…Mayor Bobby Owens leads a discussion in May among coastal mayors and state officials on how to continue the fight against proposed drilling and seismic exploration for oil and natural gas off the North Carolina coast. Photo: Kirk Ross Owens was chair of the Dare County Board of Commissioners during…
Search Results for: Kirk Ross
Conservatives Wary of Cooper’s DEQ Pick
…Cooper, left, introduces on Jan. 3 Michael Regan, his pick to lead the Department of Environmental Quality. Photo: Kirk Ross When Regan starts work this week at DEQ, he takes over at what is arguably the mostly heavily altered agency of the past four years. During brief remarks at the…
Coastal Review Online Wins 22 Press Awards
The award winners, from left: Sam Bland, Pat Garber, Trista Talton, Frank Tursi, Catherine Kozak, Kirk Ross, Mark Hibbs and Tess Malijenovsky. CHAPEL HILL – Coastal Review Online won almost two-dozen state press awards Thursday for its coverage of environmental and conservation news and issues along the N.C. coast. The…
Offshore Drilling Series Begins
…Swansboro, Rich covers the central coast for Coastal Review Online. He lives in Hubert with his wife, Gwen, their 18-year-old daughter and a rambunctious black lab named Satchmo. Kirk Ross: A longtime N.C. journalist based in Chapel Hill, Ross is the lead legislative reporter for Coastal Review Online. He explored…
Cooper Names Michael Regan to Lead DEQ
Michael Regan, Gov. Roy Cooper’s pick to lead the Department of Environmental Quality, speaks Tuesday, flanked by Cooper, left, and newly named Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon. Photo: Kirk Ross RALEIGH — Michael Regan, a longtime air quality specialist with the Environmental Protection Agency and most recently a senior southeastern director…
NC Environmental Policy Talks Mostly Secret
Sunshine Week, March 10-16, when news organizations highlight the many obstacles to transparency and openness in government, often focuses on the difficulties in accessing public records, secret meetings and other various ways to cloak government action. Kirk Ross Last year, I wrote about the difficulty of tracking proposals to change…
Independence Day on the NC Coast
Featured Photo A July Fourth fireworks display lights up the boardwalk at Carolina Beach, one of many North Carolina beach communities that celebrated the holiday with fireworks over the water. Photo: Kirk Ross Got a photo you’d like to share with Coastal Review Online readers? Please read our submission guidelines….
Court Halts Cooper’s Cabinet Confirmations
…Roy Cooper introduces on Jan. 3 Michael Regan, his pick to lead the Department of Environmental Quality. Photo: Kirk Ross In a conference call Tuesday evening, a three-judge panel heard arguments in the case and on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the confirmation process. The court is expected…
General Assembly: A Tale of Two Sessions
With galleries locked after disruptions, Jim Igoe of Durham stands outside listening to the state House session on his phone. A last-minute proposal to increase class sizes was not approved. Photo: Kirk Ross RALEIGH — There were two sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly last week, one aimed at…
Scientists Push Ahead With GenX Research
…Quality meeting last week. Photo: Kirk Ross It’s not like a television crime show where a forensic investigator puts a sample in a machine and the answer appears on screen in an instant, he said. “In reality, the science takes time and takes a lot of effort.” Mead said that…
Legislature Pauses, Environmental Bills Wait
…to return to Raleigh for sessions in both early August and September. Reps. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, and Larry Yarborough, R-Person, co-chairs of the House Environment Committee, speak during a recent hearing on the coastal storm damage fund. Photo: Kirk Ross Rep. Pat McElraft, R-Carteret, said it was clear as the…
Funds to Address GenX OK’d After Bitter Fight
…residents, to develop a treatment to remove GenX from the water supply. Members of the Environmental Review Commission tour the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority control room in Wilmington in August. Photo: Kirk Ross A key finding in a study that triggered the alarm in June about water quality in…
