The beaches are open, and locals as well as out-of-towners, all eager to escape the confines of their home, are heading to their favorite beach. Perhaps the lure of sun and surf has never been so enticing as folks yearn for some fun, freedom and escape from the restrictions imposed during COVID-19 lockdown.

The good news is that the beach is a great place to be. The chances of getting infected from COVID-19 are low, as the ocean breeze disperses the droplets that contain the virus, according to Frank Scholle, associate professor in biological sciences at North Carolina State University.

However, to keep the virus in check, it’s essential that all beachgoers practice social distancing. Otherwise, we could see outbreaks such as those that occurred in Florida in February, warned Cameron Wolfe, associate professor in Duke University’s infectious disease division.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that people will recognize they all have a responsibility to do a good job with some level of social distancing, and we can open the beaches and do it safely,” he said. “If we forget all the lessons learned in the last three months, I have anxiety.”

Last weekend, beachgoers seemed to be taking social distancing seriously. Most kept a good 6 feet or more of sand between themselves and other families. Many planned to move to another spot if their area became congested or to go to another beach altogether.

“We’re staying away from everyone,” said Dan Bruno, a Wilmington native who was at Wrightsville Beach with his daughter Sunday morning. “It’s really important that everyone adhere to some kind of rules.”

Many beaches, including those at Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, Surf City and on the Outer Banks, took measures to ensure the beaches were safe. Lifeguards, police, National Guard members or volunteers patrolled the beaches and reminded families to stay 6 feet from other groups and to follow the ordinances each town has enacted.

“Many tourists don’t know that they need to practice social distancing at the beach,” explained Sheila Nicholson, executive assistant to Carolina Beach’s town manager. “It’s an educational process.”

Regardless of parental or official admonitions, social distancing proved to be hard for some children. A few little ones ran right up to strangers, and others regularly traded sand pails and shovels. Some young people shared cell phones and sodas.

To ensure children stay safe, Lisa Brown, New Hanover County’s public preparedness coordinator, recommended explaining to children what they can and cannot do before visiting the beach and determining whether they can handle the environment.

“You have to know your family and how good they are going to be at social distancing,” said Brown.

Though no one was wearing a mask at the beach — there is that issue of a really funky tan line – health officials said it’s not a bad idea, especially if the beach is crowded.

Another recommendation is to keep beach trips short. This may be a necessity as numerous beaches have closed public bathrooms. Those that are open should be avoided, said Scholle.

“Bathrooms, especially on the beach, are not the cleanest, and it’s a small space,” he added.

Further, the longer people are at the beach, the more comfortable they become, said Brown. That’s when they may let down their guard and forego social distancing.

Another time when people relax is when they leave the beach. Looking at the activity in coastal communities Sunday, it was easy to forget there’s a pandemic. People crowded the streets of Wrightsville Beach, riding bikes, strolling along the sidewalks and passing within 2 or 3 feet of each other. Long lines formed for Carolina Beach’s Britt’s Donuts, where people sort-of social distanced from each other.

These are common and expected behaviors when beachgoers take a break from the seashore for some food, drinks or conviviality. That’s also when it’s most likely the virus will spread, said Wolfe.

“The beach isn’t the problem,” Wolfe said. “It’s what people do outside the beach. They crowd the ice cream vendor, sit down in close proximity in a restaurant beside the beach. Thirty people gathering and sharing large drinks is not social distancing.”

Instead, Wolfe recommended that people bring their own food, separate utensils for everyone in the family and take hand sanitizer to the beach. He also reminded beachgoers to keep social distancing in mind. They may also want to wear masks for that extra bit of protection.

If last weekend was an indication, beach popularity is at a record high. Surf City was as crowded as it was on July Fourth in years past, said Denise Lippert, administrative assistant for the Surf City Police Department.

Public parking at Carolina Beach was filled by 12:30 p.m., said Nicholson. The beaches will likely be as busy or busier during the long Memorial Day weekend.

“We could see quite a surge,” Brown said. “It’s great weather, and people are tired of being cooped up.”

To keep everyone safe, in addition to taking the precautions mentioned above, residents and visitors alike should be prepared to adjust their beach plans, Brown said. Their Plan B could be moving to another, less crowded beach or going to a park for part of the day.

