PFAS, but not GenX, found in blood of residents living near Chemours plant
Four types of fluorinated compounds were detected in blood samples of all 30 people tested who live near the Chemours plant, although none of the compounds was GenX, the NC Department of Health and...
View ArticleThis Week in Pollution: PFAS in drinking water, Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s...
It costs the City of Greensboro, make that the ratepayers, $9,000 a month, plus $1,000 a day, for a treatment system to reduce and remove per- and poly-fluorinated compounds — PFAS — from the drinking...
View ArticleThe week’s top stories on NC Policy Watch
1. Lack of support for power-grabbing amendments speaks volumes There are a lot of strange – even downright bizarre – aspects to the ongoing effort by North Carolina Republican legislators to pass a...
View ArticleMethyl bromide: So toxic that DEQ proposes first-ever cap on air levels
Methyl bromide is invisible. A toxic air pollutant, it can’t be tasted or smelled. But when exposed to the gas, the body knows it has been violated. Depending on the frequency and degree of the...
View ArticlePrepare for a Texas duel as Smithfield hires new, and yes, out-of-state...
Over the summer, as Murphy-Brown lost three historic nuisance lawsuits in which juries penalized them more than a half-billion dollars, the hog industry and its surrogates changed tactics. If they...
View ArticleFormer EPA Science Advisory Board member and Duke professor reveals how the...
Judging from an Oct. 23 blog post, Bill Schlesinger left the EPA’s Science Advisory Board, if not disgusted, at least dismayed. The former dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke...
View ArticleThis Week in Pollution: Smithfield eligible for big bailout, could cover...
Sweet and sour pork: The world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods is eligible for a portion of the Trump administration’s $12 billion bailout to help farmers who’ve been harmed by retaliatory...
View ArticleCooper signs order to combat climate change, commits to clean energy economy...
With historic storms lashing the state, Governor Roy Cooper says North Carolina must do more combat climate change and take steps that will lessen the impact of future natural disasters. Cooper took...
View ArticleThis Week in Pollution: Living near industrialized hog farms could shorten...
Won’t you (not) be my neighbor? Residents living within three miles of dense areas of industrialized hog farms are more likely to die sooner and suffer from chronic disease than people who don’t. A...
View ArticleRed wolves can’t be arbitrarily killed, federal judge rules in key decision...
A federal district court judge has forbidden the US Fish and Wildlife Service from allowing private landowners to kill nonthreatening red wolves, ruling that the agency has violated several sections of...
View ArticleTo reduce your risk of autism, dementia and diabetes, avoid breathing in traffic
Air pollution from cars and trucks is linked not only to the usual suspects — heart attacks and asthma — but also to cognitive disorders like autism in children and dementia in adults, researchers...
View ArticleSen. Trudy Wade: Her loss, should it stand, could be a win for the environment
Throughout her three terms, Sen. Trudy Wade earned a reputation as a faithful ally of polluting industries, consistently reliable for a vote against environmental regulation. But if current election...
View ArticleThousands of people live near log fumigation operations; Royal Pest Solutions...
1500 words, 8 minute read More than 4,000 people live within a mile and a half of North Carolina’s four log fumigation facilities, and some are just 220 to 630 feet away –equivalent to the length of...
View ArticleHigher rates of birth defects found in four southeastern counties; link to...
Rates of birth defects affecting the brain, heart and central nervous system were higher than the state average in areas of southeastern North Carolina from 2003 to 2014, the state Department of Health...
View ArticleMVP Southgate officially files with feds to build natural gas pipeline; DEQ...
Now that MVP Southgate has submitted its official 582-page application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a new natural gas pipeline in North Carolina, opponents are increasing their...
View ArticleAfter Hurricane Florence, derelict boat-owners left their mess for taxpayers...
Nautical scofflaws who abandoned their boats before Hurricane Florence might have committed the perfect crime. Lawmakers on the Joint Oversight Committee on Agriculture, Natural and Economic Resources...
View ArticleNorth Carolina’s environmental boss, EPA Region 4 administrator Trey Glenn...
This past summer, Trey Glenn, the EPA administrator over Region 4, which includes North Carolina, visited Fayetteville for a listening session on GenX and other emerging contaminants. “It’s a great...
View ArticleThe week’s Top Stories on NC Policy Watch
1. The next big battle in North Carolina politics is just days away The 2018 election may finally be in the rear view mirror, but for better or worse, the next battle over the state’s future will...
View ArticleHealth goal for GenX in drinking water could be reduced; EPA accepting public...
More people living near the Chemours plant could qualify for alternate water supplies if the EPA’s initial findings on the toxicity of GenX, released last week, are finalized. The basis for the...
View ArticleUS Army Corps of Engineers temporarily suspends work on Atlantic Coast...
Tree-cutting and other work on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline in North Carolina has been halted by the US Army Corps of Engineers, pending an appellate court’s decision on aspects of the project’s...
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