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Hamlet residents: “We don’t want to be crash test dummies” for facility that would process creosote-treated railroad ties
Comment period ends March 3 for International Tie Disposal site, proposed for an environmental justice community Barbara Brealy has attended Marks Creek Presbyterian Church in Hamlet all of her 80 years. Since last May, Brealy and her fellow 92 congregants — a third of them older than 65 — have attended Sunday services outside, forced out of their pews by the pandemic. The notion that they and future generations of churchgoers could be subjected to more than 100 tons of pollution from a proposed nearby facility did not sit well with her.
PW exclusive: The death of a pipeline
After years of effort, opponents of the cancelled Atlantic Coast Pipeline celebrate, reflect and look to the future Belinda Joyner had returned from Sunday church and was settling in for the afternoon when she heard the news. “Is this real?” Joyner asked her friend, who sent an email with the official announcement. “Yes,” her friend replied.
US Supreme Court hands win to Atlantic Coast Pipeline, but other hurdles remain for project
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 Energy and Duke Energy, can cross beneath the Appalachian Trail in Virginia’s George Washington National Forest. But the 7-2 decision, penned by Justice Clarence Thomas […]
NC appellate judges send Chatham, Lee coal ash case back to lower courts; new EPA emails could be pivotal
Chatham County Superior Court Judge Carl Fox and Administrative Law Judge Melissa Lassiter both made legal errors in separate decisions on a coal ash case, prolonging the matter into its third year. A three-judge panel of the NC Appeals Court today ruled unanimously that Lassiter improperly dismissed the case, which concerns the disposal of coal […]
Over widespread opposition, DEQ approves key water quality permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline
This post has been updated with an announcement from Gov. Roy Cooper. For more than a year, environmental and citizens’ groups have battled against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. But today, the NC Department of Environmental Quality granted a key permit that will allow the project to begin its 160-mile route through the state. DEQ’s Division […]
Where to put NC’s coal ash? Court of Appeals asked to rule on legality of high-profile option
It has been nearly four years since Feb. 2, 2014, when 39,000 tons of coal ash and 27 million gallons of contaminated water spilled from a failed impoundment at Duke Energy’s Dan River plant in Eden. And on Wednesday — Day 1,453 since the disaster that forever changed the state’s environmental landscape — a flight of lawyers appeared before a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Republic Services pulls the plug on leachate aerosolization test program
This is a developing story. There will be updates as more information becomes available. Leachate aerosolization, also known as “garbage juice in a snowblower” was not effective during a test program at a Republic Services landfill, Drew Isenhour, area president of Republic Services in North Carolina, confirmed to NCPW today. He said that the […]
Comment period ends Aug. 19 on state’s water permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline; plus a look at who’s in the blast zone
The NC Department of Environmental Quality is accepting public comment until Aug. 19 at 5 p.m. on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline’s application for a water quality certification and buffer authorization. This is known as a 401 certification. Submit comments by email with “ACP” in the subject line: [email protected] [dropcap] O [/dropcap] n three of the […]
After another legal setback, Charah will ask state appellate court for temporary stay in coal ash disposal suit
For a second time, Chatham County Superior Court Judge Carl Fox told Charah to talk to the hand. Fox yesterday rejected Charah’s request for a stay of his original order to stop disposing coal ash in parts of the Brickhaven mine while the case wends through the higher courts. Charah, the Kentucky-based coal ash disposal […]
Chatham, Lee residents head to court over disposing coal ash in abandoned mines
If it looks and acts like a landfill, is it a landfill? Superior Court Judge Carl Fox will weigh that question on Monday. Three environmental groups are asking Fox to review a legal decision that allows coal ash to be dumped in old slate and clay mines in rural Lee and Chatham counties. At issue […]