“Be ready to be flexible,” Brown said. “Don’t put yourself in a higher area of risk.”

Additionally, those planning Memorial Day gatherings for family and friends should take steps to minimize the risk of the virus spreading. Brown recommended limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer, holding the event in a park so people can spread out and ensuring the gathering lasts only a few hours rather than all day.

If someone must hold a gathering at their home, the host should determine if everyone will use the same restroom and how the interior of the home will be kept sanitized.

“We must plan ahead, think through the potential risks, and how to manage or avoid them,” Brown said.

It’s the time of year when North Carolinians feast on that culinary delicacy, the humble oyster. But dining on oysters needn’t, and shouldn’t, be the end of the story. After the oyster’s gone, there’s the oyster shell, and advocates say it should be returned to the water where it can provide a safe harbor for future oysters.

That’s where the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program can help. The federation is publisher of Coastal Review Online.

“The North Carolina Coastal Federation is working with volunteers, local governments and businesses to rebuild the oyster shell recycling effort in North Carolina,” said Ted Wilgis, the federation’s coastal education coordinator in Wrightsville Beach. “We know oyster shells are important and that people want to be a part of the recycling effort.”

Oysters’ Vital Role in Our Ecosystem

Oysters could be called the powerhouses of the sea. These small organisms provide food, filtration and fish habitat, said Leslie Vegas, a coastal specialist with the federation’s Wanchese office.

First, oysters are central to the food chain. They are a food source for numerous animals including crabs, sting rays, skates and birds. And oysters, in turn, eat phytoplankton, the small bits of algae in the water. Second, oysters are one of nature’s most efficient and hardworking filtering systems: Just one oyster cleans 30 to 50 gallons of water per day. Third, oyster reefs are not only home to 75% of the fish and shellfish we eat, they also serve as spawning sites and nurseries for several species, said Wilgis. Finally, oyster reefs help stabilize the shoreline by buffering it from erosion.

Because they are necessary for both habitat restoration and ensuring a healthy oyster population, oyster shells may be as important as the oysters themselves.

“Oyster shells are essential to having a sustainable or resilient oyster population,” said Wilgis. “Oysters need coastal reefs, and coastal reefs need oyster shells.”

Though coastal reefs are often made of cultch material, such as crushed concrete, limestone or granite, this base must also include oyster shells, and the more the better. Oyster shells provide a hard surface with lots of nooks and crannies that oyster larvae prefer, because they can easily latch onto it and then grow their own shells.

“They (oyster larvae) prefer to land on themselves,” said Vegas. “If they don’t find a place to land in the water, they’ll die off.”

Oyster shells are deemed so valuable that in 2010 the North Carolina General Assembly made it illegal to dispose of them in landfills.

A Declining Resource

The state’s coastal regions are in dire need of oyster shells. Years of overharvesting has interfered with the oyster reproduction cycle, so much so that the state is at 15% of its historical harvesting rate, according to Vegas.

Climate change, too, has contributed to the decline of the oyster population. Changes in the ocean’s acidity and salinity as well as extreme weather patterns can make it difficult for oysters to spawn, make them less healthy and thus vulnerable to predators, or cause them to die. As an example, the influx of fresh water into the Cape Fear River during Hurricane Florence killed many of the river’s oysters.

“The Cape Fear River went from a brackish mixture of fresh and saltwater to a freshwater river, even almost to the mouth of ocean, for three weeks,” Wilgis said. “Oysters can’t tolerate that amount of fresh water, so most of the oysters in the Cape Fear River died.”

With the declining oyster population, demand for their shells is high. North Carolina and other coastal states compete for the same shells. In addition, businesses such as chicken feed manufacturers also vie for the shells. As a result, oyster shells are at a premium. The cost of a bushel of shells has risen from 25 cents in 1998 to the current price range of $3.50 to $7 a bushel, Wilgis said.

Oyster shell recycling fills the gap between the number of shells organizations can buy to build oyster reefs and how many are needed.

“Shell recycling is a way to get every last bit of shell that we can while trying to get it at the same cost as the other materials out there,” Wilgis said.

Rebuilding the Recycling Program

The Coastal Federation is working to rebuild the state’s oyster shell recycling program, which was phased out last year when it lost the last of its funding. In southeastern coastal areas of the state, the organization is partnering with counties and nonprofits to provide shell dropoff sites. In addition, New Hanover and Orange counties are hauling shells to the stockpile sites at no charge.

