Greensboro official: “No trigger level” at which we were required to alert...
The City of Greensboro didn’t immediately report an alarming spike in levels of 1,4-Dioxane in its wastewater to state officials because there was no requirement that it do so, a top utility official...
View ArticleTwo likely sources of 1,4-Dioxane identified as DEQ finds extremely high...
Discharge from the Reidsville wastewater treatment plant recently contained extremely high levels of 1,4-Dioxane, a likely human carcinogen, according to state environmental officials. As part of its...
View ArticleCoal ash case: DEQ 2, Duke Energy 0
An administrative law judge has again ruled against Duke Energy, determining that state environmental regulators acted appropriately in several aspects of requiring the utility to fully excavate its...
View ArticleDisaster relief bill includes money to buy out vulnerable swine farms
A chronically underfunded program to buy out swine farms in the 100-year flood plain received another $5 million as part of a $280 million disaster relief package that passed unanimously in the House...
View ArticleDEQ staff to investigators: We knew nothing about the governor’s deal with...
Ten NC Department of Environmental Quality staff, including Assistant Secretary Sheila Holman, told investigators earlier this month that they did not communicate with the governor’s office in advance...
View ArticleCaswell County residents to DEQ: Carolina Sunrock mine will ruin our land,...
New to the Carolina Sunrock mining issue? Catch up with this Policy Watch story. J ames Painter eased his walker to the podium and in a voice as strong as a mule’s back, told state environmental...
View ArticleSenior advisor to lawmakers: Gov. Cooper’s office didn’t meddle in DEQ...
Skepticism about the economic promises of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline prompted Gov. Roy Cooper’s office to establish a $57.8 million mitigation fund, a top official told lawmakers this morning. Ken...
View ArticleThe week’s top stories on NC Policy Watch
1. North Carolina’s full-time part-time legislature The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned its 2019 legislative session last week. Sort of. Lawmakers did head home, but unlike in years gone by...
View ArticleDrinking water wells in central NC, including Wake and Mecklenburg counties,...
More than half of the drinking water wells in central North Carolina could contain levels of hexavalent chromium above the state’s health advisory level, according to a new study by Duke University...
View ArticleDemonstrators to protest liquefied natural gas plant near Lumbee tribal lands
Hundreds of people on Saturday are expected to protest a Liquefied Natural Gas storage and processing facility in Robeson County, where several major natural gas projects are either under way or...
View ArticleBecause of PFAS contamination, Gray’s Creek Elementary to remain on bottled...
Students at Gray’s Creek Elementary School will remain on bottled water for at least another six months after recent tests showed drinking water wells contained perfluorinated compounds — PFAS — and...
View Article28 N.C. Superfund sites threatened by climate change — watchdog agency
WASHINGTON — Twenty-eight of the most contaminated sites in North Carolina are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, according to a new report from a government watchdog agency. The Government...
View ArticleCharlotte Mayor Vi Lyles tells U.S. Congress: climate change ‘hits us at home’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate accord made it even more important for U.S. cities to tackle climate change at the local level, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles...
View ArticleNew report makes it clear procrastination is no longer an option in...
Policy Watch has written extensively this year about efforts by utility companies, elected officials and even coastal communities to address the growing threats posed by climate change. But a new study...
View ArticleDurham officials tighten loopholes on illegal dumping near Falls Lake, but...
Years of illegal dumping near Falls Lake finally prompted Durham County officials to strengthen rules on what constitutes “beneficial fill” — used to improve farmland — and what is merely trash...
View ArticleAnother defeat for the environment: PFAS provisions struck from must-pass...
WASHINGTON — Congressional Democrats and environmental advocates suffered a stinging setback with the release of a defense policy bill this week that lacks key provisions to crack down on a widespread...
View ArticleIn pivotal decision, judge rules DEQ wrongly issued structural fill permits...
Administrative Law Judge Melissa Lassiter on Friday reversed her earlier decision in a coal ash case, ruling that state environmental officials exceeded their authority when they allowed the ash to be...
View ArticleComment period closing on MVP Southgate water quality permit; lawmakers speak...
The Haw and Dan rivers are in the crosshairs of the MVP Southgate project, a natural gas pipeline that, if state environmental regulators approve a permit, would cross the equivalent of four miles of...
View ArticleThis week’s top stories on Policy Watch
1. A lost decade: Ten ways in which conservative policies have grievously harmed North Carolina (Commentary) At the dawn of the new decade, not everything is worse in North Carolina than it was ten...
View ArticleCharah appeals judge’s ruling on coal ash disposal in Chatham County
A court case about the practice of burying coal ash in old clay mines is dragging on into its fifth year, raising questions about where Duke will deposit some of its 80 million tons of the material....
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