Civitas Institute hires pro-fracking professor to write anti-renewables report
University of Wyoming professor Timothy Considine, the “energy expert” commissioned by the conservative Civitas Institute to assail North Carolina’s renewables strategy, has at least one glaring...
View ArticleEdenton Bay afflicted with hazardous algae — again
The water is as green as a sheet of nori in Edenton Bay, as potentially toxic algae is blooming in the waterway near the Albemarle Sound in Eastern North Carolina, according to state environmental...
View ArticleHands off bee-harming pesticides: N.C. board to consider restrictions
When a honeybee gets dosed with a neonic, a common pesticide used on millions of acres of farmland and on home lawns, it may not get sick right away. Instead the bee’s immune system can take a hit,...
View ArticleAt a weird meeting, Gov. McCrory warns ag board about “environmental extremists”
This week’s agriculture board should have been a snooze. Instead, it was a doozy. On the agenda were two ceremonial items: Governor Pat McCrory would sign the farm bill and Associate Supreme Court...
View ArticleGet your hip waders: New EPA report says Wilmington No. 1 in coastal cities...
Since 2010, for an average of 49 days each year — the equivalent of seven weeks — Wilmington has flooded. That figure distinguishes the city as first in the number of coastal flood days in the U.S., a...
View ArticleNorth State Journal, staffed by former DEQ and McCrory employees, joins...
This post was updated at 6:15 p.m. As reader Greg Flynn commented below, the writer of the North State Journal article is Jeff Moore, who worked for the McCrory administration and for the state...
View ArticleWaterkeepers investigate after coal pile spill at Duke Energy’s Cliffside Plant
This post was updated at 2:45 p.m. to add comments from Duke Energy. Nearly a week after Duke Energy announced that 15,000 to 50,000 gallons of stormwater had spilled from a pile of unburned coal into...
View ArticleState Rep. Larry Hall wants SBI to pursue Gov. McCrory, put staff under oath
This post has been updated. A leading House Democrat has asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into the actions of Pat McCrory, and may pursue other legal avenues to learn what the governor...
View ArticleResidents affected by coal ash contamination call for resignation of Tom...
When the coal ash blew through the air in Sue Fife’s yard in Person County, she initially didn’t know what it was. “I thought, ‘What is this stuff?'” she said Thursday, before a rally in support of...
View ArticleWho’s who at the EnergySure Coalition, backers of the Atlantic pipeline...
While North Carolina is rightfully focused on the coal ash scandal, another environmental tug-of-war is strengthening in some of the state’s poorest areas. Co-owned by Duke Energy, Dominion, PSNC and...
View ArticlePanel of scientists, including several from N.C., disagree with EPA’s rosy...
More than two dozen scientists, including several from N.C. State and UNC Chapel Hill, have criticized the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2015 draft fracking report, stating it downplays the risks...
View ArticlePublic can comment on Hofmann Forest settlement between EPA, NC State...
The Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting public comment on a $160,000 settlement with the NC State Resources Foundation for violations of the Clean Water Act in Hofmann Forest. The deadline...
View ArticleFrack-o-nomics: Short-term gains, long-term problems
Aubrey Hilliard had just eaten a meal of chicken-fried steak and lemon meringue pie when a friend Mitchell George entered the diner. The year was 1978, the place, Jacksboro, Texas, in the Fort Worth...
View ArticleDuke Energy, Ken Rudo’s leaked deposition and the rights of the press
The public wasn’t supposed to know about the sordid details of the coal ash contamination. Duke Energy had ensured their secrecy through a legal maneuver to seal deposition, keeping their contents out...
View ArticleMonday afternoon maptime: 10,000 fish die in Sparrow Bay near Beaufort
Fish kills in North Carolina, 2015 (yellow) and 2016 (blue). Click on an icon to read more details of the kill. The Atlantic menhaden had a rough week in Sparrow Bay. At least 10,000 of the fish died...
View ArticleWaiting to inhale: NC’s air improves, yet ozone still a killer; plus McCrory...
First, the good news: North Carolina’s air quality is better now than it was a decade ago. That’s due in part to more stringent federal and state regulations on electric utilities and coal-fired power...
View ArticleBrad Ives named interim head of North Carolina Policy Collaboratory; Jeffrey...
Coastal Review Online is reporting that Brad Ives, a former assistant secretary at the Department of Environmental Quality, will temporarily lead the controversial North Carolina Policy Collaboratory...
View ArticleWell owners near coal ash ponds to receive permanent alternative water supply
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is notifying about 1,000 drinking-well owners who live within a half-mile of coal ash ponds that they will receive permanent water supplies, according to a...
View ArticleIf you love the heat, you’ll adore the Year 2090.
North Carolina is wilting. On 60 days — two-thirds of the summer — Raleigh-Durham International Airport recorded above-average temperatures, according to Weather Underground. In the Triangle, 17 of...
View ArticleRainy day read: Trees chat with each other in underground conversations
This story out of Yale about how trees use underground networks of fungi to talk and share nutrients is remarkable. Ecologist Suzanne Simard says that trees even recognize and nurture their sapling...
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