The deadline to apply for a standard commercial fishing license is fast approaching.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries standard commercial fishing license, or SCFL, eligibility board is to meet Oct. 14 to consider license applications that are deemed complete and submitted by the Sept. 21 deadline.

The division, under the state Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to and carries out the rules and regulations mandated by the Marine Fisheries Commission.

The standard commercial fishing license is issued annually to an individual or business that allows the commercial harvest of fish, shrimp, crab and other marine species from state coastal waters and the sale of that harvest to a licensed dealer. The SCFL Eligibility Board meets two to three times a year to consider license applications.

For directions on applying for a commercial fishing license, visit the Division of Marine Fisheries website and click on the Eligibility Pool Application link.

For more information on the meeting, contact division License Eligibility Clerk Ann Bordeaux-Nixon at 910-796-7261 or Ann.Bordeaux-Nixon@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission’s water quality committee is to hold a special virtual meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday to consider proposed amendments intended to clarify existing rules for the Division of Mitigation Services.

The Environmental Management Commission oversees and adopts rules for several divisions of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, including the divisions of Air Quality, Land Resources, Waste Management and Water Resources.

If the committee approves the draft language, the changes are to go before the entire commission at its next meeting sometime in September.

The Division of Mitigation Services is a DEQ initiative that “restores and protects wetlands and waterways for future generations while offsetting unavoidable environmental impacts from development projects,” the website states.

As part of the rules review process, which is required by statute every 10 years, staff recommend minor technical and administrative changes to “improve clarity, consistency, and update references to URLs and rules in other subchapters. This should make understanding the rules easier for program customers who elect to use the DMS (in-lieu fee) programs, without imposing new costs, rates, or substantive requirements,” documents state.

The in-lieu fee is the division’s appropriate stream or wetland rate multiplied by the total number of stream or wetland compensatory credits.

Meeting information, including the link to join, agenda and supporting documents are on the commission website. An in-person listening station will be set up in the Archdale Building in Raleigh for those unable to view the water quality committee meeting online.

The state’s long-term strategy to support coastal fisheries by improving and protecting habitat is currently undergoing the required five-year update.

With the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, steering committee’s approval Wednesday during a web conference, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries staff are to present over the next few months the draft 2026 amendment to the Environmental Management, Marine Fisheries and Coastal Resources commissions.

The three state commissions that adopt rules for air and water quality, state fisheries, and coastal development, respectively, are to decide at their next meetings on sending the draft chapters out for public comment.

The commissions adopted the first CHPP in December 2004, a directive of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997. The plan is to provide “information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats,” according to the division. The steering committee is made up of members of the three commissions.

Charlie Deaton, habitat protection supervisor with the Division of Marine Fisheries, explained to the steering committee that the four draft issue papers address ecosystem-based management, strategic habitat areas, planning for multi-decadal wetland change, and seagrass protection and restoration.

The 2016 CHPP serves as the base plan and was updated in 2021. The goal for the final adoption of the 2026 amendment is in November, he said.

Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Michelle Brodeur explained that the 2021 CHPP amendment established the foundation to improve monitoring coastal habitats.

Some progress has been made but the actions put forward were largely dependent on acquiring new, long-term funding and “that’s brought us in this cycle to look at alternative ways to incorporate our ecosystem data into our management decisions with the resources that we do have,” Brodeur said.

“In this issue paper, we discuss how DMF currently uses ecosystem data and management and then describe a framework moving forward for using what ecosystem data we do have to inform our decision-making,” she said. Some of the recommendations include determining management goals, determining ecosystem indicators and establishing appropriate thresholds. From there, work through the process of creating a progress report to fulfill “our 2021 CHPP action of providing a public-friendly ecosystem report card for our stakeholders.”

The draft paper on strategic habitat areas, Brodeur continued, looks at confirming that certain locations qualify as the locations described as having high-quality, connected habitats.

The process to identify these areas began in 2006 in order to “protect the biodiversity and ecological function of coastal habitats through non-regulatory approaches,” according to the presentation. Researchers and staff nominated locations from 2009 to 2018, and the sites recommended in the central and Cape Fear area, called regions 3 and 4 in the paper, were evaluated in a four-year study completed in 2021.

The study validates “our initial goals of identifying areas that provide exceptional habitat function by supporting a higher abundance and diverse fish populations,” Brodeur said. The results of the validation study, in combination with the findings that the strategic habitat areas had a more diverse estuary landscape, higher abundance of structured habitats, and less alteration in areas outside of the strategic habitat areas, lend further support for the designation of the nominated areas.

Due to the time and cost of the 2021 study, staff plan to explore the possibility of using existing independent sampling for proposed strategic habitat areas in the northern two regions, which are the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, Brodeur said.

Fisheries Resource Specialist Derek Detweiler told the handful connected via the web conference that the chapter for planning for wetland change concentrates on thin-layer placement, or TLP, which is a “coastal wetland restoration or enhancement strategy whereby material (often dredged sediment) is intentionally placed on a wetland to increase its elevation while maintaining hydrology and inundation durations necessary for native (targeted) wetland vegetation to persist,” according to DEQ.

Detweiler said thin-layer placement was selected because of its potential to promote sediment accretion and restore impaired habitat by increasing marsh elevation and surface area through what is known as the beneficial use and placement of dredge material.

“For the purpose of this CHPP amendment, TLP is viewed strictly as a tool for the restoration and enhancement of existing wetlands, and not for the disposal of dredge material, not for the creation of new wetlands, or not for the mitigation of other wetland impacts,” he said.

The draft paper goes into extensive detail about the process Detweiler called “relatively unexplored” on a large scale in the state, highlights different case studies across the Eastern United States, includes site assessment and monitoring guidance the Division of Coastal Management developed in 2022, and regulation, policy and permitting aspects.

“We are interested in how TLP is viewed under the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act and Dredge and Fill Law,” he said. The Coastal Resources Commission adopts rules for both CAMA and Dredge and Fill that are carried out by the state Division of Coastal Management, part of DEQ.

Any permit application for TLP would be denied under current regulations but could still be eligible for a variance from the Coastal Resources Commission, he said, adding that the growing interest in the process could lead to a need for rulemaking.

Detweiler noted that the projects in other states have varying degrees of success.

“The most important consideration with successful thin-layer placement is placement thickness relative to the local tidal frame,” he explained, “Ensuring that any elevation you raise within the existing marsh retains an elevation between sea level and mean high water to really promote native species growth within those marshes.” Those factors vary specific to location and the best past forward would be to evaluate projects in North Carolina on a specific case-by-case basis.

The goal for the paper, Detweiler said, is to highlight failures and successes. What they don’t want to do with this section is offer any endorsement of thin-layer placement or imply that the state must have a certain number of these projects completed within the next CHPP cycle.

“We just want to provide that information as an option moving forward because it has sparked interest in the state,” he said. “Commissioners and other stakeholders can use that information to kind of make that decision moving forward for each project.”

Marsh migration continues to be a priority for the CHPP, he added, and continued efforts will build on guidance from the 2021 CHPP, such as continuing to support and collaborate with the North Carolina Coastal Federation on marsh migration planning. The nonprofit Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review

The draft submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, protection and restoration chapter considers the progressive loss of seagrasses in North Carolina waters and what can be done to slow the process.

The findings in the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership’s recently updated report to a 2021 study on high salinity seagrass extent to “continued loss of high salinity seagrasses coastwide at a rate of a little over 1% per year, and we’ve lost 50% of our continuous meadows,” Deaton said about the report using data from aerial surveys conducted from 2006 to 2020.

Related: North Carolina’s seagrass habitat continues to decline: Study

“A lot of those are converting from continuous coverage to patchy coverage, and notable losses on the western, deeper side of the seagrass beds, particularly those that blanket the Outer Banks. So, in short, our seagrass beds are disappearing, and they’re becoming patchier over time. And this is a trend that’s been holding up for a while,” he said.

CHPP’s 2021 update proposes actions to protect seagrass, including proposed water quality standards. Researchers determined how clear the water needs to be for sunlight to reach the plants, a necessary part of the photosynthesis process. Getting the Environmental Management Commission to approve the standards is running behind though.

Deaton said the intent is for DEQ staff to continue facilitating “progress on the proposed water clarity standard to protect SAV, and we anticipate this coming back to the EMC sometime next year.”

The second part of the seagrass chapter, Marine Fisheries Habitat and Enhancement Section Chief Zach Harrison said, considers seagrass physical protection. The push to investigate what authority the Marine Fisheries Commission has to protect seagrass was spawned by a request in 2023 to look at trawling. The commission then in 2024 directed division staff to look at more comprehensive seagrass protections that the commission could mandate.

Staff found that the commission’s authority includes impacts to the entire ecology that supports marine and estuarine resources, and that most habitats addressed in the CHPP can be managed by the Marine Fisheries Commission.

Deaton said that the final section of the seagrass protection draft addresses proposed permitting for the growing interest in active seagrass restoration from the private sector.

“We’ve put together in this CHPP the pieces of what we think kind of the most common upcoming SAV restoration techniques might look like,” he said, and details a permitting framework.

“We’re going to call for a work group to continue to explore both some ecological concerns surrounding the practice and potential barriers and identify research needs,” he said. “One of the potential downsides that comes with sourcing from a broader area is increasing the likelihood of an incidental import of an invasive species. So, trying to manage some of those concerns with transplanting will be important moving forward. And additionally, coordinating with aquatic reed control treatments, because the last thing you want to do is restore your SAV bed in an area that might get sprayed for invasives.”

The Multistate Environmental Response Trust is hosting a community meeting Tuesday, July 28 to provide updates to ongoing and upcoming work at the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. – Navassa Superfund Site.

Topics to be covered at the meeting include the removal of contaminated soil temporarily staged in an area of operable unit 4, or OU4, of the former wood treatment facility. The pile of contaminated soil is expected to be removed and disposed of in a federally approved landfill by November, according to a release.

During the meeting, which is being held in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, officials will also discuss upcoming OU4 cleanup work, the proposed cleanup plan for OU3, updates on the proposed Moze Center land donation and conservation easement, local contracting, and other site updates.

The contaminated soil is being removed because it could potentially impact groundwater. The pile staged in OU4 also contains soil that does not pose a risk of leaching into groundwater. That soil will be consolidated in the on-site former fire protection pond disposal unit. A copy of the staging pile remedial action workplan is available online.

After the EPA finalizes the plan for cleaning up OU3, which is the 32-acre southern marsh, the agency will schedule a public meeting and update the site’s profile page.

The meeting will be held 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in-person at the Navassa Community Center, 338 Main St., or online by Zoom or by typing tinyurl.com/Navassameetings into a browser, or by telephone at 301-715-8592, meeting ID 946 584 8922, passcode 664564.

An in-person only drop-in session will be held 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the community center.

Elevated levels of a federally deemed likely cancer-causing substance were detected in a sample collected earlier this month from a municipal wastewater treatment plant that discharges into the Cape Fear River Basin.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources announced Wednesday it had been notified that elevated 1,4-dioxane levels were discharged from Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant into Hasketts Creek, which empties into the Deep River.

A sample collected by the plant July 10 detected a concentration of 2,010 parts per billion, or ppb, of 1-4 dioxane, an industrial chemical used for a variety of purposes.