“The program is slowly getting off the ground, but we’re excited about the opportunities and that local governments are interested,” said Wilgis. “The local municipalities are excited because it keeps valuable shells out of the landfill. They also get the benefit of recycling and getting the shell back into the water.”

Wilgis said he plans to expand the program in the future. In addition to increasing the number of shell-collection sites, he wants to involve more businesses in the program. Wilgis said he is looking to convince restaurants, which are often big contributors to oyster shell recycling, to recycle their shells. Another goal is getting private waste hauling and recycling companies to take shells to stockpile locations at no charge. Through these efforts, Wilgis said he hopes to increase the number of shells recycled in the area from last year’s 1,000 bushels to 30,000 bushels.

“That’ll involve a lot of partnerships and getting the private companies and restaurants involved,” he said.

The federation’s northeast region is piloting a Restaurant to Reef recycling program. Volunteers, with backup help from federation staff, collect shells from participating restaurants and deliver them to public drop-off sites. The federation also, on a case-by-case basis, helps organizations holding large events coordinate the transport of their shells to a drop-off site, said Vegas. A third prong of the recycling effort is educational programming provided by the federation.

Like Wilgis, Vegas is working to grow the recycling program by securing more drop-off locations, adding more restaurants to the program and engaging more volunteers. Vegas said she also wants to secure funding for educational materials, outreach and supplies.

Volunteers are needed for both programs. Their assistance can be as extensive as volunteering regularly or by simply bringing a bag of five or six shells to drop off points.

“People get very excited about oyster shell recycling,” Wilgis said. “They feel a connection, that they can do something to help, whether it’s just a few shells or a lot of shells.”

The federation urges the public to enjoy oysters and then to take the next step: participate in oyster shell recycling. Volunteer or ask restaurants to participate in the oyster shell recycling programs and recycle oyster shells from family’s and friend’s dinners and oyster roasts.

WILMINGTON – Far from being a destructive force, fire is essential to North Carolina’s forests. Without fire, North Carolina’s state tree, the pine, and specifically the longleaf pine, as well as many other plants and animals that live in our forests, could disappear.

“Like rainforests need rain, our pine forests need fire,” said Angie Carl, coastal fire and restoration manager for the Nature Conservatory.

That’s why controlled, or prescribed, burns, which are fires that are purposely ignited to restore ecosystem health, recycle nutrients, or prepare an area for new trees or vegetation, are set in southeastern North Carolina’s forests every two to four years.

Controlled burns are so important the area hosts an annual Fire in the Pines Festival, at which children and adults can learn about these beneficial fires as well as a host of other environmental issues. This year the Fire in the Pines Festival will be 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at its location since 2013, Halyburton Park, 4099 S. 17th St.

The Southeast’s forests developed with fires, which occurred naturally and regularly. These fires achieved many of the same goals as today’s controlled burns — they cleared the forest ground layer and allowed sunlight to reach the forest floor. This enables a rich, diverse ecosystem to grow and thrive.

“These forests favor plants that are pollinators and the like, the ones that produce food and berries for the carnivorous plants and animals. Then the animals that are associated with those plant species prefer that area,” said Carl.

Hundreds of different plants in North Carolina’s forest must have fire to prosper. For example, there are tree cones that only open after a fire crosses them, plants that use smoke for pollination and other plants that don’t seed until they are burned. Some plants, such as the Venus flytrap, pitcher plant and orchids, depend on fire to remove grasses and other vegetation so their seeds can grow in bare ground.

Forests that develop with fire are good for birds and animals, too, said Carl. They produce flowers and insects that birds such as the red cockaded woodpecker feed on, as well as huckleberries, persimmons and acorns that make up the diets of large animals such as deer and bear. Also, forests that have been cleared by fire are more open, which some animals prefer.

Controlled burns are also a safety measure — they reduce the risk of wildfire. This is important, because North Carolina has the potential to have large wildfires. It has the largest area of wildland-urban interface, or more houses within the forests, than any other state in the country.

“The forests like to burn, they want to burn, they were developed with fire,” said Carl. “If we don’t burn them, the forests will burn at some point. Controlled burns reduce the effect of wildfires by slowing them down or even stopping them.”

