duke must inform employees and shareholders of its "criminal behavior."

And third, Duke must run a full page public apology in at least two national newspapers, three major North Carolina papers and on its website.

The tone of that apology may tell us if Duke learned a lesson. So far, I'm not seeing it.

Contact Robert Trigaux at rtrigaux@tampabay.com.