“Despite its best efforts, NMFS does not have sufficient time to finalize this regulation in this Administration due to the scope and volume of public comments,” NOAA said before Trump’s inauguration Monday.
EPA to NC: Solvent discharge limits deadline ‘mandatory’
A pending lawsuit notwithstanding, the Environmental Protection Agency has put North Carolina on notice: There’s no extension of the time frames for addressing the federal agency’s objections regarding the discharge of 1,4 dioxane into waters upstream of the Cape Fear.
Sleepy Creek trail segment planners intend to ‘keep it wild’
The idea behind a planned new portion of Mountains-to-Sea Trail through the Holly Shelter Game Land’s lush pocosin in Pender County is to lure hikers safely away from Highway 17 and most other signs of civilization.
Coastal Land Trust secures final million to buy ‘The Point’
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is awarding $1 million to the state and conservation organizations to protect the 150-acre, undeveloped tract at the southern end of Topsail Beach.
Biden makes protections from offshore drilling permanent
President Joe Biden on Monday used his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to withdraw from new oil development the entire East Coast, eastern Gulf of Mexico, West Coast, and remainder of Alaska’s northern Bering Sea.
Incoming environmental chief Reid Wilson revisits his roots
Former Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson sees important opportunities and challenges in terms of public health and environmental protection in his new role as Department of Environmental Quality secretary in the Stein administration.
Chemist develops purification system that removes PFAS
UNC Charlotte professor Dr. Jordan Poler received a grant aimed at helping make his lab’s water-purification method, which cleans drinking water of toxins including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, available to consumers.
Oyster farmers argue penalty too harsh for minor violations
Shellfish farmers are petitioning the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission to change the punishment for what farmers call clerical errors and minor permit violations.
Teams take to sky to survey North Atlantic right whales
Small survey teams will again this year collect information and aerial imagery off the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts on North Atlantic right whales during calving season.
Inundation-prone Sledge Forest site set for development
A sprawling, “rare, old-growth forest” on the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River in New Hanover County that’s a key part of the river floodplain is targeted for a massive 4,000-home golf course/equestrian development with few options for opponents to stop it.
Anger at commission boils over during PFAS rules hearing
Public outrage greeted the state Environmental Management Commission Monday in Wilmington for its latency in adopting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance health standards, for including only three compounds in the proposed standards, and for appeasing the industries that make the chemicals.
Warming oceans intensified hurricanes’ strength: Studies
Human-caused climate change has pumped up peak, pre-landfall Atlantic hurricane wind speeds by an average of 13 to 18 mph in recent years, according to the authors of two companion research papers published Wednesday.
Wildlife officials push back on straw bales for sand fencing
Wildlife Resources Commission officials are calling for thorough research on how wheat straw bales might affect oceanfront habitat before the state allows them to be used as an alternative to sand fencing.
Superintendent’s warning to coastal commission rings true
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac had told the Coastal Resources Commission last week that Rodanthe homes were apt to fall this weekend. It took fewer than 48 hours for the first to collapse.
CRC adopts permanent rule to protect Jockey’s Ridge
The Coastal Resources Commission was unanimous in its approval that re-designates Jockey’s Ridge as a unique geologic feature area of environmental concern to again protect the towering dune system in Dare County.
Topsail Island towns team to eradicate harmful beach vitex
Topsail Island towns are banding together in an attempt to reduce the presence of the invasive plant that chokes out native vegetation on oceanfront dunes.
