Bills advanced in the legislature Wednesday that would not only repeal the state’s 40-year ban on breakwaters, bulkheads, seawalls, jetties, revetments, and terminal groins, but also provide taxpayer dollars to build and maintain terminal groins.
News & Features
Coastal temperatures to soar this week, pose big health risks
Coastal counties are forecast to have a “real feel” near or in the 100s Thursday, and raises the concern that residents will experience warmer nights and longer heat seasons.
Brinson touts bills to ax ocean erosion-control structure ban
Sen. Bob Brinson discussed the bills last week in committee, measures that would undo four decades of coastal policy, just as the science advisory panel to the Coastal Resources Commission readies a report on these structures’ effects and effectiveness.
Crews set out to pull more abandoned boats from area waters
The North Carolina Coastal Federation, with a $450,000 grant from the BoatUS Foundation, has launched its latest effort to rid coastal marshes and waterways of abandoned and derelict vessels.
‘Too soon’ to see NC’s effects from a NextEra-Dominion deal
The potential $67 billion, all-stock merger of electric utilities, Virginia-based Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy, could boost further renewable power development in northeastern North Carolina and create a massive utility, but whether it will be an overall good thing for the Tar Heel State remains to be seen.
DMF to give update on blue crab stock assessment progress
The Division of Marine Fisheries stock assessment team during a May 28 webinar plan to review their work on developing a new benchmark stock assessment for the blue crab fishery.
Don’t get complacent with tropical outlook; ‘it only takes one’
Forecasters are calling for a below-normal season for hurricane activity in the Atlantic this year, but they warn, chances still call for as many as 14 named storms with as many as three major hurricanes.
EPA ‘strategy’ proposes to strike enforceable PFAS standards
The Environmental Protection Agency is wasting no time in advancing its plans to eliminate and reevaluate enforceable standards for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, including the compound branded GenX found in the drinking water sources of tens of thousands of North Carolinians.
Coastal Land Trust to host 16th annual Flytrap Frolic June 6
The N.C. Coastal Land Trust’s 16th annual Flytrap Frolic scheduled for June 6 in Wilmington will include carnivorous plant-themed games, arts and crafts and a limited number of ethically-sourced flytraps for sale.
Corps crews set to wrap up cleanup at Buxton FUDS site
Army Corps of Engineers officials say that by the end of May, seven months of work to remove tons of petroleum-contaminated soil, water and debris from the beach next to the original site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is expected to be complete.
Effort seeks to replicate tech incubators for shellfish growers
Framing it as a saltwater flavor of technology hubs, officials broke ground this week on the planned Shellfish Mariculture Hub in Carteret County that will feature a 2,500-square-foot structure next to the boat ramp at Straits Landing, cold storage, equipment, an outdoor workspace and water access for growers.
Watershed guide aims to help towns develop land use rules
Waterkeepers Carolina created the guide with support from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, to provide options to protect water quality and flood protection that local governments can consider when implementing in land use rules.
Emerald Isle officials consider tenfold increase of dune fines
It remains unclear why it was done, but the large-scale flattening of protective primary frontal dune at a newly built 12-bedroom, $6 million house in Emerald Isle has town officials eyeing stiffer penalties.
Recent rains did little for current drought: NC Climatologist
The rainfall most of the state experienced over the weekend didn’t help the varying degrees of drought conditions North Carolina has been experiencing for the last several months.
Speakers scold EMC, share health issues at PFAS rules hearing
About 230 crowded into Wilmington’s Skyline Center Thursday for the Environmental Management Commission’s hearing and dozens spoke, often angrily, about proposed PFAS monitoring and minimization rules.
Move to relax federal coal ash rules ‘potentially concerning’
The proposed loosening of federal coal ash disposal regulations is not expected to affect North Carolina’s robust management rules — at least for the time being.