For downstream water supplies to remain safe, DEQ has determined the Asheboro plant should keep its monthly average 1,4-dioxane discharge at or below 22 ppb. DEQ uses U.S. Environmental Protection Agency toxicity calculations for lifetime exposure to determine safe levels of 1,4-dioxane discharges.

State water resources officials have taken additional sampling since July 10 and are awaiting to confirm the results of those samples, according to a release.

The Division of Water Resources has notified several downstream drinking water utilities about the elevated levels. Those utilities include Bladen Bluffs Water System, Brunswick County, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, the city of Dunn, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, Harnett Regional Water, International Paper Co., Pender County, Pilgrim’s Pride Water System and the city of Sandford.

“DEQ continues to monitor the levels of 1,4-dioxane discharged by wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Fear River Basin,” according to a release. “Significant reductions have occurred at one wastewater treatment plant through a collaborative effort with municipal operators. DEQ continues to work with the remaining municipal operators.”

Asheboro and division officials are in an ongoing court battle over the division’s inclusion of 1,4-dioxane discharge limits in city’s August 2023 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit.

In early February, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled that the limits set by the state were properly included in the plant’s discharge permit. Asheboro appealed and the limits are stayed until the case is heard by the Court of Appeals.

Publisher’s Perspective

North Carolina’s coast is one of our state’s greatest assets. It is an economic engine, a source of food and livelihoods, a natural defense against storms, and an irreplaceable part of our heritage.

That is why the budget recently approved by the North Carolina General Assembly deserves recognition. It makes meaningful investments that will benefit the coast, and the entire state, for years to come.

At a time when bipartisan accomplishments can seem increasingly rare, legislators came together to protect our waters, strengthen coastal communities, and ensure that future generations inherit a healthier, more resilient coast.

Among the important achievements is the establishment of permanent funding for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels. These boats are more than eyesores. Left unattended, they pollute coastal waters, damage marshes and oyster habitat, threaten navigation and become even more hazardous after hurricanes.

For the past several years, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has partnered with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, and other organizations to build the state’s largest abandoned vessel removal program. Hundreds of vessels have been removed from public waters in the years following Hurricane Florence. That work has relied on a patchwork of temporary state, federal and private funding. Without a permanent solution, the program was in jeopardy.

The General Assembly changed that in this year’s budget by providing recurring funds to remove abandoned and derelict vessels. With stable funding, North Carolina can respond more quickly after storms, attract additional federal dollars and keep dangerous vessels out of our coastal waters for years to come. Sen. Michael Lee of New Hanover County deserves special recognition for his sustained efforts and support for this funding.

The budget also supports projects that improve water quality, strengthen coastal resilience and help preserve the natural resources that sustain both our economy and our quality of life. Healthy coastal waters and habitats support commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, military readiness, property values and local jobs throughout coastal North Carolina. Taken together, these investments recognize that protecting the coast is not simply an environmental priority, it is an economic one.

These accomplishments did not happen by accident.

They reflect years of collaboration among legislators, state agencies, local governments, conservation organizations, fishermen, business leaders and coastal residents who understand that good stewardship and a strong economy go hand in hand.

Sen. Norm Sanderson and Rep. Celeste Cairns, both representing Carteret County, also deserve particular praise for their leadership on the Coastal Federation’s budget requests this year.

And I want to recognize the many members and supporters of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Our ability to advocate effectively — in coastal communities and in the halls of the Legislative Building in Raleigh — is possible only because thousands of citizens, businesses, foundations, and other partners invest in our mission. Their support gives us the expertise, credibility and persistence to work across party lines and help turn good ideas into public policy.

Advocacy is often measured by what makes headlines. More often, however, it is built through patient relationship-building, sound science, practical problem-solving, and a willingness to find common ground. This year’s budget demonstrates what can happen when those ingredients come together.

Of course, our work is far from finished. North Carolina continues to face growing challenges from storms and flooding, aging infrastructure, development pressures and changing coastal ecosystems. Meeting those challenges will require continued partnership, innovation, and sustained investment.

This budget reminds us that protecting North Carolina’s coast is not a partisan issue. It is an investment in our economy, our communities and the natural legacy we will leave to future generations. That’s something every North Carolinian can celebrate.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality staff are in the process of updating the state’s long-term strategy to protect coastal habitat, a necessity for a sustainable seafood industry.

According to the strategy called the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, the need for a coastwide habitat plan came about in the 1990s because of growing concerns about fish populations, declining coastal habitats, and deteriorating water quality.

The CHPP was mandated by the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, and the first plan was adopted in 2004 by the Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management and Coastal Resources commissions. The document, which was designed to “achieve the long-term enhancement of coastal fisheries by identifying, protecting, restoring, and enhancing critical fish habitats,” and is updated every five years.

CHPP is to provide “information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats,” according to DEQ’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

The Division of Marine Fisheries staff that make up the CHPP team, with guidance from a steering committee, have been working on the 2026 update. Charlie Deaton, habitat protection supervisor with the division, presented an status update to the Environmental Management Commission during the July 9 meeting in Raleigh.

He said the staff are drafting issue papers for the 2026 update that are broadly organized under three different themes: ecosystem-based management for coastal habitats, seagrass protection and restoration, and planning for multi-decadal wetland change, all of which build on previous editions of the CHPP.

The outlines of these papers are to be presented to the steering committee by web conference 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, the division announced July 15. The full agenda and link to the meeting are on the NCDEQ website.

Deaton said that the last full rewrite of the plan was in 2016. New issue papers were added to the 2016 CHPP as the 2021 update, and “we are continuing efforts on these issue papers and introducing a few more with this edition of the CHPP.”

Deaton reminded members that the 2021 CHPP prioritized submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, protection and restoration through water quality improvements. The chapter on seagrasses “had 13 different recommended actions, but the big one that this commission has heard the most about is the recommended water clarity standard to ensure that adequate light penetration allows for seagrass growth.”

According to that document, seagrasses are “critical for healthy fisheries, such as shrimp, blue crab, red drum, and flounder and provides valuable ecosystem functions.” The state has one of the largest seagrass habitats on the East Coast, but water quality impairment coupled with climate change stressors can limit their growth, reproduction, and distribution.

The chapter for the 2026 update on seagrasses will use data from the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership’s recent findings on seagrass decline. APNEP, a partnership of NCDEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency, has been fundamental in CHPP development in some capacity since its inception.

From 2006 to 2020, the state’s estuaries continue to lose more than 1% per year of its seagrass extent, which “might not sound like a lot, but that’s 15% in the time period. And if you look 30 years into the future, that’s another 35% that we would be losing if we continue at this rate. So, it’s a concerning rate of loss,” Deaton said. “We’ve lost 50% of our continuous seagrass meadows, and the losses have been most notable at the deep edge of the seagrass beds. So that implies a connection to water quality and decreased water clarity, light not penetrating deep enough.”

This new seagrass chapter is to build on the 2021 CHPP’s proposal to develop a water clarity standard, which was referred to the Environmental Management Commission’s water quality committee where it’s on hold. 

Turbidity “remains the biggest threat we see to seagrasses, and so it’s something we really want to get some action on,” Deaton said. Staff are also going to work on a permitting framework for active seagrass restoration projects, which could be planting seeds or transplanting seagrasses in areas that no longer have seagrass but should still have the conditions to support it.

The paper is also to explore habitat protections under the Marine Fisheries Commission authority. The commission considered restrictions for shrimp trawling in 2023 but decided against those. Instead, staff was asked to look into what that rulemaking might look like.

For the ecosystem-based management chapter, Deaton said that staff are reviewing how the Division of Marine Fisheries uses mapping and monitoring data to guide species management work. Staff will determine goals and targets on how to better integrate the research, as well as create indicators with data from the North Carolina Collaboratory’s study on 25 years of the Fisheries Reform Act.

“The other half of the ecosystem-based management chapter is advancing strategic habitat areas,” Deaton said, that were identified in the first edition of the CHPP as a priority. “These are areas that are defined as high quality, connected habitats that were identified to protect biodiversity and ecological function through a nonregulatory approach.”

The “Planning for wetland change” chapter concentrates on laying the groundwork for thin-layer placement. Other states are exploring this method to accent natural sediment accumulation by taking dredged material and placing it directly on the marsh in a layer of 6 to 18 inches.

North Carolina doesn’t have a permit for the process, meaning any applications for thin-layer placement must be approved through the Coastal Resources Commission’s variance process for rule exceptions.

“We have a couple projects in the hopper right now that may reach the variance process in the coming year or two and seeing those as potential pilot projects. If they show promise, this is something we could explore to make a little easier to for restoration practitioners to implement,” Deaton said.

“The other half of the sea level rise and coastal wetlands picture is marsh migration,” he said.

State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office released its performance audit of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program on Monday, revealing what the report called a shortfall in the statewide monitoring of former landfill sites.

The report found that 78%, or 534, of the 688 identified landfill sites where municipal solid waste disposal occurred without regulatory oversight have never been investigated under the DEQ program. Eleven of the list of top 100 of 629 program sites prioritized for investigation because of risk are in coastal counties.

The audit noted that, for most of the pre-regulation sites, it’s unknown what contamination may be present, whether it has spread to nearby properties or water supplies, or whether current conditions pose a risk to nearby residents. More than 80% of the landfill sites are within 1,000 feet of what are described as “vulnerable areas,” which includes homes, schools, daycares, churches, or drinking water wells.

“The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program is a complex issue that creates challenges from a regulatory, legal, funding, and administrative standpoint,” said Boliek in the news release accompanying the audit. “But the bottom line is there are hundreds of potentially hazardous landfill sites across North Carolina, and despite tax dollars supporting a program meant to investigate these sites, 78% haven’t been examined. This audit lays out the facts, giving taxpayers a reliable update on a longstanding government issue.”

The program was established as part of the Division of Waste Management in 2007 to identify, assess, and remediate sites that accepted a wide range of waste prior to 1983. That’s before when modern environmental regulations were adopted. The list includes public and private sites near homes, schools and drinking water sources that could contain hazardous materials that pose health and environmental risks.

The risk ranking reflects scoring as of April 2025. In addition to the risk ranking, the audit includes an appendix listing all landfills alphabetically by county, then by risk priority rank within each county, if applicable. Another appendix identifies sites where issues related to property access have prevented or delayed investigation or cleanup and shows how long those delays have persisted in years.

The average estimated cost to investigate, assess and remediate a site is about $1.9 million. That would put the total cost, if applied to the remaining sites, at close to $1 billion. According to the report, of the 97 sites investigated since the program started, DEQ has secured 370 acres of waste, sampled 1,642 water supply wells and provided an alternate water supply to 30 homes.

According to the announcement, the DEQ Division of Waste Management agreed with the findings and the auditor’s recommendations. The audit lists all landfill sites, including sites pending access permission and sites that have been addressed, prioritized according to risk.

Among the ranked priority list’s top 100 sites in coastal counties are the following:

• No. 5, Jacksonville Wastewater Treatement Plant Landfill at Sturgeon City in Jacksonville, Onslow County.
• No. 9, Burnt Mill Creek Landfill in Wilmington.
• No. 11, Buxton Dump in Dare County.
• No. 30, Belltown Road Dump in Craven County.
• No. 44, Winnabow Landfill in Brunswick County.
• No. 53, Bolivia Refuse Disposal in Brunswick County.
• No. 67, Otway Community Refuse Dump in Carteret County.
• No. 73, Pantego Refuse Disposal in Beaufort County.
• No. 84, Rural Garbage Service in New Hanover County.
• No. 92, Ray’s Rural Dump in Onslow County.
• No. 98, Carolina Beach Refuse Disposal in New Hanover County.

