Polluters get a pass from EPA during pandemic
Under pressure from industry, the EPA announced yesterday that it will not fine polluters who violate the law by failing to monitor their emissions and discharges during the COVID-19 pandemic. The...
View ArticleNC Supreme Court rules in favor of attorney general in Smithfield case, deals...
The North Carolina Supreme Court delivered a blow to conservatives today, ruling that the attorney general’s office is within its authority to allocate environmental grants from the historic Smithfield...
View ArticleLong-term exposure to air pollution increases risk of death from COVID-19
As the Trump administration relaxes several environmental regulations governing air pollution, scientists have learned that a person’s long-term exposure to microscopic air emissions — including those...
View ArticleEPA undermines mercury, air toxics rules and no one’s happy except coal...
Duke Energy is among many of the nation’s utilities that oppose the EPA’s latest gutting of air pollution rules, which discount health benefits of the regulations while amplifying the economic ones....
View ArticleDEQ, NC Attorney General sue Trump administration over Clean Water Act rollbacks
The NC Department of Environmental Quality and the state Attorney General’s office have joined 16 other states in suing the Trump administration over rollbacks of Waters of the United States rule, also...
View ArticleFarm Bureau wins Round 1 versus DEQ over swine farm requirements
This is a developing story and will updated. The North Carolina Farm Bureau has temporarily prevailed in a contested case hearing against the NC Department of Environmental Quality over three issues...
View ArticleHouse bill would ban sale, production of PFAS in North Carolina
Companies could no longer manufacture PFAS, also known as perfluorinated compounds, in North Carolina under a new proposal, House Bill 1109. If enacted into law, the measure would also prohibit the...
View ArticleDEQ lists progress on environmental justice, swine farms; critics say...
After initial results showed elevated levels of contaminants in Duplin County waterways commonly found at industrialized swine farms, the NC Department of Environmental Quality is continuing its water...
View ArticleFeds drop criminal case involving Chemours, Clean Water Act
Chemours will not be criminally charged in a Clean Water Act case involving its Fayetteville Works plant, according to the company and federal officials. Don Connelly, spokesman for US Attorney’s...
View ArticleNCDOT, Dominion excluded top Durham officials from discussions on proposed...
The NC Department of Transportation failed to inform top Durham officials of a controversial natural gas pipeline that would parallel part of the American Tobacco Trail, one of the city’s — and the...
View ArticleHitting the water on Memorial Day weekend? Sound Rivers tells you where...
Sound Rivers, a nonprofit environmental group, launches its summer waterway testing in the Upper Neuse River watershed this weekend, and has found five sites with high levels of fecal bacteria. The...
View ArticleGenX crisis didn’t have to happen: EPA Inspector General finds agency’s...
The GenX crisis, which contaminated the drinking water for tens of thousands of people in southeastern North Carolina, could have been averted had the EPA simply done its job. The EPA Inspector General...
View ArticleDominion backs off plan to build natural gas pipeline along part of American...
Dominion Energy no longer plans to build a controversial natural gas pipeline along six miles of the American Tobacco Trail, Policy Watch has confirmed. Half the 13-mile underground pipeline would have...
View ArticleContentious farm bill, which eases restrictions on some hog operations, goes...
Sen. Tom McInnis, a Richmond County Republican, has been known to lob puzzling remarks over the heads of his legislative colleagues, and today he tossed a few more questionable quips in his support for...
View ArticleDEQ approves Wake Stone mining company’s proposed bridge over Crabtree Creek
The NC Department of Environmental Quality has authorized a buffer request by Wake Stone Corporation for the proposed construction of a bridge over Crabtree Creek. The bridge would be part of a...
View ArticleChemours forced to remove tons of debris from unlined landfill
Chemours has transported tons of soil and woody debris potentially contaminated with toxic PFAS, including GenX, to an unlined landfill in Fayetteville, according to state investigation prompted by...
View ArticleSwim alert: Sound Rivers announces areas with high levels of bacteria
During this week’s sampling, Sound Rivers has found that three sites in the Upper Neuse watershed showed high levels of fecal bacteria. The bacteria tested for E. coli can be found in freshwater and is...
View ArticlePartial hog lagoon breach spills 3 million gallons of feces, urine in Sampson...
June 15, 6:59 p.m. This story has been updated with comments from the Department of Environmental Quality. Three million gallons of feces and urine spilled from a hog lagoon Friday, as farm owners to...
View ArticleUS Supreme Court hands win to Atlantic Coast Pipeline, but other hurdles...
By Sarah Vogelsong and Lisa Sorg The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a 600-mile natural gas pipeline being built by utility heavyweights Dominion...
View ArticleOusted from DEQ, John Evans, an opponent of regulation, lands job at EPA...
John Evans, former Chief Deputy Secretary of the NC Department of Environmental Quality, has spent much of his career opposing tighter air regulations. Now he has a new job: Writing air quality rules...
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