NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has approved an agreement by the nation’s largest public utility to pay $27.8 million to settle claims from Tennessee property owners who suffered damages from a huge spill of toxin-laden coal ash sludge in 2008.

U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Varlan approved the settlement on Monday.

The spill happened when a containment dike burst at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston Fossil Plant, releasing more than 5 million cubic yards of ash from a storage pond. The sludge flowed into a river and spoiled hundreds of acres in a riverside community 35 miles west of Knoxville.

Varlan ruled in 2012 that TVA was liable for the spill. The settlement is with more than 800 property owners.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.