Nearly a dozen North Carolina counties, including Brunswick County, are experiencing exceptional drought, according to the latest update of the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.

Exceptional drought is the highest drought classification.

Nine counties around the Triangle and eastern Triad remain under exceptional drought, 46 are in extreme drought, and 31 are in severe drought, according to the DMAC update posted Thursday. Most of the state’s coastal counties are under moderate drought.

Localized heavy rainfall in parts of the state in recent days “did not lead to substantial improvements” in drought conditions throughout North Carolina, according to a North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality release.

“Parts of the Triangle saw more than 4 inches of rain or more this past week, but to substantially improve our drinking water supplies, it has to rain upstream of the reservoirs,” Linwood Peele, supervisor DEQ’s Division of Water Resources Water Supply Planning Branch, stated in the release. “It matters where the rain falls, and how fast it falls. The rain helped conditions here, but we need the lakes and reservoirs to fill back up, the groundwater and aquifers replenished and soil moisture restored.” 

Reservoirs in the state remain below normal and rainfall totals are significantly down in localized areas of the state, including Wilmington, which has a rainfall deficient of more than 23 inches, compared with historical averages for the same period, according to the North Carolina Climate Office.

Peele said that while rainfall in parts of the state have recently received helps reduce demand for irrigation or outdoor water use, reservoirs need to refill, “and that will take time.”

“We’re in a huge deficit,” he stated.

More than two weeks have passed since Brunswick County’s largest water utility provided implemented mandatory water restrictions in response to drought conditions there. 

“If a water system is asking people to cut back on non-essential water use, they should listen,” Peele said. “The more people do it, the longer the water should last. This is something we have to conserve our way out of.”

The DMAC is a collaboration of experts from government agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia organized by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources.

Members of the council meet weekly and submit their drought condition recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center for updates to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Dozens of people from across the country warned at a public hearing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to repeal federal drinking water limits for “forever chemicals” erodes public trust and endangers millions of Americans.

Those who spoke Tuesday during the online hearing the EPA hosted that lasted more than seven hours resoundingly opposed the agency’s plans to strike down enforceable standards for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and push the deadline in which water utilities must comply with limits for related compounds PFOA and PFOS by two years.

“These are dangerous to our health and incredibly persistent in the environment,” said Kathy Westman, a registered nurse and member of the Alliance for Nurses for Healthy Environments, a global nursing organization. “Nurses witness firsthand the health impacts and harms. PFAS can increase risk of certain cancers, alter endocrine responses and impact pregnancy outcomes as you all know. You can’t make America healthy while allowing toxic chemicals to flow. Please protect our citizens.”

Westman was among a host of healthcare professionals, researchers, waterkeepers, lawyers, environmental advocates, retirees, high school and college students, and private citizens who urged the EPA against rescinding current federal standards for PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX. They spoke from their offices and homes from the Carolinas to California, Maine to Florida, and Texas to Illinois.

They concurred that extending the deadline for water utilities to comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS from 2029 to 2031 would only further delay drinking water safeguards for Americans.

The Trump administration argues that giving drinking water systems the flexibility to opt in for the two-year extension would give them more time to sample source water for contaminants, test new controls, and train their workforce to manage those controls. And, the argument continues, rescinding current federal standards for PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX is necessary to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Under the proposal, the EPA would provide nearly $1 billion in new funding to states to address PFAS in drinking water and another $1 billion through the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program.

Opponents of the proposal argue that it is contrary to the message the EPA is trying to send by providing that funding.

Madhvi Chittoor, a 15-year-old climate activist and United Nations child adviser from Colorado, said rolling back PFAS protections “sends us in the wrong direction.”

“The hazard index is important because people are exposed to complex, multiple PFAS mixtures and removing it ignores the cumulative risk that families,” she said. “Weakening these protections shifts the burden from polluters to families and local water utilities, while disproportionately impacting low-income communities. That is not environmental justice.”

The EPA now categorizes nearly 15,000 different PFAS.

PFAS are used for the ability to repel water, stains and grease to produce a host of consumer goods, including food containers, waterproof gear, stain-resistant carpet and makeup.

They are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down in the environment.

Some of the known human health effects of exposure to PFAS include weakened immunity, low birth weight in newborns, thyroid disease, and certain types of cancer.

Dr. Jamie DeWitt, a former associate professor at East Carolina University and now professor at Oregon State University, was a member of the EPA’s PFAS science advisory board that reviewed the science behind the maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs, for PFAS established under the current rule.

“I can say with confidence that the rules for these four PFAS were based on the best available science,” she said. “The only guarantee the public has of being protected from these PFAS in their drinking water, including communities impacted by high levels of these chemicals and populations especially vulnerable to these chemicals, is to let the rules stand. The agency has an obligation to protect the public’s health from hazardous contaminants in drinking water, and rescinding the rule is really the unlawful thing to do. Let this rule stand to ensure that the public is protected.”

For more than two decades, DeWitt has been studying the toxicity of various PFAS, including those found in the Cape Fear River.

Chemours, a DuPont spinoff, directly discharged PFAS, including GenX, from its Fayetteville Works facility in Bladen County for some four decades.

Just last month, the U.S. Justice Department announced a proposed $450 million, multistate settlement agreement with Chemours over PFAS pollution.

Critics argue that, other than a $22.5 million civil penalty to be paid over three years to the EPA and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the settlement terms fail to directly put money toward reducing PFAS discharges.

Gov. Josh Stein said that he expects the settlement will have little, if any, meaningful impact in North Carolina, where state-led sampling found that in 2024 more than 300 public water systems serving more than 3 million residents contained PFAS levels above the EPA-established maximum levels.

Stein recently signed a $34.4 billion state budget that boosts funding for PFAS-related initiatives through the Department of Environmental Quality. This includes $45 million for PFAS water infrastructure projects, $10.2 million for the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Fund to sample private wells and supply alternative water, and $3 million for DEQ staffing, water testing and sampling.

Dr. Micah Nishigaki, a family medicine physician in Texas, said the current federal drinking water standards for PFAS are critical to public health.

“We’ve known for decades now how PFAS are linked to liver diseases, low birth weights, certain cancers, damage to the nervous immune systems, and higher cholesterol levels,” she said. “These pollutants lurk in our water, which millions of us drink and use for our daily needs. The 2024 PFAS ruling estimated that with these current regulations we can prevent tens of thousands of illnesses and thousands of deaths. That means less people needing to be hospitalized, less chronic illnesses worsened by these toxins, reduced strain our overburdened health care system, and fewer death certificates of loved ones who suffered from the effects of these pollutants that we would have to sign. Weakening these regulations wouldn’t do anyone’s health good.”

Marc Boom, senior director of public affairs with the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit organization made up of more than 750 former EPA staff and political appointees, said the EPA should be moving faster to protect people from PFAS, not weaken standards, “before communities ever receive the benefits.”

“Families across the country have already waited years for protections against these forever chemicals,” he said. “This proposal would make them wait even longer. The central problem is that the EPA is not following the science. EPA is not saying these PFAS are safe. They are not showing that the health risks have gone away.”

Trevor Hickman, an environmental and process engineer from New Jersey, asked the EPA to stick by its current regulation to make water utilities comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS by 2029.

“I think it all just boils down to the fact that it’s much easier to remove these chemicals at the source in the drinking water rather than deal with the ramifications down the line,” he said. “We’re talking about spending 10, 20, 100 times as much money in the coming years instead of dealing with the problem now. And putting it off two additional years is putting two more years of chemicals into our water, into our land and cleaning them up once they’re there is so much more difficult. To everyone in the EPA, I think you know what the right thing to do is, and I think that when you go to sleep at night, if you make the right decision, you’ll rest easy.”

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Flood Resiliency Blueprint program has scheduled a public information session on draft flood resilience plans for two North Carolina river basins.

During the July 20 virtual session, officials will provide information and gather feedback on draft plans for the Lumber River Basin Action Strategy and the Tar-Pamlico River Basin Action Strategy.

The Webex session will begin at 6 p.m. using meeting number/access code 2424 744 7031, password blueprint (25837746 when dialing from a phone). To join by telephone dial +1-415-655-0003.

River basin action strategies tailor flood resilience plans to each basin’s unique characteristics and needs, and outline actionable steps to empower communities to proactively reduce flooding impacts.

The strategies were developed using data from the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool with input from local Blueprint partners and the River Basin Advisory Groups.

DEQ is accepting public comment through a public feedback form on the draft river basin strategies through July 27. Comments may also be submitted by emailing the Blueprint Program at blueprint@deq.nc.gov with “RBAS Feedback” in the subject line.

The North Carolina General Assembly tasked DEQ with developing the Flood Resiliency Blueprint in 2021 to support the planning, evaluation and implementation of flood resilience strategies.

The Blueprint is designed to equip local governments, the state and supporting organizations with data, tools and processes to better understand flood risk, identify community needs and guide strategic investments to reduce the risk of floods and strengthen resilience.

DEQ has awarded more than $43 million for 84 Blueprint projects in six of the state’s 17 river basins.

The Lumber and Tar-Pamlico river basin action strategies are to be delivered to the General Assembly later this summer.

A construction materials company’s proposal to expand its limestone quarry in northern New Hanover County threatens more than 140 acres of mostly high-quality wetlands and vital fish habitat, environmental groups say.

Martin Marietta’s preferred plan to enlarge its Castle Hayne quarry would permanently destroy 143.46 acres of pristine wetlands and 9.7 acres of open water that connect to those classified as primary nursery area, strategic habitat area, and essential fish habitat, the groups argue.

The proposed expansion of the 1,700-acre quarry that sits between the Northeast Cape Fear River and Holly Shelter Road could also decrease natural flood defenses, environmentalists say.

Advocates are pushing regulators to deny the company’s first-choice plan, arguing that other options Martin Marietta has identified to source limestone to meet the demand of future construction needs carry fewer ecological consequences.

They’ll get their chance to voice their concerns on water quality impacts from the proposed 358-acre expansion in northern New Hanover County during a public hearing hosted by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources on July 14. That hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Heide Trask Senior High School auditorium, 14328 N.C. 210 in Rocky Point. Speaker registration will open at 5:30 p.m.

More than half a dozen environmental groups have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny Martin Marietta’s Clean Water Action Act Section 404 permit application. A federal 404 permit regulates discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.

In a May 22 letter to the Corps, those groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Carolina Wetlands Association, Coastal Plain Conservation Group, North Carolina Sierra Club, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and Save Sledge Forest, said Martin Marietta’s permit application does not include a thorough analysis of the project’s impacts to environmental resources, including wetlands.

Those groups also argue that the company’s other project alternatives, including expanding mining operations at the company’s Rocky Point quarry, would be “less damaging” to wetlands and waterways.

“Where Martin Marietta is proposing to expand its Castle Hayne quarry, it’s just closer to so many sensitive and high-quality waters,” said Julie Youngman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “The Rocky Point quarry is not very far away. It could provide the same value to the local community and provide the same source of building supplies, but still cause far less environmental damage. I think that’s what all of us are focused on ‘why aren’t you thinking about that location.’”

