Sierra Club
‘Shame! Shame! Shame!’ Opponents of LNG plant outraged after Person County approval
It took nearly two hours for dozens of opponents of a proposed liquified natural gas plant in Person County to explain how the project – aspects of which have been crafted in secret – would harm them, the environment and the planet. The county commissioners took less than 20 seconds to approve it. Over the […]
Report says many utilities are slow-walking clean energy goals
Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress ranked among the nation’s worst DENVER – A report released this week by the Sierra Club faults dozens of utilities that provide a major chunk of U.S. electric generation for failing to speed up their decarbonization efforts. “For the sake of our communities and planet, we must do […]
When finished, Kitty Hawk offshore wind project could power up to 700,000 homes
Video by: Claire Galt Graphics by: Kendal Orrantia Photos by: Elise Mahon Offshore wind — clean renewable energy produced by turbines taking advantage of wind speeds — has recently seen an uptake at federal and state levels, including in North Carolina. A new offshore wind project has been approved for the Outer Banks, and another is proposed […]
Experts see a dire warning for North Carolina in new climate crisis numbers
State officials release "resilience plan," but political will remains in question In addition to deaths worldwide from COVID-19 and record unemployment, the globe surpassed another portentous record last month: The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached the highest ever recorded — 417.1 parts per million, according to an announcement yesterday by NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
EPA undermines mercury, air toxics rules and no one’s happy except coal companies
Duke Energy is among many of the nation’s utilities that oppose the EPA’s latest gutting of air pollution rules, which discount health benefits of the regulations while amplifying the economic ones. Known as MATS — Mercury and Air Toxics Standards — the rule regulates emissions of the potent neurotoxin mercury and other hazardous air pollutants from […]
Comments due today on proposed state rule to loosen regulations on digital billboards
North Carolina environmental advocacy groups are calling on concerned groups and individuals to weigh in by today’s deadline in opposition to a proposal from the state Department of Transportation to loosen billboard regulations. The proposal would override local ordinances and allow billboards with a state permit to be converted to digital and raised to 50 […]
Appellate court orders construction to halt along all 600 miles of Atlantic Coast Pipeline
All construction has stopped along the 600-mile route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, including in North Carolina, after a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last Friday. The basis for the court’s stay is the risk pipeline construction presents to four endangered species: the Indiana bat, Clubshell mussels, Rusty-Patched Bumblebee and the Madison Cave Isopod. […]
MVP Southgate officially files with feds to build natural gas pipeline; DEQ joins chorus of opponents questioning its necessity
Now that MVP Southgate has submitted its official 582-page application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build a new natural gas pipeline in North Carolina, opponents are increasing their pressure on state and local officials to stop the project. MVP Southgate would be an extension of the larger Mountain Valley Pipeline project, now on […]
Note to SBI: No need to spy on pipeline opponents — they’re hiding right here in plain sight
As Policy Watch environmental reporter Lisa Sorg reported yesterday (“State Bureau of Investigation unit prepared “threat assessment” of Atlantic Coast Pipeline protestors”), state law enforcement officials have been spying on, or at least, monitoring, opponents of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — the highly controversial energy project that threatens to bring significant environmental harm to eastern […]
Low levels of perfluorinated compounds detected in Durham drinking water; new statewide monitoring system proposed
In early spring, Lake Michie stirs to life, with fishers and the Duke University women’s rowing team taking to the water at dawn. The 480-acre reservoir near Bahama is not only a source of largemouth bass, but it is also a boating destination, and it provides Durham with 30 million to 35 million gallons of […]
Concerned about harm to sea life, DEQ temporarily blocks energy companies from seismic air gun testing off NC coast
New science about the hazards of seismic air gun testing could waylay plans of four international companies that had planned to explore and drill for oil and gas off the North Carolina coast. As part of its consistency review, the state Division of Coastal Management late last week asked the companies for more information about […]
In veto, Gov. Cooper calls HB 56 “cynical legislation that does nothing to protect drinking water”
On the House floor in the final minutes of the August session, Democratic Rep. Darren Jackson had a crystal-ball moment. He called out his Republican colleagues for their last-minute, controversial appropriation to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority so it could” urgently” address the GenX drinking water crisis — an urgency lost on the […]