Monday map time: Every permitted pig, cow and chicken operation in NC
Congratulations, North Carolina, we’ve reached a milestone in which the population of people and factory-farmed hogs is nearly even: 10 million each. Add in the 79.7 million broiler chickens, nearly 4...
View ArticleBacterial contamination in private water wells send thousands of people...
It may not have been bad shrimp or dirty lettuce that kept you up all night. A recent study shows that in North Carolina, microbes in drinking water from private wells are responsible for estimated...
View ArticleNC Policy Collaboratory names advisory panelists
A watershed expert, a marine scientist and an environmental engineering professor are among on a advisory panel for the controversial NC Policy Collaboratory, a new UNC initiative created by the state...
View ArticleSettlement with Yadkin Riverkeeper requires Duke Energy to excavate coal ash...
The residents of Dukeville near the Buck plant in Salisbury won’t have to live near coal ash basins after all, under the terms of a settlement agreement announced yesterday....
View ArticleA tree experiment in Raleigh yields alarming results about the effects of...
After a summer spent shading and cooling legions of Pokémon Go players, the magnificent willow oaks in Nash Square are bombarding the ground and passersby with their acorns. These trees are but a few...
View ArticleGov. McCrory’s communications director felt “very comfortable” in accusing...
Gov. McCrory’s communications director Josh Ellis can’t remember specific details of a meeting he held with state toxicologist Ken Rudo — but he recalls enough of them to accuse Rudo of perjury. Ellis...
View ArticleMonday map time: When hell is high water
At 68 feet, the portion of the Cape Fear River near the Bladen-Cumberland county line is 26 feet above flood stage and inching its way to a record of 75. The gauge here at the Huske Lock is one of 15...
View Article[Updated] In eastern NC, hog lagoons, coal ash basins flooded; environmental...
Update: At 3:40 p.m. Fox Carolina reported that a break has been detected in the earthen basin wall surrounding the cooling pond at the H.F. Lee Plant in Goldsboro. From the story: A statement from the...
View ArticleThis Week in Pollution: coal ash, wastewater, dead animals
Reason No. 42,098 not to enter flooded areas: The historic high water that has inundated eastern North Carolina is a toxic vichysoisse of sewage, animal waste, coal ash and carcasses from the thousands...
View ArticleCoal ash on the water and trees: “The area looks like a winter wonderland”
This post has been updated with a comment from NC DEQ. For the past week Matthew Starr, the Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, has been surveilling the water near Duke Energy’s H.F. Lee facility, assessing flood...
View ArticleAfter hurricane, 14 hog lagoons flooded, two partially breached
Parts of the Neuse, Cape Fear and Lumber River watersheds have been contaminated with hog waste, but the extent of the pollution isn’t yet known. Officials from the NC Department of Environmental...
View ArticleScientists call out US Fish and Wildlife Service over “alarming...
This post has been updated with comments from Jett Ferebee, who opposes the Red Wolf Recovery program. Red wolves kept in captivity are not in danger of extinction — not now, not in 10 years, not even...
View ArticleMonday map time: When a landfill lacks a liner, it’s just a dump
True story: Back in the late 1950s or early ’60s, my grandad went to Canada for his annual summer fishing trip. On his way back to the U.S., customs officials stopped him for trying to bring in too...
View ArticleHog farm workers more likely to harbor swine bacteria; kids at risk, too
There are 480 industrial hog farms within the 819 square miles of Duplin County, so it’s unsurprising that bacteria malingers in that environment. What is surprising is that children whose parents work...
View ArticleDuke University scientist concludes Chromium 6 contamination widespread in...
Even more North Carolina households than previously thought could be exposed to Chromium 6 in their drinking water, some of them at unsafe levels. However, the source of the contamination is not Duke...
View ArticleThis week in pollution: Coal ash is radioactive and will be for more than...
Arsenic? Check. Lead? Yep. Mercury. Sadly, yes. Selenium, boron, Chromium 6: Yes, yes and yes. Now add radioactivity to the long list of coal ash’s environmental and health concerns. Radioactivity in...
View ArticleMonday map time: The link between arsenic, Alzheimer’s disease, coal ash and...
One billion years ago, volcanoes bulged from the landscape and hot lava coated the future towns of Monroe and Marshville, Waxhaw and Wingate in Union County. This region is known as the state’s...
View ArticleA jowl-dropper: NC Pork Council woos investigative reporter Andy Curliss to...
This post has been updated to more accurately explain the timeline of Curliss’s internship at The N&O. Award-winning investigative reporter Andy Curliss was just an intern at The News &...
View ArticleClimate change threatening coastal forests, including those in NC
The swamps, tidal forests and wetlands of coastal North Carolina are studded with the snags of bald cypress, swamp black gum and water tupelo trees. But climate change is threatening these woodlands,...
View ArticleThis week in pollution: Fields of filth after Hurricane Matthew
Before and after aerial photos of animal waste lagoons released today show the enormity of the flooding that inundated hog and chicken farms in eastern North Carolina. The force and amount of the water...
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