Martin Marietta’s application details six potential project alternatives, alongside a no-action alternative.

The possible expansion of the company’s Rocky Point quarry, which sits about 3½ miles away from its Castle Hayne site, would destroy a little more than 152 acres of wetlands and 13.28 acres of freshwater ponds, according to environmental groups.

“At first glance, this alternative would result in the net loss of more wetlands than Martin Marietta’s preferred alternative,” the May 22 letter states. “However, the quality and function of the wetlands at the Rocky Point or any other major waterway. Unlike at the Castle Hayne Quarry, an expansion of the Rocky Point site would not pose the same concerns about runoff and water quality. Likewise, this off-site alternative is not located near important fish habitat or a nationally significant floodplain.”

The letter urges that any expansion of the Rocky Point quarry be conditioned on Martin Marietta maintaining a 100-foot minimum internal buffer zone to protect adjacent wetlands from the direct effects of mining activity.

“The Cape Fear River in New Hanover County is already suffering from enough sources of degradation that if an additional one could be avoided, the state and federal agencies should think hard about doing so,” Youngman said. “The Castle Hayne community is also shouldering more of an environmental burden than maybe is fair between a proposed development and various industrial operations around them. They don’t need more mining to cause more water quality and noise and traffic hardship for them.”

Later this month, lawyers for several Castle Hayne residents are expected to go before the New Hanover County Board of Adjustment to appeal Hilton Bluffs, a proposed 1,800-home development covering 600 acres of a 4,000-acre tract that includes Sledge Forest. The forest includes ancient trees, vast wetlands, and riverine habitat.

If Martin Mariett’s preferred alternative to expand its Castle Hayne quarry is approved, the groups are urging regulators to require the company to produce an environmental impact study.

DWR is accepting written comments on the proposed expansion through 5 p.m. Aug. 13 using an online form for project No 20260387, version 1 with the project name listed as “Castle Hayne.” Mailed written comments may be submitted to Stephanie Goss, 401 Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC  27699-1617.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission will hear about the progress to update the state’s plan that outlines strategies to protect and restore critical ecosystems coastal fishery habitats.

The 15-member commission is to hear an update on the 2026 amendment to the N.C. Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, from N.C. Department of Environmental Quality staff. The commission is responsible for adopting rules that protect, preserve and enhance the state’s air and water resources implemented by several divisions within DEQ.

The plan, adopted in December 2004 by Environmental Management, North Carolina Marine Fisheries and Coastal Resources commissions, provides information on coastal habitat distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitat, and recommendations to address those threats. The CHPP is updated every five years.

The full commission is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. July 9 in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building in Raleigh. The meeting will be livestreamed. The meeting number is 2439 266 6247 and password ncdeq. The meeting may also be accessed by telephone at 1-415-655-0003, password 62338.

Commission committee meetings are planned to begin the day prior at 9 a.m. July 8 in the Archdale Building and available to stream using Webex and by phone using the same telephone number, meeting number and passwords.

Agendas for the committees and the full commission are available on the EMC’s website.

Visitors to Masonboro Island are being reminded to act responsibly this upcoming holiday weekend on the research and dedicated state nature preserve.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office officials are working together to boost public safety resources and public awareness of responsible visitor behavior of the island and surrounding waters.

The island nestled between Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach is a big draw for visitors throughout the summer, and particularly during the July 4 holiday.

Visitors are urged to carry proper supplies, use reliable transport, practice safety on land and on the water, and take all trash with them when they leave the preserve.

“Masonboro Island Reserve is a vital coastal resource that provides important wildlife habitat, supports research and education and contributes to the health and resilience of North Carolina’s coast,” Division of Coastal Management Director Tancred Miller stated in a release. “As you enjoy Masonboro Island or any of our Coastal Reserve sites this July Fourth, we encourage you to act responsibly, respect wildlife and leave no trace. We’re grateful for our partnership with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, whose support helps ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for the many visitors who explore Masonboro Island Reserve each year. Together, we can help protect these special places for future generations.”

Visitors should not attempt to swim across Masonboro Inlet, limit the impact on natural resources and avoid prohibited activities, including using fireworks.

Those who plan to visit this and the state’s other reserve sites are encouraged to review visitor guidelines and safety information.

WILMINGTON – Officials and environmental groups in North Carolina are blasting Chemours’ proposed $450 million federal settlement over PFAS pollution, saying the deal will do little for the state.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday announced the multistate agreement, touting it as the federal government’s first comprehensive settlement over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pollution.

Under the terms of the settlement, Chemours is expected to pay the Environmental Protection Agency and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection a $22.5 million civil penalty over three years, and pump in $90 million over 15 years “to further reduce PFAS emissions and enhance certain existing off-site drinking water programs,” according to a company release.

The company will spend an estimated $60 million installing pollution controls for surface water discharges and air emissions at its West Virginia plant, cover an estimated $280 million in costs to provide clean drinking water for more than a decade to residents of communities around its facilities in West Virginia and New Jersey, and “evaluate options and implement corresponding controls to reduce releases of PFAS and other toxic chemicals from its facility in North Carolina,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Gov. Josh Stein expressed doubts about whether North Carolina, one of three states named in the agreement, will actually receive any portion of those funds.

“It’s entirely possible that North Carolina doesn’t get a dime from this federal settlement,” Stein said Wednesday afternoon during home visit with a Wilmington-area family that uses a state-funded water filtration system to remove PFAS from their drinking water.

“The settlement that they just announced today will not have any meaningful impact for the state of North Carolina or the people of North Carolina,” he said. “It may help West Virginia, it may help New Jersey, but it really doesn’t do much for North Carolina.”

Clean Cape Fear Co-founder Emily Donovan agreed.

“If Chemours is unable to control its own pollution for follow the law without a constant stream of lawsuits, then maybe it has no business making toxic forever chemicals,” she stated in a release. “We’re not sure who this favors. It isn’t those of us in North Carolina who have been dealing with nearly half a century of PFAS pollution from the Fayetteville Works facility.”

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Jean Zhuang said the settlement is devoid of meaningful enforcement and “appears designed to shield Chemours from real accountability.”

“The Department of Justice has wrapped a sweeping set of allegations involving drinking water contamination affecting millions of Americans into a resolution that largely asks the company to monitor itself and develop plans, while surrendering its claims tied to contamination from multiple facilities across multiple states,” Zhuang stated in a release. “At the same time DOJ is resolving its litigation on such lenient terms, Chemours is actively challenging federal PFAS drinking water standards in court, seeking a massive expansion of its North Carolina facility, and continuing to release extremely high concentrations of ultra-short-chain PFAS – chemicals it knows are likely ending up in drinking water for roughly half a million North Carolinians.”

Public hearing set on standards

Wednesday’s announcement comes as the Environmental Protection Agency rolls ahead with a proposal to strike down the nation’s first-ever health standards for PFAS, chemical contaminants found in the drinking water sources of millions of North Carolinians.

The agency is scheduled to host a virtual public hearing on July 7 regarding its plans to rescind and reconsider current federal standards for HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX, PFNA, PFHxS and PFBS. The agency also wants to push the deadline in which water utilities must comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS, chemicals that are no longer manufactured, by two years from 2029 to 2031.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is considering monitoring and minimization rules for discharges of PFOS, PFOA, GenX, and 1,4-dioxane, which the EPA classifies as a likely human-carcinogen, into the state’s surface waters. The proposed rules have been widely criticized for lacking specific discharge limits and penalties for PFAS dischargers found to be in violation of the rules.

Stein said he is “not happy” with the EPA’s and commission’s proposals.

“These are both unfortunate steps that do not give the people the assurance that they deserve that their drinking water is clean,” he said.

Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant in Bladen County for decades directly discharged GenX and other chemical compounds into the Cape Fear River, the drinking water sources for tens of thousands of residents in the Cape Fear Region.

Stein pointed out that Chemours, under a 2019 consent order with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Cape Fear River Watch, has already been required to mitigate discharges and emissions of PFAS from its Fayetteville Works facility.

“What we need help from Chemours today, and the settlement doesn’t address this point, is we need Chemours and DuPont to pay to help us clean up the pollution that exists in our communities,” he said.

As part of ongoing environmental remediation efforts in the state, Chemours has been required to test tens of thousands of private drinking water wells for PFAS contamination throughout the Cape Fear Region. The company must provide temporary drinking water supplies to households with wells that contain levels of PFAS above concentrations established by environmental and health officials until a new, permanent supply, whether through a home filtration system or hook up to a public water system, is provided at the company’s expense.

Although the well water at the home of Brenda and Vance Moore tested positive for PFAS, levels of types of those contaminants in their drinking source did not rate the thresholds that make Chemours responsible for providing alternative water supplies to them.

Thousands of North Carolinians are in the same situation, state officials, including Stein and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson, explained Wednesday during their visit to the Moores’ home in Porters Neck, an unincorporated community in northern New Hanover County.

“My question is we’re 10 miles from the river,” Brenda Moore said about the Cape Fear. “How did these chemicals get here?”

Moore, a breast cancer survivor, said she can’t definitely prove that her illness, or her daughter Lauren’s skin and thyroid problems, stem from drinking PFAS-contaminated water for years. Still, “you wonder,” she said.

PFAS are a group of chemicals used to make water-, stain- and grease-resistant consumer goods. The EPA now categorizes nearly 15,000 PFAS, most of which have yet to be studied for their potential effects on human health. But some of the known human health effects of PFAS included weakened immunity, low birth weight in newborns, thyroid disease, and certain types of cancers.

The Moores qualified for funding through the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Fund, which reimburses residents for water treatment systems or, where feasible, public waterline connections when their wells are contaminated.

The North Carolina General Assembly in 2006 created the fund to improve the state’s response to drinking well water contamination and help low-income households receive safe drinking water.

In 2022, DEQ opened the program statewide, allowing residents with PFAS-contaminated private drinking water wells to receive assistance in cases where an individual or company is not held responsible for the pollution.

The program funded the approximately $3,500 reverse osmosis filtration system installed under the Moore family’s kitchen sink in October 2023.

Stein said North Carolina will continue its legal actions to get compensation from Chemours and its affiliated companies for responding to PFAS pollution.

“There is a lot of pollution that already exists throughout southeastern North Carolina and the polluters should be the one to pay and clean it up, not us, the people, and that’s why I took them to court and that action is continuing,” he said.

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission, during its meeting June 18 in New Bern, is expected to hear from its science panel their findings on the effects of hard structures on sandy, open-ocean coastlines.

That’s according to the agenda that is posted along with briefing materials on the commission’s website. The agenda and order of individual items on it are subject to change. 

The meeting is to start at 10 a.m. in the DoubleTree New Bern Riverfront at 100 Middle St. The public is welcome to attend in person or streamed on North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s YouTube channel.

The commission, during its November 2025 meeting, directed the science panel to evaluate alternatives for managing oceanfront erosion. They are to present their report during the meeting this month.

Related: Special series on permanent beach erosion control structures study

The commission designates areas of environmental concern, adopts rules and policies for coastal development within those areas and certifies local land use plans. The Division of Coastal Management carries out the commission’s rules and regulations.

The science panel, made up of researchers and government agency representatives, provides the commission with scientific data and recommendations pertaining to coastal topics.

