The Environmental Protection Agency has informed North Carolina regulators it has invoked a 60-day extension to review the automotive textile and technology manufacturer’s draft permit to discharge compounds into the Northeast Cape Fear River.
News & Features
Southport board OKs land offer to NC Wildlife Commission
The Southport Board of Aldermen voted 4-2 last week paving the way for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to purchase more than 400 acres in town for permanent conservation.
Cape Fear Creek Week to put focus on region’s waterways
Cape Fear Creek Week, March18-24, is a multi-organization educational effort to connect New Hanover and Brunswick counties with its creeks, rivers, and streams.
CRC adopts 16 rules to keep natural resources protected
The Coastal Resources Commission on Wednesday unanimously adopted the rules that temporarily replace protections axed last October.
Funding resolution omits $14M for national wildlife refuges
The deal reached last week to avert a government shutdown further reduced funding for national wildlife refuges, including those already stretched thin along the North Carolina coast.
State’s climate plan adds carbon sequestration component
State environmental officials’ new, “different approach” to reducing greenhouse gas emissions puts the spotlight on the climate benefits natural and working lands conservation brings.
Dirty birds prompt worry over shellfish safety, state staffing
It’s rare for bird droppings to cause shellfish illness, but officials say there is potential, and the state Division of Marine Fisheries has fewer than 60 officers along the entire coast to do federally required inspections and check deterrent effectiveness.
Decision upholds legislature’s board appointment shifts
Gov. Roy Cooper won a partial victory last week in his challenge to the North Carolina General Assembly’s move to wrest his appointment powers, but Republican leaders have already filed to appeal.
$19.2M Hatteras Lighthouse restoration gets underway
The Feb. 14 ceremonial groundbreaking kicked off the 18-month, comprehensive project to restore Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the first for the brick structure since its 1870 construction.
National Invasive Species Awareness Week highlights risks
Biologists, extension agents and foresters here on the North Carolina coast say National Invasive Species Awareness Week, Feb. 26-March 3, is an important time to learn how to limit the spread.
Administration unveils $3B plan for cleaner air near ports
EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the new federal program’s launch Wednesday at the N.C. Port of Wilmington.
Officials see a future for historic Mattamuskeet Lodge
An estimated $14.4 million renovation is planned for the deteriorating former pumphouse, which was part of a failed project in the early 1900s to drain the lake for agriculture and a county landmark.
Diesel odor returns to Buxton beach; source still unknown
A Defense Department project purportedly cleaned up petroleum and debris from a former Naval base site on a Hatteras Island beach, and while the source of recurring fumes and sheens on the water remains a mystery, erosion has revealed a messy past.
Southport advances plan to sell habitat-rich acreage to state
Wildlife Resources Commission is closer to purchasing more than 400 acres from Southport for conservation after a majority of Brunswick County town’s aldermen said they intended to sell the land to the state in a majority vote.
A million new acres: Cooper sets lofty conservation goals
Environmental advocates are calling the governor’s latest executive order to conserve and restore forests and wetlands and plant 1 million trees in urban areas “ambitious and important.”
An era ends: Wanchese seafood operation to close in March
The parent company of Wanchese Fish Co., an Outer Banks small business launched 88 years ago and with an outsized presence in the seafood industry, has confirmed the fish operation will be shuttered March 29.