Finally, controlled burns are vital to helping preserve our forests, and especially the longleaf pine forests, Carl said. Longleaf pine forests, which have the highest biodiversity east of the Mississippi River, used to be in nine states. Now, due to agriculture and the growth of cities and suburbs, only 5% of the longleaf pine forests remain.

“We’re losing this valuable resource and asset with all this biodiversity,” said Carl. “Doing controlled burns provides a great ecosystem that makes our southern forests really special.”

The Nature Conservatory, North Carolina Forest Service and Wilmington Parks and Recreation joined forces in 2010 to educate the public about the importance of controlled burns, and the Fire in the Pines Festival was born.

While festivalgoers can learn all about controlled burns, the area’s forests, their ecosystems and other environmental issues, they can also have a whole lot of fun.

A highlight of the day, weather permitting,  is the controlled burn demonstration, which Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and a local celebrity help with, but it faces stiff competition from Smokey Bear, Burner Bob and the fire engine and helicopter tours.

In addition, more than 60 environmental organizations and other participants will be on hand to answer questions and provide interactive, hands-on activities. And there will be animal exhibits including turtles, snakes and lizards, birds of prey demonstrations, carnivorous and rare plant displays, hayrides, games, arts and crafts, face painting, scavenger hunts and opportunities to win prizes — all accompanied by live music by the Folkstone String Duo. Attendees can satisfy hunger pangs at some of the area’s favorite food trucks, including Wheelz Pizza, Trolley Stop, A & M Red Food Truck and Poor Piggy’s BBQ & Catering. Except for food purchases the entire festival is free.

“The festival is a wonderful opportunity for families to come together with nature, have fun and learn about importance of environmental protection and controlled burning,” said festival organizer Francine DeCoursey.

Festivalgoers are encouraged to ride their bikes or hike to Halyburton Park via the cross-city trail. Drivers should park at 3147 S. 17th St., which is at the corner of Independence Boulevard and S. 17th St., and take the free festival trolley to the park.

Learn More

• Fire in the Pines Festival

WILMINGTON — Biodegradable food packaging seems to offer the best of all worlds — convenience and an environmentally friendly waste product. However, recent studies have shown that compostable food containers, as well as paper plates and fast-food containers, often contain short-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to repel water and grease.

Short-chain PFAS may pose significant environmental and health risks.

A study by Environmental Science & Technology Letters showed that PFAS are present in compost that includes food containers. Researchers found that seven facilities that accepted compostable food containers had PFAS concentrations from about 29 to 76 micrograms per kilogram of compost, while compost from facilities that didn’t accept food containers contained less than 8 micrograms of compost per kilogram of compost.

“The bad news is that PFAS are so prevalent in everything we do that it’s extremely difficult to have a lifestyle where you aren’t using something with these chemicals,” said Joe Suleyman, New Hanover County’s director of environmental management. “The grocery stores are full of food products that come in packaging that’s coated with this family of chemicals.”

The dangers that short-chain PFAS pose are multi-faceted. Even though short-chain PFAS stay in the body for a few days to a couple of months, as opposed to long-chain PFAS that stay in the body for years, we are exposed to them repeatedly. They’re used in food containers ranging from biodegradable food ware to convenience food packaging to hamburger wrappers and pizza boxes, and the accumulated effect adds up. Just as problematic is that short-chain PFAS never break down, even when composted, and they are extremely mobile. As a result, these substances leach into soil and water and end up in food crops, according to the report, Take Out Toxics: PFAS Chemicals in Food Packaging.

Furthermore, short-chain PFAS may be as harmful to our health as their ugly siblings, long-chain PFAS, which were banned in the U.S. in 2016 for their link to liver disease, thyroid dysfunction and several forms of cancer. Though scientists don’t know how short-chain PFAS affect human health, studies on this new generation of chemicals have found in laboratory tests that their effect on health resembles those caused by the older compounds, according to Take Out Toxics: PFAS Chemicals in Food Packaging.

Movement to ban PFAS in food packaging

The outcry against short-chain PFAS has been growing. In May, Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., introduced legislation to ban the use of toxic PFAS in food containers and cookware. The Keep Food Containers Safe from PFAS Act empowers the Food and Drug Administration to deem PFAS substances in any food containers or cookware unsafe and gives the FDA until 2022 to enforce this ban.