This year’s recreational flounder season is Sept. 1-14, the same dates as 2025, the two agencies that manage fishing in state waters announced Wednesday.

Anglers are allowed to keep one flounder per day if it is 15 inches or longer and was caught with hook and line in inland, coastal and joint fishing waters.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries manages coastal waters, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission manages inland fishing waters, and they work together to manage joint fishing waters, where coastal and inland waters meet.

The division said in a release that the recreational flounder seasons are scheduled for the same two weeks “so the season, size limit and daily bag limit will be consistent across jurisdictions.”

“North Carolina’s decision to open the 2026 recreational season to match last year’s season stems from a review of recreational data from 2025 and deliberate management actions aimed at balancing sustainability with angler access.” Division Director Kathy Rawls said in a statement. “Whenever we can, we aim to provide some consistency in the recreational flounder seasons from year to year.”

There was a time when the two agencies had conflicting rules and seasons but have been collaborating in recent years.

“We have worked closely with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to ensure that regulations match across jurisdictional lines. This will provide regulatory consistency and avoid angler confusion” said the commission’s Inland Fisheries Assistant Chief Ben Ricks in a release from the commission.

The following provisions will apply:

• Season opens at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 1 and closes at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.
• Bag limit is one fish per person per day.
• Minimum size limit is 15 inches total length from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail.
• All flounder that are kept must be reported to the division through an online form or iPhone App as part of the Mandatory Harvest Reporting Requirement. Learn more.
• Gears: Hook and line and gig fisheries only. Harvest of flounder with a recreational commercial gear license prohibited.

The division sets the season, size and bag limits for coastal and joint waters, as outlined in the proclamation, to comply with provisions of the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4.

The scorching sun, nearly unbearable humidity and the impenetrable clouds of insects are no deterrent for the thousands who spend the day exploring either Shackleford Banks or the Rachel Carson Reserve, the natural environment for Carteret County’s wild horse herds.

Once visitors board the passenger ferries on the mainland that head to the undeveloped barrier islands, they are forsaking modern conveniences to observe the protected species as they graze in the marsh, feast on sea oats or, if the stars align, witness the extraordinary moment when a newborn foal attempts its first steps on wobbly legs.

Shackleford Banks is the 8-mile-long southernmost barrier island of Cape Lookout National Seashore, part of the National Park Service, that has a herd of more than 100 wild horses. The Rachel Carson Reserve, which is visible from the Beaufort waterfront, protects a herd of between 20 and 30.

The National Park Service co-manages its herd with the nonprofit Foundation for Shackleford Horses Inc. that was formed in 1996 since the Shackleford Banks Wild Horses Protection Act was signed in 1998. The Rachel Carson Reserve is one of 10 sites under the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, part of N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

The organizations have rules and guidelines in place that allow visitors to make the most of their experience while also preventing the animal from becoming habituated, and losing its “wild lifestyle.”

In an effort to help protect the public and the herds, the two agencies and the foundation have partnered for the fourth year on the Pony Patrol program. The trained volunteers, identifiable by their bright yellow T-shirts or vests, commit to spending three or four hours a few times a month during peak season at either location to help manage wildlife and visitor interactions.

“As residential growth and tourism surge along the Crystal Coast, more people than ever are encountering the wild horses that define this place,” the reserve’s Stewardship Coordinator Paula Gillikin said. “Protecting the wildness and well‑being of these iconic animals — while also ensuring public safety and enjoyment — has never been more important. The Pony Patrol volunteer program offers a powerful way to safeguard the horses, educate visitors, and create safe, respectful experiences for everyone.”

Foundation President and Chairman Margaret Poindexter told Coastal Review last week that this year’s group 50 or so volunteers, referred to as the “Pony Patrollers,” is the biggest yet and “We’ve been blown away by their enthusiasm.”

All Pony Patrollers, both new and returning, went through training in April and began May 14 their three- and four-hour shifts, giving the organizations and volunteers time to smooth any wrinkles ahead of the notoriously busy Memorial Day weekend.

“The new folks have paired with veterans to get the benefit of their experience and insight. We’ve had coverage that exceeds what’s required, and we were well-staffed over the holiday weekend, which can be crazy sometimes,” Poindexter continued. “Going into June, signups for shifts outpaces the minimum commitment from the volunteers.”

Poindexter said that in conjunction with the foundation’s 30th anniversary celebration this year and to recognize the service of the Pony Patrol volunteers, the foundation is sponsoring a photography exhibit and competition to be on display at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center’s gallery at 806 Arendell St. in Morehead City. Core Sound is a community-focused history museum and gathering place on Harkers Island. The gallery is part of its outreach programming.

The opening reception is from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 6, at Core Sound’s Morehead City gallery. The exhibit will be on display all summer.

Poindexter said the foundation wanted this exhibit to be different from others the organization has hosted in the past.

“We wanted to create an opportunity to recognize the service and dedication of our Pony Patrol volunteers, and we have some really gifted photographers among them,” Poindexer said.

“We thought an exhibit of photos, showcasing not only their talent, but more importantly, demonstrating their passion and love for the wild horses would help us show the public how fortunate we are to have this unique group of folks serving on Pony Patrol,” she continued. “As the Foundation turns 30, it’s gratifying to know that we have such a committed group of volunteers looking out for the wild horses going forward.”

Mark and Lynn Golitz, owners Bluesail Golitz Studios in downtown Morehead City, are judging the competition. Winners will be announced at the reception.

“Mark is a potter and Lynn is a painter, and together they are a creative force in our community. They are advocates for our local wild horses, they have wholeheartedly supported the work of the Foundation for years, and we are so grateful for their support,” Poindexter said.

There will also be a chance for folks to vote for People’s Choice while exhibit is up and the winner will be announced at the end of the show. 

Pony Patrol began as an idea in the late 2010s but didn’t take off until four years ago.

“We started meeting in 2019 about the program details, scheduled it for its first season in 2020, and then it was shelved because of the pandemic. We were able to get it back on track and launched it in 2023,” Poindexter explained.

The all-call for volunteers for the 2026 season went out early in the year and those selected were required to take part in a training session held April 15 in the N.C. Maritime Museum in Beaufort.

The volunteers learned the history and goals of the program, heard from representatives of the National Park Service, NCDEQ, local law enforcement, how to speak with visitors and what is needed to prepare for the shifts that require being able to trudge through sand while dealing with extreme sun, heat, humidity, wind, and bugs.

There were a lot of new faces at the training, including Kim Ridel, a resident of Morehead City.

She said in an interview that she volunteered for the program when a friend who’s been a Pony Patroller since it started shared information with her about its purpose.

“I have been coming to this area all of my life, and I’ve been fortunate enough to live here full-time for the last several years. The ponies have always been a part of my best Carteret County days, and I’m really excited to share what I’ve learned about them through Pony Patrol, with visitors and locals alike,” Ridel said. “I’m also very committed to educating people about how important it is to let these incredible animals continue to live their best natural lives, by watching from a safe distance, keeping pets on leashes and not interfering with them — which will hopefully allow us to continue to coexist in the best way.”

When Ridel first spoke to Coastal Review on May 15, she said she expected to be “flying solo” during her first shift May 21, but was paired with an experienced Pony Patroller. Ridel said in a follow up email asking about her first shift, that the afternoon “went great.”

“The weather was beautiful,” Ridel said Wednesday in a follow-up email. They spotted nine horses during the shift, “all of which seemed to be doing well. The people we talked to were curious and respectful and it was a great first time.”

A Leland man holds the new state record for the graysby grouper.

Wyatt Rabon’s 3-pound, 8-ounce catch on May 16 about 45 miles offshore of Southport was recently certified by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of marine Fisheries as the state’s largest on record.

Rabon, his father, and friends were fishing aboard their personal vessel using live pinfish for bait when he reeled in the grouper on 100-pound test with a Shimano Trevalla rod and Shimano Torso 30 reel.

“The crew nearly filleted the fish once they got home before realizing they might have a potential record,” according to a division release.

Rabon’s fish was weighed in at the Intracoastal Angler in Wilmington. It measured a little more than 17 inches long from the tip of the nose to the stretched end of the tail and had girth of 13 inches.

The previous state record for graysby grouper was a 3-pound, 0.8-ounce fish landed in 2022.

The fish unofficially ties the currently certified International Game Fish Association All Tackle World Record graysby grouper landed in 2023 off Georgetown, South Carolina.

Distinctive physical characteristics of graysby grouper include a rounded caudal, or tail, fin, uniform red dots over a tan or beige body, and nine dorsal spines. They are a small species of shallow water grouper that start life as female, then transition to male around 4 years of age, or 9-10 inches in length, after their first spawning season.

The public is invited to ask questions and share their thoughts on a draft flood resilience plan tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of the Neuse River Basin.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Flood Resilience Blueprint program is hosting a virtual public information session on the draft Neuse River Basin Action Strategy at 6 p.m. June 11.

The strategy identifies actionable steps, including scientific data, local priorities and long-term sustainability objections, to enhance flood resilience across the river basin.

The River Basin Action Strategy equips local governments, the state and supporting organizations with data, tools and processes “to better understand flood risk, identify community needs and guide strategic investments to reduce flood risk and strengthen resilience,” according to a DEQ release.

The strategy, the largest proactive statewide flood mitigation in the state’s history, was developed using data from the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool and input from the Neuse River Basin Advisory Group and local Blueprint partners.

The virtual meeting will be held via Webex with meeting number/access code 2422 493 1280 and password blueprint. To join by telephone call +1-415-655-0003 and use passcode 25837746.

DEQ is accepting public input on the draft strategy through June 12 through a public feedback form or by email to blueprint@deq.nc.gov with the subject line “Neuse RBAS Feedback.”

DEQ was directed in 2021 by the North Carolina General Assembly to develop a statewide Flood Resiliency Blueprint, the heart of which is an online decision support tool designed to help local governments, agencies and nongovernmental partners develop, evaluate and prioritize resilience actions.

There are 17 river basins in the state. So far, DEQ has awarded more than $43 million to 84 blueprint projects in six river basins.

The Division of Marine Fisheries wants to bring the public into the blue crab stock assessment development process.

The division’s stock assessment scientists plan to review what a stock assessment is and how this data set is developed during a WebEx meeting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 28. Register online to attend the webinar or attend the listening location at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City.

The Marine Fisheries Commission, which puts in place rules, policies, and management measures for fisheries, adopted the original North Carolina Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan in late 1998, Amendment 1 in 2004, and Amendment 2 in 2013, according to the division’s website. The division, under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to the commission.

A review of the management plan was scheduled for July 2018, but the commission decided in August 2016 to begin a formal review, assess the status of the blue crab stock and identify more comprehensive management strategies, and began developing amendment 3.

As part of that amendment, the division used data from 1995 to 2016 for a benchmark stock assessment, which is a comprehensive assessment conducted every five years by reevaluating data and modeling methods. Results indicate that the state’s blue crab stock was classified as overfished in 2016, according to the division.

The 2018 benchmark stock assessment shows the state’s blue crab stock is overfished, which means that the population size is too small, and overfishing is occurring, or the removal rate is too high.

Amendment 3 was adopted in February 2020 to rebuild the blue crab stock. All Amendment 3 management measures have been fully in place since January 2021.

The division attempted to update the stock assessment in 2023, but staff and external peer reviewers had concerns with model specifications and the results and decided not to use the update to manage the species.

