Duke Energy proposes providing permanent water to nearly 900 households
Amy Brown used 38 12-ounce bottles of water to fix Thanksgiving dinner. Brown, who lives less than 1,000 feet from Duke Energy’s Allen plant, has received bottled water for more than a year and half...
View ArticleBad housekeeping at the special session: Regulatory reforms that could ruin...
“We got very close to an agreement on that thing” with the Senate. “I’ve heard discussion that we ought to put together that bill. There’s some housekeeping stuff like that that’s out there.” — State...
View ArticleThe regulatory reform bill: Imperfect, but it could be worse
The good news about the Regulatory Reform Bill: There are no ominous “studies” about locating wind turbines near military bases, a precursor to a potential kibosh on the renewable energy resource. In...
View ArticleDespite Obama’s ban, energy companies could still drill off the North...
North Carolina has the second-largest coastline on the Eastern Seaboard, but its boundaries extend well into the sea. The state’s administrative borders include 64 million acres in the mid-Atlantic...
View ArticleAfter five-year legal battle, NC Supreme Court rules Asheville can keep its...
If it were whiskey, not water, that flowed from the taps in the City of Asheville, then perhaps the state’s highest court would not had to intervene. But whiskey is for drinking, Mark Twain once said,...
View ArticlePresident Obama signs water projects bill into law; includes provisions for...
States can now develop their own coal ash disposal rules, as long as they are at least as stringent as federal ones. President Obama signed the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act of...
View ArticleAnother day, another leak from a coal ash basin
An undocumented metal pipe is leaking water from a closed coal ash basin at the Allen Steam Station, Duke Energy told state regulators Wednesday. The Allen Steam Station is near Belmont in Gaston...
View ArticleLt. Gov. Dan Forest: “Trump knows agriculture.” Yet PEOTUS flails in...
During a campaign event in late September, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest told a crowd of farm families at the Duplin County Event Center that, “Donald Trump knows agriculture.” It was a puzzling...
View Article10 environmental fiascos that broke the FUBAR meter this year
Environmental reporting in 2016 was like shooting two-headed fish in a toxic waste barrel: It’s tough to miss. With just three days left in the year, this is an occasion for the airing of environmental...
View ArticleNC DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart: Shameless self-demotion
To stave off an imminent firing by incoming Governor Roy Cooper, NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart has demoted himself to a position in the air quality division,...
View ArticleEndangered red wolf illegally shot, killed in eastern NC
Someone has illegally shot and killed an endangered red wolf on federal land in eastern North Carolina, the US Fish & Wildlife Service announced today. The wolf likely died Dec. 19; its body was...
View ArticleDHHS Deputy Sec’y Randall Williams, involved in coal ash controversy,...
Now here’s a career move: Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Randall Williams, a gynecologist/obstetrician, has joined the state’s Oil and Gas Commission. Gov. Pat McCrory appointed 13...
View ArticleGov. Cooper names Michael Regan, former EPA, Environmental Defense Fund to...
As soon as Michael Regan spoke at the governor’s mansion today, it became clear that he is the antithesis of Donald van der Vaart. Gov. Roy Cooper’s choice to lead the state Department of Environmental...
View ArticleCoal ash leaks from Rogers plant landfill into nearby creek
About 1,000 gallons of stormwater leaked from a lined coal ash landfill at Duke Energy’s Rogers plant and reached a nearby creek, the utility announced. The leak, attributed to heavy rains in the area,...
View ArticleCongressional GOP wants to make it easier to offload federal lands, including...
With more than 10.7 million visitors in 2015, the Great Smoky Mountains rank first among the 59 national parks, generating more than $800 million in economic benefits to...
View ArticleMath is hard, Part 2: Civitas misreports Environmental Defense Fund’s finances
The abacus over at Civitas must be broken. In a blog post today, Francis De Luca, in trying to impugn NC DEQ Secretary nominee Michael Regan, miscalculated / misreported / fundraising totals at the...
View ArticleNC Policy Collaboratory’s first task: What to do about the ailing Jordan Lake?
Jordan Lake is too far gone to fully recover from the repeated insults to its shores. Decades of pollution from urban and agricultural development have placed parts of the 46,000-acre lake on the EPA’s...
View ArticleStudy: Not knowledge, not political party, but perceived threat of climate...
Here’s a troubling statistic: More than 20 percent of coastal government officials surveyed as part of a recent study said they were only slightly informed about climate change. But even for those...
View ArticleEnvironmental Management Commission Chairman Steve Rowlan resigning
Steve Rowlan, chairman of the Environmental Management Commission for the past year, is resigning and moving to Utah. He announced his resignation via email to his fellow EMC members Monday. Rowlan was...
View ArticleIn north Durham, scientists tackle the health of the Eno River Watershed;...
For the next three weeks, a regiment of scientists and engineers, armed with dippers and water sampling bottles, will travel 72 miles of stream banks in the Eno River Watershed in Durham. They will...
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