Still awaiting a proper cleanup, Superfund sites in eastern NC at risk from...
Horton Iron and Metal, which in a previous life was the site of a former fertilizer plant, is a Superfund site that hugs the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River. Polluted with PCBs, metals,...
View ArticleHouse committee OKs $100m for Hurricane Florence relief; Dorian price tag...
The House Appropriations Committee approved a major disaster relief bill today that includes $5 million for the state to recover from “future events,” but the top emergency management official said...
View ArticleReport: As climate changes, expect wetter storms
If you’ve been following WRAL’s reporting this week, you’ve likely seen a series of fascinating pieces on climate change. It’s an appropriate topic these days. North Carolinians on the coast are still...
View ArticleUNC-Chapel Hill students join Sept. 20 “Climate Strike,” rallies to be held...
On Friday UNC-Chapel Hill students will join people from around the world in a “climate strike,” demanding their governments take action on global climate change. Ashton Martin, the campus’ student...
View ArticleCritics warn Trump EPA’s coal ash plan will let polluters off the hook
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration wants to give electric utilities a pass on proving they could finance a hazardous waste cleanup in the event of a Superfund disaster. The proposed rule from the...
View ArticleEPA Inspector General to probe agency’s handling of Chemours’ request to...
The EPA Inspector General is launching an investigation into how the agency evaluated Chemours’ 2009 request to produce GenX, including the company’s information on how it would discharge and dispose...
View ArticleChemical spill into Cape Fear River prompts utilities to stop water withdrawals
This post has been updated with a statement from Chemours. State environmental regulators on Tuesday discovered an unknown quantity of chemical “plasticizers”had spilled into the Cape Fear River from...
View ArticleLevels of cancer-causing 1,4-Dioxane rise in Cape Fear River, drinking water
Levels of 1,4-Dioxane, a known carcinogen, have again increased in the Cape Fear River, and the precise source of the contamination is still unknown. Results released by the Cape Fear Public Utility...
View ArticleThis week’s top stories on NC Policy Watch
This week’s top stories on NC Policy Watch 1. How a Trump attack on the federal “Waters of the United States” rule imperils the waters of North Carolina This is the second of a three-part series about...
View ArticleStein joins other AGs to sue Trump over Endangered Species Act rollback
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has joined a coalition of state attorneys general that’s suing the Trump administration’s over its rules weakening the 1973 Endangered Species Act. In August,...
View ArticleExpert panel: Firefighters have “unacceptably high levels” of PFAS in their...
Firefighters who use foams made with toxic perfluorinated chemicals — PFAS — have “unacceptably” high levels in their blood, according to an international scientific review released yesterday. The...
View Article‘Parents like me should not have the burden of proving that coal ash is...
ARLINGTON, Va. — Susan Wind’s 19-year-old daughter is recovering from thyroid cancer, but Wind still worries constantly about her family’s health. Wind, a former resident of Mooresville, N.C., moved...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Atlantic Coast Pipeline case
The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will review a decision by a federal court of appeals that threw up a major barrier to construction of a 600-mile natural gas pipeline being...
View ArticleBREAKING: New analysis indicates that toxics were present in Wilmington...
Tests of samples collected between 2014 and 2016 reveal sky-high PFAS readings Astronomical concentrations of toxic compounds commonly known as PFAS were present in the Cape Fear River near Wilmington,...
View ArticleGovernor’s office agrees to allow employees to publicly answer lawmakers’...
Employees from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office soon could publicly testify before lawmakers about details of a voluntary $57.8 million mitigation fund involving the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The...
View ArticleResearchers, state officials to answer questions about safety of Pittsboro’s...
State officials and university researchers will answer questions on Wednesday about the safety of Pittsboro’s drinking water, which contains elevated levels of 1,4-Dioxane and perfluorinated compounds...
View ArticleNaming names, finally: Shamrock Environmental source of 1,4-Dioxane spike in...
Shamrock Environmental Corporation is the source of a recent 1,4-Dioxane release into the Greensboro wastewater treatment plant, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality announced today....
View ArticleFacts aren’t lining up in 1,4-Dioxane discharge by City of Greensboro,...
People who rely on the town of Pittsboro for their drinking water were likely exposed to high levels of 1,4-Dioxane for about a week in August, after the City of Greensboro discharged the compound, a...
View ArticleBurr, Tillis reject effort to overturn Trump power plant rule
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected Democrats’ attempt to overturn a controversial Trump administration power plant regulation. Democrats forced a Senate floor vote on a resolution to...
View ArticleA light sentence for Billy Houston, who lied about hog lagoon records in...
Billy Houston got in over his head. His side hustle as a private “animal waste consultant.” His full-time job as a Duplin County Soil and Water Conservation District employee. And so in his private...
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