Existing data from division sampling and monitoring programs indicate a continued decline of blue crab stock.

The division’s stock assessment team is going through data now to develop a new benchmark stock assessment and gave an update to the Marine Fisheries Commission during its business meeting May 14 in New Bern.

Stock Assessment Program Manager Matt Damiano explained that part of his motivation to hold the webinar at this stage in developing the assessment is because a member of the fishing community brought to his attention that historically, the only public-facing part of the division’s process has been the peer-review workshop, when the stock assessment is essentially done.

“This webinar is something of a halfway point to where I would like to go with our stock assessment process, which is to make it more public facing,” he said, adding that he has been planning the webinar for several months.

Damiano said that he and Stock Assessment Scientist Matt Zink, the other member of the program’s team, have made progress on the stock assessment update.

“We have been able to analyze all the sources of data that we’re interested in including in the stock assessment, that essentially involves Matt and I digging through the data and determining whether it is usable and what it is telling us,” he said, adding that they’re using data collected through different programs.

The estimated pattern for 1974 through 2024 has fluctuated quite a bit, as marine populations tend to, and saw the highest abundance during the 1990s followed by a marked decline in blue crab abundance after around 2010.

“There have been some modest increases toward the end of that time series, but overall, there is a negative trend for the last 14 years,” Damiano said.

During the same time, the size of blue crabs in the Pamlico Sound have gotten smaller in general, while blue crab size in Albemarle Sound has been stable.

The fishery-dependent data from fish houses points to the size structure being stable, “which is likely more a function of people bringing a really stable set of sizes of crab to market than it is having to do necessarily what’s going on in the population,” Damiano said.

“Another interesting feature is when we looked at abundance over space, it has declined most in the Pamlico Sound, but the Albemarle Sound is still essentially the one big hot spot for blue crab,” he added.

“If you are fishing in Albemarle Sound, things may seem better than they actually are for the population,” but Damiano stressed that “two things can be true at the same time. You can be doing very well if you’re fishing in a particular area, but the population throughout the whole state can still be moving in a different direction.”

Damiano told the commission that for the webinar May 28 he plans to give a brief review of what a stock assessment is and spend some time on what happened with the peer review of the 2023 updated stock assessment.

“I get a lot of comments on why that did not pass peer review and wasn’t recommended for use and management,” Damiano explained, but those who reviewed the assessment left a “clear roadmap for how to improve it,” he said. “It’s those exact steps that they recommended that Matt and I have been taking with this stock assessment and that’s going to give a lot of context to why we did the analyzes we did, and why we’re considering the methods we are for the stock assessment.”

Damiano added that while the peer reviewers did not recommend the model for use in management, and the division decided to heed that advice, “I think the peer review was actually a success in that sense, because they identified really clear problems that we need addressing in the next model.”

The peer reviewers were Dr. Jie Cao, assistant professor at N.C. State’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, and Dr. Yan Li, at Duke Cancer Institute Biostatistics Shared Resource at Duke University.

In an interview before the commission meeting, Damiano, who has been with the division about a year, pointed out that the only opportunity for the public to really engage with a stock assessment during the peer review, which is at the end of the process.

“That’s the only workshop that’s technically open to the public, and so I am trying to change that kind of incrementally as I learn what the communication needs are related to stock assessment. And it starts with this webinar,” he said.  

“We’re trying to create a space where we can be transparent about the work that we’ve done so far on the blue crab stock assessment, which is still ongoing, and solicit some feedback from the people,” such as their concerns about population, other sources of data to consider and give the public background for “some of the choices that we’re making while we’re doing the analysis. Really, it’s more just me trying to show my work and begin the dialog where we previously really haven’t had.”

He added that he hopes the webinar opens a line of communication that wasn’t there before.

Residents and visitors to the North Carolina coast this summer may tap an interactive public map that provides the locations of public beach and waterfront accesses.

The beach and waterfront access map, which may be directly accessed from mobile devices and desktops, includes a “find sites near me” feature that locates sites within 10 miles of a user.

The online map includes the locations and available amenities at those locations at more than 800 local, state and federally funded public accesses along North Carolina’s ocean beaches and estuarine waters.

The map features a “my location” tool, which pinpoints a user’s location, a “near me” tool that searches accesses within 1 to 10 miles of a selected location, a filter tool that allows users to search for accesses based on available amenities, including restrooms and showers, and a basemap tool that allows users to switch between several map styles, including satellite imagery, and street and topographic maps.

The map is made available by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program, which provides funding to purchase land and construction projects, including walkways, dune crossovers, restrooms, parking areas, and piers, that improve pedestrian access to the state’s beaches and waterways.

Since the program began in 1981, 538 grants totaling more than $56.7 million have been awarded.

For questions and comments, email Rachel Love-Adrick at Rachel.love-adrick@deq.nc.gov. Include the site location in your correspondence. 

Whether tempted to dip your toe or cannonball into a pond, lake or other waterbody this summer, check the color of the water first.

Elevated temperatures, increased sunlight, low or no water flow, and increased nutrient loads create a recipe for harmful algal blooms, which can be toxic to humans, pets and aquatic organisms.

The N.C. Division of Water Resources is reminding people to avoid contact with discolored water, which could indicate the presence of an algal bloom. 

While algae naturally occur in all waterbodies, certain environmental conditions can cause rapid algal cell growth, which leads to blooms, according to the division.

“You cannot tell for sure by looking at a bloom whether it is harmful or not,” according to a division release.

Algal blooms may be reported to the nearest state Department of Environmental Quality regional office or via an online report. Reported algal bloom events may be viewed at the division’s Fish Kill & Algal Bloom Dashboard.  

DEQ may collect water samples for further testing to an algae lab for analysis based on preliminary reports received through the reporting tool if an investigation is needed and resources are available.

To help staff, please provide detailed reports with a high-quality photo, contact information and a description of the bloom. 

The public should steer clear from coming in contact with large accumulations of algae and children and pets should be prevented from swimming or ingesting water water in an algal bloom.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health suggests safeguarding against algal blooms through the following steps:

• Keep children and pets away from water that appears bright green, blue, discolored or scummy.
• Do not handle or touch large mats of algae. 
• Avoid handling, cooking, or eating dead fish that may be present. 
• If you come into contact with an algal bloom, wash thoroughly.
• Use clean water to rinse off pets that may have come into contact with an algal bloom. 
• If your child appears ill after being in waters containing an algal bloom, seek medical care immediately. 
• If your pet appears to stumble, stagger, or collapse after being in a pond, lake or river, seek veterinary care immediately.

For tips on water safety, heat protection and food safety visit the health and human service’s website.

The popular expanse of undeveloped land known as ‘The Point’ at the south end of Topsail Island was ceremoniously transferred on Tuesday to the state, which will manage and protect the property.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson joined officials with the North Carolina Land Trust and local beach towns, including Topsail Beach, on the oceanfront shore the Topsail Nature Preserve on Monday afternoon to officially mark the transfer.

“The Topsail Nature Preserve is a unique coastal resource and we are committed to protecting its natural integrity and maintaining responsible public access,” Wilson said. “Conserving places like this strengthens the long-term resilience of our coastal communities, protects natural habitats and preserves the natural features that help our coast adapt to changing environmental conditions.”

The ceremony turned the page in the newest chapter of the spit of pristine land in Topsail Beach, the southernmost town on the nearly 26 mile-long island that runs through Onslow and Pender counties.

The land had been in the center of a campaign by Topsail Island locals and long-time tourists who wanted to keep it free from development, a goal that was ultimately achieved when the Coastal Land Trust purchased nearly 100 acres of the privately owned property for $7.5 million in April of last year.

“The Coastal Land Trust is proud to have partnered with the Topsail community to help conserve the South End,” North Carolina Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks said in a release. “We are thrilled to see this remarkable coastal resource permanently protected for future generations under the stewardship of the State of North Carolina.”

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management will manage the preserve, which will remain open and accessible to the public, “with a continued emphasis on conservation, education and responsible recreation,” according to a DEQ release.

“Visitors are encouraged to follow posted guidelines designed to protect wildlife, sensitive habitats and the overall integrity of the site,” the release states.

The area will be managed in coordination with local and state partners and will include the implementation of best practices for coastal stewardship and opportunities for community engagement.

The North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan steering committee plans to discuss the 2026 update for the interagency effort to protect state waters during a web conference at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 27.

Meeting details, including the link to register, and a full agenda can be found on the plan’s webpage.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality initiative focuses on “long-term enhancement of coastal fisheries through habitat protection and enhancement efforts.”

The plan was first adopted in 2004 by the state’s Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management, and Coastal Resources commissions and has been updated in the time since. The steering committee includes two commissioners from each of the commissions.

North Carolina’s heat season runs from May 1 to Sept. 30 each year, and the state has launched an effort to raise awareness about the dangers that high temperatures pose to people’s health.

North Carolina Heat Safety Week, which began Monday and ends Friday, highlights resources to keep residents and visitors safe from extreme heat, Gov. Josh Stein’s office announced Monday.

“Being resilient to extreme heat means understanding how it can affect you and your community,” Stein in the release. “All North Carolinians can take actions to protect themselves and their families, employers can protect their workers, and local governments can protect their residents. Our state agencies and local governments are working hard to help keep people cool and safe.” 

Officials said in the release that heat-related illness and death are largely preventable.

“Recognizing the symptoms of heat illness is key to preventing serious complications, including death. Some signs and symptoms include heavy sweating, paleness, muscle cramps, racing or weak pulse, dizziness, headache, fainting, and nausea or vomiting. Awareness of extreme heat events can help people take the necessary steps to keep themselves safe,” they added.

While heat-related illnesses can affect anyone regardless of age or physical condition, those who live or work outside, are pregnant, children, older, athletes, low income or with underlying health conditions are at a disproportionate risk of experiencing adverse health effects. 

“As our summer days and nights stay warmer for longer, it’s critical that all North Carolinians learn about the symptoms of heat illness and the steps to take to cool down,” North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson said. “DEQ’s State Resilience Office is working closely with local governments to help them identify strategies to help manage extreme heat.”

The state highlighted State Resilience Office programs to help communities plan for extreme heat, including the Heat Action Plan Toolkit, the Planning for Extreme Heat Cohort and NC Resilience Exchange website, which provides a complete collection of resources to help local and state leaders easily find information and data to support resilience planning. 

The health department offers the NC Heat Health Alert System, a free email service to alert when dangerous heat is in the forecast. The emails alert recipients of when the daily maximum heat index is expected to reach dangerous levels.

“As we see the number of heat-related emergency department visits continue to increase, it is important that you and your loved ones stay weather-aware as the temperatures rise,” said N.C. Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. “We encourage everyone to sign up for the heat health alerts, know the symptoms of heat-related illness and protect your health this summer.”  

Additionally, Operation Fan Heat Relief is underway now through Oct. 31. Contact the local aging agency to see if they qualify for a free fan for the hot summer months.

The May meeting of the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is scheduled for next week in Raleigh.

According to the commission’s Thursday, May 14 draft agenda, members will consider a federal petition to incorporate National Ambient Air Quality Standards into state air quality rules.

When newly enacted Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards take effect, the new rules effectively apply to state standards, which must be revised to align.

The proposal before the EMC would omit the state from having to go through the process of updating its rules every time a federal air quality standard changes.

The commission will also receive an update on the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint.

