Gov. Cooper talks to our reporter about climate change: “We have to move”
As reported over on the main NC Policy Watch website this morning, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper testified on Capitol Hill yesterday about the need for government action to combat the effects of...
View ArticleIn the Netherlands, Chemours washes its hands of GenX waste, fails to monitor...
This post has been updated with a comment from Chemours. The Chemours plant in Dordrecht shipped waste containing GenX compounds for processing, but failed to both sample for them and to keep proper...
View ArticleGot something to say about coal ash? This is your week to share that input.
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is accepting public comment through Friday (February 15th) on how Duke Energy should handle the storage of its coal ash. Duke Energy has proposed...
View ArticleNC residents demand more action from environmental justice board
During a brief break at yesterday’s convening of the Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board, a man introduced himself to me as Bill. A recent transplant to Wilmington, Bill had decided to...
View ArticleEPA cites Chemours with multiple notices of violation; company allegedly...
The EPA today announced it has issued a Notice of Violation to Chemours for failing to comply, on multiple occasions, with federal law at the company’s plant in Fayetteville. According to EPA documents...
View ArticleCritics pounce on the lack of urgency in EPA’s “Action Plan” on PFAS
Environmental advocates and residents of contaminated communities are irate. The Cooper administration is disappointed. But 3M, a primary manufacturer of per- and polyfluorinated compounds — PFAS — is...
View ArticleWorried about your well water? Scientists are offering free tests this month.
Environmental scientists from Virginia Tech and UNC Chapel Hill are offering free well water testing from Feb. 20 to 27 to any resident or business using a private well. According to a press release...
View ArticleResidents skeptical of Chemours’ proposed air permit; comment by Feb. 22.
The public comment period for Chemours’ proposed air permit is Friday, Feb. 22, at 5 p.m. The documents for the proposed air permit are on the NC Department of Environmental Quality website. Email...
View ArticleChemours, DEQ, Cape Fear River Watch hammer out final consent order on GenX,...
This is a developing story. Policy Watch has scheduled an interview with NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Michael Regan later this afternoon. Look for additional coverage tomorrow....
View Article15 years ago, a DEQ employee spoke up about groundwater contamination at...
(Scroll down to read details of the consent order.) For state regulators, a 46-page consent order marks the end of a decades’- long shell game that Chemours/DuPont played with the Department of...
View ArticleFactchecking Rep. Jimmy Dixon on water contamination (spoiler alert: he...
Rarely one to let the truth get in the way of a snappy quip, Rep. Jimmy Dixon is 0 for 1 in the factchecking department today. During this morning’s meeting of the Joint Appropriations Committee on...
View ArticleEnvironmental advocates running ads in NC urging Tillis to oppose Trump’s EPA...
The Sierra Club announced Wednesday that it began running Facebook ads encouraging Tillis to vote against the confirmation of Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and a former staffer to the Senate’s...
View ArticleDuke University is killing regional light rail, while air pollution from cars...
The irony is not lost on me, or many people, that the heart of the Duke Medical Center district — a congested stretch of Erwin Road, between Fulton and Trent streets — is hazardous to public health....
View ArticleFederal judge to Dominion: No eminent domain for at least 90 days
US District Court Judge Terence Boyle has extended a three-month stay in an eminent domain case related to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. In a status conference last Thursday, Boyle ruled that Dominion...
View ArticleLive in Chatham County? On a private well? Scientists will test your drinking...
Scientists from UNC Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech are offering free drinking water testing to private well users in Chatham County, beginning today. County residents and businesses are eligible for the...
View ArticleGov. Cooper’s environmental budget adds $6 million to tackle emerging...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s 500-plus page environmental budget would increasing funding by 17 to 20 percent for the state Department of Environmental Quality, the target of withering cuts by the Republican-led...
View ArticleDuke Energy settles with 33 property owners over Dan River coal ash disaster
Wanda Overby used to take her grandson to play along the Dan River almost every day — until Feb. 2, 2014, when a coal ash pond breached, releasing 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of...
View ArticleExpert: The truth about farting cows and the policies that actually put...
You’ve probably heard something in the news of late about the proposed Green New Deal and how its proponents supposedly want to end the production of beef. North Carolina’s tea partying congressman...
View ArticleJury awards plaintiffs $420,000 as Smithfield loses fifth hog nuisance trial
Lendora Farland is nicknamed “Sunshine,” but her testimony last month in federal court illustrated the misery her family has endured, caused, she said, by the stench and flies from a nearby...
View ArticleUmstead Park advocates ask court to declare airport lease invalid;...
The Umstead Coalition, Triangle Off-Road Cyclists and three more plaintiffs filed a complaint in Wake County Court today, asking a judge to invalidate a lease between the RDU Airport Authority and Wake...
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