Environment
Money doesn’t grow on trees: Wood pellet firm tells investors it’s in a financial crisis
Enviva, the world’s largest manufacturer of wood pellet fuel, which operates 10 plants in the Southeast, including four in North Carolina, is bleeding cash and experiencing serious financial trouble, company executives said on a third-quarter earnings call Nov. 9. Falling wood pellet prices and “operational challenges” could also force Enviva to default on some of […]
EPA reexamining importation of harmful chemical wastewater to North Carolina
This is a developing story and has been updated to include comments from Gov. Roy Cooper. The federal EPA is reviewing its previous authorization of imports of GenX wastewater from the Netherlands to Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant in North Carolina, according to an EPA official. That authorization was first reported by NC Newsline. “In response […]
Wildfires consume 2,100 acres of drought-stricken areas in NC mountains, prompting air quality alerts
A Code Red air quality alert has been issued for several southwestern counties of North Carolina because of smoke from wildfires that have burned more than 2,100 acres in the mountains. Drought-stricken Cherokee, Clay and Macon counties are under a Code Red — meaning the air is unhealthy for everyone, according to the N.C. Department […]
Dominion plans large liquified natural gas facility in Person County near Rougemont
Mangum’s Store anchors a corner of Moriah and Mt. Harmony Church roads in rural Rougemont, where it sells a little bit of everything: groceries, gasoline, even sleds – which actually get some use in Person County because it lies above the “snow line” in central North Carolina. Up the road, Sweet T Farm raises pork, […]
As industry struggles, federal, state offshore wind goals could get tougher to meet
Good news or bad news first? Because there was plenty of both this week for the fledgling U.S. offshore wind industry. On Halloween, the Biden administration announced that the nation’s largest planned offshore wind development, Dominion Energy’s 2,600 megawatt Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, received its last major federal approval. The same day, however, Danish […]
Navy base’s wretched reminders include more than petroleum in soils
BUXTON — Petroleum spilled and partially cleaned up at a long-abandoned U.S. Navy base at Cape Hatteras recently reemerged in clumps of peat soil after a storm. Last month, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stepped up to take responsibility for the cleanup, even though its source is technically uncertain. But the diesel smell and […]
Cristex Drum, a Superfund site in Oxford, receives $10m to clean up toxic legacy
Jeff Crowley has spent 21 years at the EPA traipsing through some of the most contaminated hazardous waste sites in the U.S. So when Crowley politely advised a crowd of people how to behave at the old Cristex Drum property, which is rife with solvents, asbestos and lead, no one argued. “If I don’t go […]
EPA explains why it authorized imports of GenX from Netherlands to NC
Oct. 30, 5:19 p.m.: This story has been updated with comments from Chemours. Newsline originally contacted the long-time spokesperson and received no response. That spokesperson retired earlier this month. The EPA had no legal authority to block exports of GenX wastewater from the Netherlands to North Carolina, the agency said this week, because of an […]
DEQ sampling drinking water wells near Sampson County landfill for PFAS
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality is sampling private wells near the Sampson County landfill to assess potential PFAS contamination in the drinking water, a DEQ spokesperson has confirmed. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration announced it is awarding $1 million to the state health department to address private well contamination throughout Sampson County. Residents whose wells […]
Gov. Cooper issues environmental justice order, says it will “last beyond this administration”
Every year, the 6,000 people who live adjacent to the Port of Wilmington, in New Hanover County, are assaulted with hundreds of tons of air pollution: from the concrete plants spewing their ultra-fine dust, the fumigation facilities legally emitting neurotoxins like methyl bromide and phosphine, the ships and trains and tractor-trailers exhaling plumes of diesel […]
EPA proposes ban on ‘extremely toxic’ TCE, found at dry cleaning sites, other areas throughout NC
Camp Lejune and Cherry Point. Chemtronics in Swannanoa and Cristex Drum in Oxford. All of these North Carolina Superfund sites — as well as hundreds of other locations statewide — have been contaminated with TCE, which the EPA calls “an extremely toxic chemical” known to cause liver cancer, kidney cancer, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. TCE also damages […]
Weekend reads: A controversial court ruling, GenX imports, redistricting, and much more…
NC Appeals Court: Mom who committed crime while pregnant can lose parental rights By Kelan Lyons Judge Murphy justifies decision because ‘life begins at conception’ The state Court of Appeals issued a ruling Tuesday that affirmed the termination of a mother’s parental rights — even though the child hadn’t yet been born at the time […]