DEQ released on April 1 improved advisory flood maps for the Cape Fear, Lumber, Neuse, Tar-Pamlico and White Oak river basins. These maps are designed to help local governments, agencies and non-governmental partners develop, evaluate and prioritize resilience actions, and plan and secure funding to implement those actions.

The commission’s committees will meet beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Archdale Building’s ground floor hearing room, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh.

Those meetings will be livestreamed by Webex, meeting number/access code 2427 265 5562, password NCDEQ (62337).

The full commission will meet at 9 a.m. on Thursday in the Archdale Building. The meeting may also be viewed via livestream, meeting number/access code
2429 624 8234, password NCDEQ (62337).

To listen to the meetings either day by phone dial +1-415-655-0003.

Agendas for the committees and the full commission are available on the EMC’s website.

State and weather officials are hosting a virtual meeting on Monday to discuss ways in which local governments can prepare for North Carolina’s heat season.

During the meeting, which is open to the public but targeted to local government staff including emergency managers, public health personnel, planners and administrators, officials will provide a forecast for the 2026 heat season, review signs of heat illness and preventative actions, and provide tools and resources available to local governments to address heat impacts in their communities.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s State Resilience Office is hosting the event 1-3 p.m. in partnership with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, North Carolina State Climate Office and the National Weather Service.

Officials will highlight DEQ’s Planning for Extreme Heat Cohort, a free program that aids local governments in developing heat action plans and connecting with climate and policy experts from North Carolina and across the nation, and the North Carolina State Climate Office will present its Southeast Heat Monitor, a new tool that forecasts statewide heat stress threats.

“We all know that it gets extremely hot in North Carolina during the summer, resulting in serious health problems for people of all ages,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson stated in a release. “We encourage local governments and the public to participate in our Heat Season Kickoff Meeting May 11 to understand the health risks and identify ways to protect communities from extreme heat.”  

July 2025 was the second warmest July for North Carolina in 130 years. There were more than 5,700 heat-related visits last year to emergency departments in North Carolina, according to DEQ.

Last year was also globally the third-warmest year on record, following 2023 and 2024.

“We want you have to a safe and healthy summer, but with thousands of heat-related emergency department visits last year, it is critical to be prepared for extreme temperatures to protect yourselves and families,” N.C. Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai stated. “NCDHHS continues to work with state and local partners to inform North Carolinians about health effects from extreme heat and ensure resources are available for people at risk of experiencing heat-related illness.”

During the meeting, DHHS will share its resources to manage heat-related health impacts, including the NCDHHS Heat Health Alert System, which notifies subscribers of dangerous heat indexes throughout the summer months and provides materials to support prevention.

The department also publishes weekly reports detailing heat health impacts for each region of North Carolina, and trains health care workers and others across the state to recognize and respond to heat illnesses.

Extreme heat has broad impacts across the state, damaging roads, electrical infrastructure and North Carolina’s agricultural industry. The state’s heat season began May 1.

Local governments can open local cooling centers, share educational information, integrate heat action into long-term planning for infrastructure, and plant trees to help protect residents from extreme heat.

Those who would like to attend the meeting may register online.

A Craven County-based sand and limestone mining company seeks to modify its state permit to more than double its acreage, and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources has set a public hearing on the proposal for May 27.

The applicant, R.J.’s Bushhogging Inc. with a registered address of 1185 Winn Circle, in Vanceboro, and registered agent, Robin McDaniel, is looking to add 58.8 acres to its permitted area, with 50.08 acres to be mined. The area is in a flood hazard area, already a point of frustration for its neighbors, who have filed with the county planning department a petition opposing the expansion.

“The quarry currently operates close to our homes and has already caused a range of problems for residents, roads, children, animals, and Wildlife,” according to the neighborhood petition, which cites dust that affects public health and property and “lasting effects such as noise, traffic, fragmented wildlife habitat, water pollution and water that fills excavated areas. Further expansion would bring excavation activity even closer, increasing the disruption to our daily lives.”

The operation known as Willis Neck Mine is near Swift Creek, a tributary of the Neuse River. The applicant says the change to its permit will not involve mine dewatering nor will it require changes to its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System outfall permit. NPDES is a program under the Clean Water Act and regulates point-source discharges of pollutants to waters of the United States with enforcement at the state level.

R.J’s Bushhogging’s 2026 modification application for mining permit 25-75 also includes “smaller areas,” tracts of 8.78 acres, 2.79 acres and 1.89 acres, on the west side of Winn Circle, intended for shallow sand mining.

“Therefore, these areas will not be dewatered,” according to McDaniel’s application cover letter.  

The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. in the Craven County Community College Auditorium at 800 College Court in New Bern. Those who wish to speak during the hearing can sign up to do so starting at 5:30 p.m. 

Public comments are to be limited to the following seven denial criteria listed under the Mining Act of 1971:

1. That any rule or regulation would be violated by the proposed operation.
2. That the operation will have unduly adverse effects on potable groundwater supplies, wildlife, or fresh water, estuarine, or marine fisheries.
3. That the operation will violate regulated standards of air quality, surface water quality, or groundwater quality.
4. That the operation will constitute a direct and substantial physical hazard to public health and safety or to a neighboring dwelling house, school, church, hospital, commercial or industrial building, public road or other public property, excluding matters relating to use of a public road.
5. That the operation will have a significantly adverse effect on the purposes of a publicly owned park, forest or recreation area.
6. That previous experience with similar operations indicates a substantial possibility that the operation will result in substantial deposits of sediment in stream beds or lakes, landslides, or acid water pollution.
7. That the applicant hasn’t violated any rule or regulation that resulted in a permit revocation of a permit, forfeiture of part or all of a bond or other security, conviction of a misdemeanor under the Mining Act, or any other court order, final assessment of a civil penalty or failure to pay the required application processing fee.

The public can submit comments in writing to Assistant State Mining Engineer Kelly Jonas, Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources, Department of Environmental Quality, 1612 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1612.

Comments may also be sent via email to ncminingprogram@deq.nc.gov with the subject line “Willis Neck Mine.”   

For more information on the permit, visit the DEQ website.. 

Energy providers wasted no time last year asking the Trump administration to rescind 2024 federal standards for coal ash disposal.

Five days before President Donald Trump returned for a second term in the White House on Jan. 20, 2025, 10 power suppliers, including Duke Energy, fired off a letter urging Lee Zeldin, Trump’s then-nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, “decline to defend these unlawful rules.”

Now the EPA is proposing to revise federal regulation for coal ash disposal, a move that would relax the Biden-era national standards for inactive, often unlined basins designed to store a sludgy mix of watered-down fly ash and bottom ash.

Here in North Carolina, where comprehensive coal ash legislation was pioneered, proposed changes at the federal level are not expected to affect, at least for the time being, the state’s robust coal ash management law.

Nor would the proposed federal revisions impact the terms of a 2019 settlement agreement between the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Duke Energy, and public interest groups that set closure schedules and monitoring requirements for the power company’s remaining coal ash basins.

“None of that is going to be changed by what EPA is trying to do now at the federal level,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Nick Torrey said.

But Torrey cautioned that sites where coal ash has been removed may still contain residual groundwater contamination.

“The federal regulations require monitoring and corrective action for that pollution,” he said. “If utilities can get exceptions and exemptions from those things, that’s potentially concerning. Fortunately, we do have a state process as well that’s dealing with groundwater issues, but it was never meant to be a substitute for the federal standards. There’s more vulnerability that coal ash contamination could be allowed to persist. So, we’ll have to be watching that very closely as things go forward.”

Coal ash, referred to in regulation and industry as coal combustion residuals, or CCR, is the byproduct created when coal is burned for electricity. It contains toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, cadmium, lead and radioactive elements, according to the EPA.

In early February 2014, some 39,000 tons of coal ash slurry discharged from a collapsed pipe at Duke Energy’s retired Dan River Steam Station near Eden into the river. The spill spread as far as 70 miles downstream.

In the fall of that year, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted the North Carolina Coal Ash Management Act, or CAMA.

CAMA (not to be confused with the Coastal Area Management Act) initially set deadlines for Duke Energy to close a group of basins at four of its power plants by certain deadlines.

EPA in 2015 finalized the federal CCR rule under the Obama presidency. The Biden administration strengthened those regulations in 2024.

By that time, DEQ had finalized a basin closure schedule for all 14 of Duke Energy’s facilities in North Carolina. Following litigation and a settlement agreement between community and conservation groups, DEQ and Duke Energy, a 2020 consent order was approved to govern the cleanup process for the remaining sites.

Duke Energy anticipates officially fully excavating the 12th of its 32 coal ash basins in North Carolina by year’s end. Both coal ash impoundments at the Sutton Steam Plant in Wilmington were excavated by July 2019.

Duke Energy spokesperson Bill Norton confirmed in an email earlier this week that the excavation of ash at its W.H. Weatherspoon Power Plant in Lumberton is complete, well ahead of schedule. The company is in the process of working through the basin’s clean closure certification, a process expected to be completed later this year, Norton said in the email.

“Not yet counting Weatherspoon, we have completed excavation at 11 North Carolina basins and are making strong progress at the remaining 20, with well over half of our basin ash safely excavated in the states,” he stated. “All sites remain on or ahead of schedule for basin closure deadlines as shown here.”

Norton said the EPA’s proposed rule changes will not impact Duke Energy’s proposed coal retirement dates.

“We continue making progress on coal retirements while balancing our regulatory approvals and increased load growth – regulators have made clear that replacement generation must be online and serving customers prior to further coal plant retirements,” he said. “While the potential EPA CCR rule changes have no impact on our proposed coal retirement dates, we appreciate prior changes to in the federal regulations that provided flexibility for our coal facilities, enabling us to maximize the value of existing generation by extending the operational life of these assets to help meet load growth at the lowest possible cost to consumers. Retirement dates are subject to regulatory approval.”

Coal-fired operations at Belews Creek Steam Station in Stokes County are expected to be shut down no later than Jan. 1, 2040. The retirement of that plant’s coal combustion operations will mark the end of Duke Energy’s coal-fired power generation in the state.

“We are making tremendous progress on meeting all obligations agreed to years ago in our North Carolina settlement with state regulators and environmental groups – that commitment is unchanged, and state regulators have confirmed our plans are protective of public health and the environment,” Norton said.

Beneficial reuse units at the company’s Buck Combined Cycle Plant in Salisbury, Cape Fear plant in Moncure, and H.F. Lee Energy Complex on the banks of the Neuse River in Goldsboro have been reprocessing coal ash at those sites to make it suitable for use in concrete since 2020, he said.

Katherine Lucas, DEQ’s Division of Waste Management public information officer, stated in an email that the agency “is evaluating the proposed changes to determine any potential impacts on ongoing excavation and remediation activities at Duke Energy facilities.”

“In the absence of an U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-approved state permit program, utilities must comply with both federal and state requirements. North Carolina remains a national leader in coal ash management, both in establishing comprehensive regulations and in the scale and pace of closure and remediation efforts. DEQ believes the state’s regulatory framework is at least as protective as federal requirements and does not anticipate that federal changes would reduce existing environmental and public health protections.”

The EPA is accepting public comments on the proposed rule changes through June 12.

The agency is hosting an online public hearing at 9 a.m. on May 28. 

North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission is moving through the steps to update rules for building along high-hazard coastlines that are particularly vulnerable to erosion and flooding.

