up to half of their accrued benefits. In December 2011, the non-partisan organization Public Campaign criticized Duke Energy for spending $17.47 million on lobbying. It also criticized Duke for not paying any taxes from 2008 to 2010 and receiving $216 million in tax rebates, in spite of turning a $5.4 billion profit and extensively raising executive compensations. In 2012, Greenpeace protested Duke's lobbying of the Democratic Party, including its funding of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. In July 2012, Duke Energy was criticized for paying former Progress Energy CEO Bill Johnson $44.7 million in compensation, including a $10 million severance, for something close to 20 minutes on the job as Duke's CEO. In 2012, Duke Energy sued Citrus County, Florida claiming its tax bill was too high. The county hired an outside appraiser who found that there were a lot of unreported and underreported items and the tax claim was actually too low. In May 2013, university students launched a campaign for Brown University to divest fossil fuels, specifically referring to Duke Energy and other coal plant operators. On February 2 2014, the massive Dan River coal-ash spill led to a grand jury investigation into Duke Energy. The initial investigation was overseen by Governor Pat McCrory, who was accused of intervening on Duke's behalf as he had been a Duke Energy employee for 28 years. Prosecutors went looking for any cash or items of value that might have been given to Governor McCrory and members of his administration in exchange for cheap settlements. Duke Energy was prosecuted, pled guilty to nine charges of criminal negligence, and agreed to pay $102 million in fines and restitutions. Duke Energy was also ordered to close all of its 32 ash ponds in the state of North Carolina by 2029. In September 2016, the Government Pension Fund of Norway, then worth $900 billion, excluded Duke Energy and its subsidiaries from the fund, citing "risk of severe environmental damage". In August 2020, environmental watchdog EWG released a report accusing Duke Energy of charging Indiana ratepayers for $12 billion worth of failed projects. This was the direct consequence of a controversial bill passed in Indiana earlier that year. Projects included two natural gas pipelines and two retired nuclear power plants. The company was also accused of having plans to charge the Indiana ratepayer for $8 billion in coal-ash pond closure and cleanup costs. In 2021, investigative