Gov. McCrory berates federal government over Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife...
Gov. Pat McCrory, who rarely misses an opportunity to accuse the federal government of overreach, is now targeting the Department of Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over regulations on a...
View ArticleAfternoon map time: Bee kills in North Carolina
The bees are bummed. First, a new study shows that their habitats are threatened by the biofuels industry, which demands more land for corn and soybeans rather than pollinator-friendly plants. Corn,...
View ArticleFracking wells closed, pipelines opposed: A tough week for natural gas
During one of the peaks of the North Carolina legislative fracking wars in 2015, then-state Rep. Mike Hager made a glib, yet telling remark about an amendment he was trying to force through: “Have you...
View ArticleNC DEQ asks EPA to dismiss civil rights complaint over hog farms
State environmental regulators have asked the EPA’s Office of Civil Rights to reject a complaint alleging large hog farms disproportionately harm minority communities. EarthJustice and the UNC Center...
View ArticleMonday map time: NC ranks in top third of U.S. states, territories in toxic...
Slaughterhouses, power plants, even breweries: These businesses and other polluting industries released 62 million pounds of toxics into North Carolina’s air and onto its land in 2014. That total...
View ArticleIs N.C. (possibly) the best place in the U.S. for offshore wind farms?
Interesting piece here from Politifact/The News & Observer about whether North Carolina is a great place for offshore wind farms. You may remember that back in June the N.C. Senate moved to ban...
View ArticleUnsafe levels of arsenic found in parts of Yadkin River near Duke Energy coal...
Independent laboratory testing indicates that parts of the Yadkin River near the Duke Energy coal ash pits in Salisbury are contaminated with arsenic more than four times higher than surface water...
View ArticleFor advice on bee-harming chemicals, State Pesticide Board appoints panel,...
The NC Pesticide Board this week chose six panelists to advise it on neonicotinoids, which are known to harm honeybees. But two of them work for the very industry that manufactures and markets these...
View ArticleUS Senate passes water projects bill, allows states to run their own coal ash...
Buried on Page 427 of the 644-page federal Water Resources Development Act — S 2848 — is a section devoted to states and their control over coal ash disposal. If the bill becomes law, North Carolina...
View ArticleEPA fines Syngenta $1.2 million for selling misbranded pesticides, failing to...
For three years, Syngenta sold mislabeled pesticides and herbicides to consumers and farming supply stores hundreds of times in at least six states — even while the chemical company was paying fines...
View ArticleToday’s time suck: Find a natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline near you
The interstate Colonial Pipeline, which shut down for 12 days after leaking at least 336,000 gallons of gasoline in Alabama, has sparked interest not only in gas prices but also public transit...
View ArticleAfter 24 years, Rougemont residents get permanent source of clean drinking water
The taps in Rougemont ran with clean water today — water from a new community well that replaces the bottles and carbon filters that residents had relied on for nearly 25 years. The NC Department of...
View ArticleEPA names 173 companies in $5.5 million settlement over PCB contamination in...
For more than 10 years, it has been forbidden to eat a single fish from Brier Creek Reservoir in Wake County. Areas downstream, such as Brier Creek and Little Brier Creek, were also off-limits. That...
View ArticleNC DEQ shaves Duke Energy’s $6.8 million fine; utility will pay less — again
This post has been corrected to reflect the fine only regarding the Dan River spill, not the $25 million assessed to Duke for the Sutton facility and the groundwater contamination across the state. The...
View ArticleMonday map time: Find a contaminated dry cleaning site near you
There is nothing “dry” about dry cleaning, and little that’s clean about it, either. Statewide, an estimated 1,500 dry cleaners – both operating and defunct – have potentially contaminated the water,...
View ArticleDemographics around North Carolina’s coal-fired power plants
Environmental justice concerns are particularly acute near coal-fired power plants and coal ash sites. Of the 22 power plants in North Carolina, more than half are located in ZIP codes where the...
View ArticleFederal judge orders people to stop killing red wolves
The last surviving red wolves in the world have received a reprieve. Today U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle issued a preliminary injunction ordering the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop...
View ArticleCommerce Secretary John Skvarla would rather deal with coal ash than HB2
Faced with an unprecedented environmental disaster like coal ash or an unprecedented civil rights disaster like HB2, Commerce Secretary John Skvarla said he would choose pollution. “I’ll go back to...
View ArticleLt. Gov. Dan Forest warns farmers of ‘environmental terrorism’
The aroma of hog waste hung in curtains of humidity outside the Duplin County Event Center last night, where inside, in the air-conditioning, 400 or so farmers and their families enjoyed pork loin...
View ArticleWhat the LGBTQ movement can teach us about fighting climate change
Joe Romm at Think Progress has a fine post this morning that highlights what the LGBTQ equality movement can teach us about combating climate change. Here’s Romm from “End climate silence: The most...
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