The industry, too, is working to limit short-chain PFAS in compostable products. The Biodegradable Products Institute, or BPI, which certifies compostable products and packaging, has put measures in place to restrict, and then eliminate, the use of fluorinated chemicals in products and packaging it certifies as compostable. BPI approved 100 parts per million total fluorine limit in its certification and said BPI certified compostable products and packaging that don’t meet the 100 ppm total fluorine requirement must be phased out of the marketplace by the end of 2019.

PFAS-free products available

Fortunately, food containers that don’t contain PFAs are available. Those composed of steam-pressed bamboo or palm leaves break down completely when composted, according to Suleyman.

Outer Vanguard, whose products are sold by the Wilmington Compost Co., also has a line of PFAS-free food ware. Made from sugarcane, these molded fiber plates and containers can be used in microwaves, keep food hot or cold and are water and grease resistant.

“Outer Vanguard is the only compostable product line that doesn’t contain a fluorinated compound,” said Riley Alber, founder of the Wilmington Compost Co. “It’s the first and only product line that meets new regulation standards.”

New Hanover County’s composting initiatives

New Hanover County’s food waste composting program, begun in November 2017, accepts food containers that have been BPI-certified compostable. With its “in-vessel” system, all composting is done in a sealed vessel at extremely high temperatures. However, the system doesn’t get hot enough to break down PFAS, which are made to withstand high temperatures, according to Suleyman.

That’s one of the reasons why New Hanover County doesn’t test for PFAS, even though it regularly sends its compost to state department of agriculture laboratories to ensure it’s a good product. Other deterrents to testing for these chemicals is their sheer numbers, the cost and difficulty finding test facilities.

“The concern for us is do we take this finished compost, send it off, and have it tested for PFAS, and if so which ones, because there are literally hundreds of them,” Suleyman said. “There’re very few labs that have the equipment or certification to do that sort of testing, and it’s very expensive.”

Suleyman said he would be surprised if there weren’t any PFAS in New Hanover County’s compost, but he expects the number would be low because 80 percent of the system’s compost is made up of preconsumer food waste or kitchen scraps.

New Hanover County has taken steps to ensure its landfill wastewater doesn’t contain undesirable chemicals that could leach into the ground and reach the Cape Fear River. This year the county tested wastewater that collected on the bottom of the landfill for 30 to 35 different compounds in the PFAS family. Wastewater that was treated with the system’s double reverse osmosis system showed no detectable levels of PFAS, compared with its untreated wastewater, which had 13,000 parts of PFAS chemicals per trillion, or 0.0000013%, said Suleyman.

“We were immensely relieved that the system did as advertised and literally removes everything,” Suleyman said.

WILMINGTON – The North Carolina State Ports Authority must answer a lot of questions about the Wilmington Harbor Navigation Project before it can begin widening and deepening the Cape Fear River to accommodate increasingly larger container ships from Asia and other locales.

After reviewing the first draft of the project’s federally mandated feasibility study, the Army Corps of Engineers responded with multiple issues the ports authority must address before giving the project the green light, Jerry Diamantides, senior economist with contractor David Miller & Associates, told the authority’s board of directors Thursday during its meeting in the North Carolina Maritime Building on Burnett Boulevard. Diamantides attributed the Corps’ numerous concerns to a change in process that prevented the contractors from collaborating with the Corps as they conducted the study.

However, Paul Cozza, the ports authority’s executive director, said the Corps’ response is part of the approval process and that resolving the issues will help ensure the project will not harm the environment.

“It’s extremely important to make sure the environment is as sound as possible,” Cozza said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re doing it correctly. If there are impacts, we’re going to be able to reverse them by doing mitigation… We want to get this in place but not on a basis of speed over quality. We want to have high quality and high speed at the same time, because that’s all part of what’s going to be affecting North Carolina.”

Getting the Corps’ approval on the first draft of the feasibility study is the first hurdle the project must overcome. Next, the Corps must approve the study’s final draft. Finally, the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works R.D. James must give the project a favorable recommendation, as authorized by Section 203 of the Water Resources Development Act. WRDA approval is the process by which the Wilmington Harbor Project would be eligible to receive federal funding.

