Environment

Waterfowl flocks on Lake Mattamuskeet

US Fish and Wildlife Service plans to chemically treat part of Lake Mattamuskeet

BY: - September 28, 2023

SWAN QUARTER — Officials at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge are considering permitting a relatively new pesticide in a trial project to study its effect on blue-green algae that has plagued the state’s largest freshwater lake. A draft environmental assessment of the proposed treatment on Lake Mattamuskeet was released earlier this month. Public comments are due by Oct. […]

a child gets water from a kitchen tap

More NC utilities are detecting PFAS in drinking water, but some aren’t telling their customers

BY: - September 27, 2023

Nearly a dozen public water systems in North Carolina, including four that had never previously reported PFAS in their drinking water, have detected levels of the toxic compound above the EPA’s proposed maximum contaminant level. And there is no state or federal requirement that these public water systems inform their customers of the results, leaving […]

a view from the Blue Ridge Parkway

How a looming government shutdown could hit national parks

BY: - September 27, 2023

National parks and nearby communities could forego millions of dollars per day during a partial government shutdown that could start this weekend. Would-be visitors will likely see restrictions on park access, though the extent of those restrictions was still unclear just days before a potential lapse in federal appropriations set to begin Sunday. Parks would […]

Tracy Anthony stands in front of a solar panel array

Battery storage seen as ‘backbone’ of reliable electric grid but adoption uneven across US

BY: - September 26, 2023

SEARCY, Ark. — In the decarbonized future envisioned by many states, utilities and the federal government, expect more power plants like Entergy Arkansas’ facility here, where thousands of gleaming panels and banks of batteries spread across 800 acres about 50 miles northeast of Little Rock. The Searcy Solar Energy Center, a 100-megawatt solar and storage […]

This is a photo of a metal building, about a half mile long, that housed the former Alcoa plant in Badin, in Stanly County

In the shadow of Alcoa, West Badin residents want you to visit their town to see the environmental threats they live with every day

BY: - September 25, 2023

The hulking metal shell of the former Alcoa plant in Badin, in Stanly County, is roughly a half-mile long and severs the west side — which is historically and predominantly Black — from the rest of town. Beneath the 700,000-square-foot building pollution from the smelting operations is curdling. For much of Alcoa’s tenure, there were […]

an aerial photo of a giant hog farm with eight long metal barns and two waste lagoons that appear to be purple

Ratified and en route to the governor, House Bill 600 defangs state environmental law

BY: - September 25, 2023

It began as benign, but over the summer House Bill 600, the Regulatory Reform Act, transmogrified into a Medusa of environmental rollbacks and favors to pipeline companies, the hog and poultry industries and other special interests. When the bill was filed in April, it contained an anodyne section requiring publicly funded animal shelters to keep […]

Water pours from a kitchen faucet

For the second time in two months, Burlington discharged toxic 1,4-Dioxane into Haw River, Pittsboro’s drinking water supply

BY: - September 23, 2023

Update at 12:20 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 26.: The Town of Pittsboro released the first sampling results for 1,4-Dioxane: Raw Grab from Intake – 6.77 parts per billion Finished Water Grab – 5.26 bppb Chatham Park Tank – 3.23 ppb Chatham Forest Standpipe – 3.07 ppb Million Gallon Tank – 2.60 ppb Horton Tank – 1.74 […]

two firefighters spray foam from a large hose

State budget includes money for PFAS, higher fees for electric cars, DEQ bonuses for speed

BY: - September 22, 2023

More than $55 million is included in the state budget to address PFAS contamination in drinking water, but given the vast scope of the problem in North Carolina, the money won’t go that far. The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority in Wilmington would receive $35 million: Roughly half is allocated for public water extensions to private […]

This is a photo of a a plastic tray and cup caught in some branches in a Durham stream.

Keep North Carolina filthy: Proposed budget could limit cities, counties from enforcing litter laws

BY: - September 21, 2023

This story has been updated with comments from Scott Mooneyham, spokesperson for the NC League of Municipalities, who could not be reached by deadline. Nearly 11.6 million pounds of litter was culled from North Carolina highways in 2022, according to transportation department figures, and that number doesn’t include the bags, bottles, dirty diapers, cigarette butts […]

a muddy creek

Durham housing developer allegedly violating Clean Water Act, jeopardizing Falls Lake

BY: - September 12, 2023

Falls Lake is going through some things. Fertilizer is running off from farm fields, entering its tributaries. Toxic compounds known as PFAS, whose sources remain a mystery, have been detected at and near the dam. And when it rains, clay muck flows from large clear-cut lots, suffocating nearby streams that feed the lake. Although the […]

DEQ fights back against ruling in favor of Wake Stone mine near Umstead State Park

BY: - September 11, 2023

Administrative Law Judge Donald Van der Vaart ignored evidence, committed logical errors and misinterpreted state law when he ruled in favor of Wake Stone, which plans to expand its Triangle quarry to abut Umstead State Park in Raleigh. Those are among the allegations included in documents filed last week by the NC Department of Environmental […]

the top of an oak tree seen from below

Over the past decade, Wake County lost 11,120 acres of trees — equivalent to 2,700 Walmart stores

BY: - September 7, 2023

On the northern edge of downtown Raleigh, Capital Boulevard is a parched and treeless hellscape where the sun wilts all who dare to cut through its parking lots. New Bern Avenue, east of WakeMed toward Knightdale, is an endless steppe of pavement where people waiting for the No. 15 bus crowd under mangy crepe myrtles, […]