violations
Siler City cited another $28K for water quality violations; public can comment on special order
Siler City’s wastewater treatment plant continued to violate the Clean Water Act last year, bringing total fines to more than $267,000 for chronic water quality issues since 2016, state records show. The latest fine of $28,000 was assessed by the NC Department of Environmental Quality for violations incurred last July. At that time, average monthly levels of […]
Siler City fined another $36K for continuing to pollute waterways
Siler City, whose chronic water quality violations have cost taxpayers $239,000 over the past six years, has been penalized another $36,000 by state regulators, recent documents show. The first penalty, for $20,000 stems from violations that occurred in May 2022. That’s when Siler City’s wastewater treatment plant discharged total nitrogen, which includes nitrites and ammonia, […]
Siler City continues to violate Clean Water Act, wants reprieve so Wolfspeed can build its major computer chip plant
The Town of Siler City, whose wastewater treatment plant has chronically violated the Clean Water Act, is asking state regulators for a reprieve so a major computer chip manufacturer can build and operate its factory there. Siler City has filed for a “Special Order by Consent” with the NC Department of Environmental Quality, according to a […]
Siler City wastewater treatment plant racks up more fines, files for Special Order by Consent
The NC Department of Environmental Quality has fined the Siler City wastewater treatment plant another $36,000 related to Clean Water Act violations the facility incurred in March, according to state documents, bringing the total to $154,000 in penalties over the past two years. As Policy Watch reported last month, the town’s wastewater treatment plant is […]
Mountaire chicken slaughter plant overwhelming Siler City wastewater treatment facility, which has incurred 80 violations, $110K in fines
State has imposed a moratorium on the Siler City facility for chronic noncompliance, preventing new sewer connections for new industry, housing Downstream from the Siler City wastewater treatment plant, sickness had beset the Rocky River. At least 30 fish, including the Eastern shiner and some species of chub, "were observed with lesions and appeared stressed," Tim Savidge, an aquatic biologist wrote in his field notes to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. "Gasping, irregular swimming, etc."
State Fair cited for environmental violations related to controversial parking lot
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture has been cited for four water quality violations related to its clear-cutting of 19 acres for a State Fair parking lot, according to environmental documents. The fair operates under the Agriculture Department. Policy Watch reported last September that State Fair officials had exploited legal loopholes to timber the […]
DEQ cites Colonial Pipeline for continuing violations regarding Huntersville gasoline spill, the fourth such notice this year
The NC Department of Environmental Quality has issued a Notice of Continuing Violation to Colonial Pipeline regarding with ongoing contamination from a major gasoline spill in Huntersville. The spill, which occurred in August 2020, released an estimated 1,289,190 gallons of product, equivalent to 30,695 barrels, the nation’s largest such spill onshore since at least 1997. However, […]
Chemours cited for violation over failure to rein in GenX emissions
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality today cited Chemours with a Notice of Violation for exceeding the facility-wide GenX annual air emissions limit as laid out a 2019 Special Order By Consent. Under the stringent emissions requirements in the facility’s air permit, Chemours emit no more than 23.027 pounds per year of GenX, a […]
Another bad actor discharging into the Cape Fear River: Cargill fined $75K
The Cape Fear River is again a casualty of industrial pollution and urban runoff, this time because of illegal and unknown discharges from Cargill, which processes and distributes soybeans and their byproducts in Fayetteville. The Environmental Protection Agency has fined the $100 billion company $75,500 in civil penalties as part of a proposed consent agreement that […]
This Week in Pollution: Randolph Packing cattle slaughter plant in Asheboro fined $48,000
The Environmental Protection Agency has fined Randolph Packing, a cattle slaughter plant in Asheboro, $48,000 for violations of the Clean Water Act. According to a consent agreement with the company, Randolph Packing had violated the terms of its federal wastewater discharge permit for five years. From 2011 to 2016, the company discharged “industrial stormwater” into […]
This Week in Pollution: A big fine for the Mt. Olive Pickle Company
For 24 of its 91 years in business, the Mt. Olive Pickle Company illegally discharged industrial storm water through a pipe that emptied onto Vine Street and flowed along Cucumber Boulevard. From there, an untold number of gallons — but over 24 years, it was likely in the millions — of untreated water continued to the corner of Relish and […]
EPA fines Syngenta $1.2 million for selling misbranded pesticides, failing to keep study records
For three years, Syngenta sold mislabeled pesticides and herbicides to consumers and farming supply stores hundreds of times in at least six states — even while the chemical company was paying fines for previous similar environmental violations. Syngenta, whose U.S. offices are based in Greensboro, was fined more than $1.2 million by the EPA for allegedly selling pesticides that were misbranded, had outdated labels and […]