Though the Wilmington project will compete with other harbor projects for WRDA funds, two factors may work in its favor, according to Daimantides. First, the Wilmington project has a positive benefits-to-cost ratio of 5:4. The construction cost, including interest accrued during construction, is $750 million, and the annual average equivalent cost, or the expense of owning and operating the expanded harbor during its useful life, is $30 million. The average annual equivalent benefits are $158 million, which results in average annual equivalent benefits of $129 million.

Second, the Wilmington Port is underused. It has a large port capacity that can serve landside as well as waterside transportation, but it doesn’t have the channel capacity to keep up with other ports.

“Many millions of truck miles will be saved by deepening the channel and keeping the Asian cargo coming through this port,” Diamantides said.

Cozza promised complete transparency through the approval process and said public hearings will be held after the first and final drafts of the feasibility study are released to the public, releases tentatively scheduled for November 2019 and April 2020, respectively. Ports Authority officials are optimistic that James will recommend the project to Congress prior to November 2020 so construction can begin as soon as possible.

Getting the project underway is important because the port lags its competitors in terms of readiness for larger ships, Diamantides said. Competing harbors have already begun deepening their channels: Savannah’s project to deepen its channel to 47 feet is scheduled to be completed in 2020, Charleston’s project to deepen its channel to 52 feet is scheduled to be completed in 2021, and Norfolk’s deepening to 55 feet is scheduled to be completed in 2025.

This first draft of the feasibility study recommends deepening the main ship channel from its current 42 feet mean lower low water in river reaches and 44 feet in the ocean entrance reaches to 47 feet in the river reaches and 49 feet in the ocean entrance reaches. Widening multiple areas of the channel to allow passage of the ships is also recommended. Without these changes, the Port of Wilmington won’t be able maintain its status as a port of call for U.S.-Asia East Coast services and would lose trade to Savannah and other ports with channel depths of 47 feet or deeper, according to Diamantides.

While the channel could be deepened to 48 feet, the 47-foot depth would keep the Wilmington port competitive and have the least environmental impact, Diamantides added.

The feasibility study, which includes the work of university professors and other environmental experts, shows that deepening the channel to 47 feet would have only minor impacts on the environment, according to Diamantides, who emphasized that groundwater would not be affected.

Environmental advocates have previously expressed concerns that further deepening the channel could put the Castle Hayne Aquifer, the drinking water source for much of eastern North Carolina, at risk of saltwater intrusion.

“We had a go, no-go with the groundwater,” said Diamantides. “There was no way the project was going forward with impacts to the aquifers. There are no impacts to groundwater resources.”

However, the project is not without its negative aspects, especially for Atlantic sturgeon and sea turtles, both of which are on the endangered species list. While the spawning habitat of the Atlantic sturgeon will not be affected, the same can’t be said for their foraging habitat. Sea turtles may be adversely affected during beach placement.

“There was no way the project was going forward with impacts to the aquifers. There are no impacts to groundwater resources.”

Jerry Diamantides, David Miller & Associates

Primary nursery areas would also be affected, which will benefit some species and harm others, according to the study.

The wetlands, too, would change as the saltwater wedges move farther upstream when the channel is deepened. However, those changes would be minor, said Diamantides.

There would also be minor changes in species composition in the tidal freshwater swamp and marsh, the result of an increase in salinity of less than 0.3 parts per 1,000. The impact on the salt and brackish marsh would be insignificant, according to the presentation.

Despite downplaying the environmental effects, Diamantes stressed that any environmental damage would be mitigated.

And there the feasibility plan has run into another roadblock. Because of requirements under the Section 203 process, the Corps was not involved in the ports authority’s study until the draft was published and presented. Though the contractors consulted with local, state and federal resource agencies, mitigation is an area the feasibility study can’t complete without the Corps’ input, Diamantides explained. So, for now, the feasibility study includes a placeholder for mitigation plans until the Corps weighs in and includes mitigation options, such as funded fish ladders for diadromous fish to navigate around man-made barriers.

Diamantides said that much in the feasibility study is likely to change to meet Corps officials’ concerns before the final study is released.

Learn More

• Section 203 study executive summary
• Section 203 study recommendations
• June 12 public notice