In delaying recommendation, Duke University subcommittee concerned about...
For a university that has always been protective of its global reputation, contributing to global greenhouse gases through a natural gas plant is no way to burnish that image. That’s one of the...
View ArticleNorth Carolina scientists speak up, rally for research on Earth Day
To coincide with Earth Day there will be marches in over 300 cities Saturday to celebrate science and the role it plays in our everyday lives. With evidence-based science under attack in Washington...
View ArticleVery sneaky, cities — using science to buttress your buffer rules
T he bystanders and lobbyists who this afternoon popped over to the Senate Rules Committee from House Environment — where Rep. Jimmy Dixon was comparing the science behind spraying landfill juice into...
View ArticleSenate committee passes amended hog nuisance bill but private property rights...
A piglet’s journey from birth to slaughter to plate is short but circuitous. Over six months, she is born, weaned, grown, finished to weight, transported hundreds of miles in an 18-wheeler to the...
View ArticleIf you like paying higher water bills, you’ll love House Bill 351
I n the crush of the crossover deadline, House Bill 351 has received scant attention — just one more snowflake in the avalanche of legislation. But if it becomes law, customers of city-owned water...
View ArticleCrossover hangover: hog farm lawsuits, privatizing utilities and other...
G ood morning. Does your head hurt? Eyes feel like two fists that spent the night punching a wall? A tinge of nausea as the eggs are frying? Yes, me too. Crossover — when most bills must pass either...
View ArticleInstead of curbing pollution, state lawmakers consider funding chemical...
T o clean up the pollution in Jordan Lake, North Carolina lawmakers have tried arguing. They’ve tried SolarBees. They’ve even tried ignoring the problem. All those tactics have failed. Now state...
View ArticleKeep your kids away from the PCB-contaminated dirt behind Brier Creek...
B ehind the bustling Brier Creek Shopping Center in northwestern Wake County lies a quiet, unnamed stream that flows through a small office park and near a sidewalk. The dirt in this stream’s...
View ArticleFormer state senator Dan Clodfelter among Gov. Cooper’s appointments to...
T he North Carolina Utilities Commission is a bit of an odd bird. It originally oversaw trains, steam boats and telegraph companies, but in the 21st century is responsible for regulating public...
View ArticleDuke Energy to ask utilities commission for rate increase to cover coal ash...
Duke Energy Progress called them “rate adjustments” in its news release, but translated from utility-speak, this means a rate hike. Yesterday Duke Energy notified the utilities commission of its...
View ArticleRep. Jimmy Dixon, recipient of free federal money, accuses clean energy of...
Rep. Jimmy Dixon, the mastermind behind at least 10 anti-environmental bills this session, has targeted renewable energy as his ennemi du jour. He’s particularly incensed by tax credits and other...
View ArticleLet’s talk more about the bad idea of spraying garbage juice all over...
T he thought of being misted with landfill leachate gives new meaning to the term “eau de toilette.” But that’s what could be legalized under the “Allow Aerosolization of Leachate” bill, HB 576....
View ArticleGov. Cooper vetoes hog nuisance bill; new court documents show fecal bacteria...
Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed House Bill 467, which would sharply curb the rights of private property owners to sue hog farmers in so-called nuisance lawsuits.The bill had passed the House 68-47, and the...
View ArticleTwo paragraphs that sum up Trump’s attitude toward protecting the environment
The first two paragraphs of a New York Times story today sum up perfectly the approach the Trump Administration is taking towards protecting—or rather not protecting—the environment. The Environmental...
View ArticleThis week: What you need to know, where you need to be to follow...
The Magic 8 Ball’s messages are hard to read this week in that we know a) there will be an attempt to override Gov. Cooper’s veto of the hog nuisance lawsuit bill. But when that will happen, well...
View ArticleDEQ appeals Judge Fox’s ruling on Brickhaven mine, coal ash
The state appellate court will determine the difference between a mine and a landfill, now that the NC Department of Environmental Quality has appealed a previous decision restricting where coal ash...
View ArticleCiting a lack of public input, Southern Environmental Law Center challenges...
A long Highway 177 lies Dobbins Heights, a small, predominantly African-American community, on the northern edge of Hamlet. The main drag features a community center and a series of modest, tidy homes,...
View ArticleQuick hit: Senate’s environmental budget cuts key positions, services at DEQ
F ew people have had time to take a deep dive into the hours-old, 857-page Senate budget and accompanying policy document. But at first glance, the Senate appears to be punishing the NC Department of...
View ArticleWhen pigs fly: Hog nuisance bill clears first hurdle toward full override
Today in the House chamber the opening act upstaged the headliner. Before the House got down to its business of overriding Gov. Cooper’s veto of controversial House Bill 467, its members, per...
View ArticleAnalysis: In Senate budget large farms win, small farms and the environment lose
T he Senate could not be clearer about its policy priorities for the state’s agriculture barons. While lawmakers continue to prop up industrialized farm operations through, for example, the passage of...
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