When the commission met April 16 in Ocean Isle Beach’s town hall, members voted unanimously to advance the rulemaking process to draft language amendments for ocean erodible areas and inlet hazard areas. Proposed changes include using the most recent data for erosion rates and maps for the two zones, which are classified as areas of environmental concern.

If approved, this will be the first time new inlet hazard boundaries have been updated since they were initiated in the late 1970s. The commission has been discussing revisions for decades, but the complicated process and public blowback have pushed talks of updates year to year.

Both inlet hazard and ocean erodible areas fall under the ocean hazard areas category of areas of environmental concern, which are the foundation for the Coastal Area Management Act permitting program. CAMA was enacted in 1974, along with the commission to adopt rules for legislation that protects the state’s coastal resources. The Division of Coastal Management, under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to the commission.

Inlet hazard areas, or IHAs, encompass land along the narrow body of water that allows for tidal exchange between the ocean and inland waters. These swaths of shoreline are susceptible to inlet migration, rapid and severe erosion, and flooding. Land within the boundaries is subject to the commission’s development rules.

Ken Richardson, the division’s shoreline management specialist, told Coastal Review that in addition to the proposed updates to inlet hazard area boundaries, one of the primary changes under consideration is that erosion rate setbacks within inlet hazard areas will be based on inlet-specific erosion rates detailed in a 2025 report rather than the adjacent ocean erodible area, or oceanfront, rates, which is currently the case.

Because of limited data and resources, erosion rate setback factors within inlet hazard areas have been based on the rates of adjacent ocean erodible areas, essentially treating the inlet shoreline as an extension of the oceanfront.

“Given the rapid changes that can occur at inlets, this method has often resulted in setback factors that underestimate the true erosion dynamics of these areas,” according to the division. Erosion rates are used to determine how far back new construction must be from the shoreline.

Richardson said that, “Additionally, the rules would effectively ‘hold the line’ of existing development by preventing seaward expansion of new development in inlet areas that have experienced natural accretion.”

He referenced the “Inlet Hazard Area Boundaries, 2025 Update: Science Panel Recommendations to the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission,” presented in August 2025 to the commission that explains “any accretion at most inlets is temporary and likely to reverse over time; maintaining this line helps reduce future exposure to erosion hazards.”

The commission’s Science Panel on Coastal Hazards was directed in 2016 to update IHA boundaries. Rules were in the process of being updated in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic paused draft rules from moving forward.

The “Science Panel recommended updating IHAs on a five-year cycle alongside oceanfront erosion rates, by the time work resumed after the pandemic, the next oceanfront study (2025) was already approaching.  As a result, some stakeholders asked the CRC to proceed with a coordinated update,” leading to the directive in 2023 to provide another five-year review, Richardson told Coastal Review.

Richardson explained during the meeting last week that the science panel analyzed for the 2025 update the state’s developed inlets, which are Bogue, New River, New Topsail, Rich, Mason, Masonboro, Carolina Beach, Lockwood Folly, Shallotte and Tubbs.

Panel Chair Dr. Laura Moore, professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, presented the findings in the inlet hazard area boundaries report during the August 2025 meeting.

Last February, the Coastal Resources Advisory Council and a subcommittee reviewed the report and suggested deviating from the panel’s recommendation to measure setbacks from the hybrid-vegetation line because of concerns that existing structures would be nonconforming, and therefore harder to replace if something happened to the structure.

They decided to base the language on existing rules and continue to measure setbacks within inlet hazard areas from the actual vegetation line or pre-project line but not extend farther oceanward than the footprint of an existing structure, or, in the case with vacant lots, the landward-most adjacent neighboring structure, according to the division.

Richardson told the commission that another recommendation included amending the language for ocean erodible areas language citing the 2019 report to the “North Carolina 2025 Oceanfront Setback Factors & Long-Term Average Annual Erosion Rate Update Study: Methods Report report.”

Richardson noted that there are no boundary maps for ocean erodible areas because boundaries are measured from the vegetation line, which are dynamic and could change overnight, so the landward boundary is determined in the field.

Staff also proposes eliminating the distinction of residential or nonresidential for the type of structure, because “It doesn’t matter to erosion what the structure is being used for,” Richardson said.

Now, the proposed rule changes will go through the fiscal analysis. This step in the rulemaking process determines the financial impact of the proposed amendments. After the analysis is presented and voted on, the commission will decide to move on to the public comment period, then to final approval before sending it to the Rules Review Commission.

Septic tank update

Cameron Luck, a policy analyst for the division, briefed the commission on the work to develop rules for septic system siting, repair and replacement within ocean hazard areas.

He began by sharing what took place during a meeting March 30 in Buxton coordinated by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, with representatives from the North Carolina Home Builders Association, North Carolina Septic Tank Association, Outer Bank Association of Realtors, National Park Service, and from county health departments.

Attendees were brought up to speed on some of the issues surrounding failed septic tanks on the oceanfront, heard from Cape Hatteras National Seashore representatives about their policies and ongoing struggles and efforts to address both the threatened oceanfront structures and the failed septic tank systems and systems out on the beach

Department of Health and Human Services provided a quick synopsis of their process, focusing on the role within and alongside local health departments, with a discussion on how the department permits and cites septic tanks and how and failure enforcement.

Luck said that he and other division staff presented the most recently proposed rule language for discussion.

“We spent a good amount of time talking through the proposed language and some areas that could be improved,” Luck said.

Main points in the discussion focused on defining what type of repair would qualify for a permit.

“In other words,” Luck explained, would property owners be required to secure a permit if a filter or a section of pipe needs to be replaced, or does the rule need to be more focused on extreme failures.

Discussion also focused on whether the proposed rule changes should be applied coastwide or be more targeted to specific situations or locations.

“Perhaps, key takeaway from that meeting was a clear consensus among those attendees that some form of action is needed to limit the repair of failed septic systems on the ocean beach and to prevent them from remaining on the beach once they failed,” he said, adding that staff is working on those rule language updates.

FAYETTEVILLE — Proposed monitoring and minimization rules for industrial dischargers of 1,4-dioxane and the public sewage plants that accept those facilities’ waste fail to protect North Carolinians’ drinking water, speakers at a public hearing said Tuesday.

All but one of the 13 people who spoke at the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission’s hearing at Fayetteville Technical Community College criticized the proposed rules, arguing those rules fall short in reducing the amounts of 1,4-dioxane discharged into people’s drinking water sources and lack enforcement.

Those comments mirror ones articulated at the commission’s April 9 hearing on the proposed rules in Hickory. A third hearing is scheduled for May 12 in Jamestown.

“The so-called monitoring and minimization rule establishes certain monitoring requirements, but the term minimization is misleading,” Fayetteville resident Madison Williams said. “The way the rule is promulgated is in a way that does not require polluters to reduce PFAS or 1,4-dioxane emissions into North Carolina drinking water supplies, and it imposes no consequences, even if those discharges increase. This in effect is a polluter written rule.”

Related: Public hearings set on proposed wastewater discharge rules

The commission is hosting separate public hearings, the first of which was held in Asheville last week, on a similar rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS; perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA; perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS; and GenX, a chemical specific to a manufacturing plant that sits near Cape Fear River in Bladen County.

Under the proposed rules, publicly owned treatment works that receive industrial wastewater, and their manufacturer customers, would be required to monitor for discharges of 1,4-dioxane, an industrial solvent, into rivers, creeks and streams.

Facilities would be required to conduct baseline monitoring every three months for one year. Based on those sampling results, dischargers may be required to conduct additional monitoring.

“If determined to need ongoing sampling the industrial direct discharger will be required to develop a minimization plan,” explained Bridget Shelton with the Division of Water Resources’ planning section. “A minimization plan is a strategy to reduce or eliminate pollutants at the source before they are discharged into the environment.”

Facilities that “meet certain criteria” may request exceptions from ongoing monitoring and minimization plan requirements, she said.

The proposed rules do not set specific discharge limits or penalties for violations.

That fact has drawn sharp criticism from residents, environmental groups and public drinking water providers who have been calling on the state to establish drinking water standards for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane and regulate direct dischargers of those chemicals.

“Over 1 million North Carolina residents consume water from the Cape Fear River, water that is contaminated with 1,4-dixoane, PFAS and other forever chemicals that will continue to proliferate without sufficient regulations at the federal and state levels,” said Jonelle Kimbrough, executive director of Fayetteville-based environmental nonprofit Sustainable Sandhills. “The proposed 1,4-dioxane minimization rules seem to be an attempt at regulation but, as written, they essentially do nothing to protect the natural resources or public health of our state and we need protection.”

Rob Clark, Cape Fear River Watch’s water quality programs manager, said the organization and its more than 1,000 members collectively opposed the proposed rules.

“These rules are completely inadequate when it comes to dealing with PFAS and 1,4-dioxane pollution in the Cape Fear River Basin,” he said. “The proposed minimization rules do not set enforceable limits on how much these toxic compounds can be discharged into our waterways. Instead, they rely on polluters to monitor their pollution and submit plans describing how they might reduce that over time. Do we really think that polluters are going to cut into their profits in order to do the right thing and stop discharging these chemicals into our waterways?”

Representatives of downstream public water suppliers said the proposed rules lack a clear objective to significantly decrease 1,4-dioxane levels in state surface waters.

Fayetteville Public Works Commission’s Environmental Programs Manager Rhonda Locklear pointed out that statewide monitoring has identified 1,4-dioxane primarily in the Cape Fear River Basin.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, “has sampled surface waters in 15 of North Carolina’s 17 river basins, confirming that most industrial 1,4-dioxane sources are in the Cape Fear River Basin, where 35% of these samples since 2017 were above non-detect thresholds, almost 10 times the rate in the Neuse River Basin, and nearly 200 times that of the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin,” she said. “The problem areas are well-defined, documented, and PWC expects DEQ to set meaningful regulations and reductions in the Cape Fear River Basin.”

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Deputy Executive Director Kevin Morris said that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which classifies 1,4-dioxane as a likely human carcinogen, warns that at even at concentrations of 0.35 parts per billion, long-term exposure to the chemical increases cancer risks to humans and may cause significant kidney and liver impacts.

“Downstream water systems continue to experience periodic spikes in 1,4-dioxane despite having no role in producing or discharging this chemical, which demonstrates the limitations of our current regulatory framework,” Morris said.

He highlighted how effluent from Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant has periodically tested for elevated levels of 1,4-dioxane, concentrations of which far exceeded levels associated with long-term health risks.

“These discharges flow into waterways like the Haw and Cape Fear rivers,” Morris said. “They’re relied upon by downstream drinking water systems, and they require additional monitoring, treatment, adjustments and customer communication. The downstream public ultimately bears the risk from and the cost of managing contamination that they had no part in creating. Voluntary reduction measures are insufficient to ensure consistent outcomes or to protect downstream communities. Utilities can manage only what arrives at their intake.”

As of Wednesday, DEQ had received more than 2,000 public comments and counting on the commission’s proposed rules for 1,4-dixoane and PFAS, according to Josh Kastrinksy, DEQ’s deputy communications director.

“The comments we’ve received in writing have by and large reflected the comments we’ve received in person,” he said.

Andrew Mlot, chair of the North Carolina Pretreatment Consortium Inc., a nonprofit that represents more than 180 pretreatment professionals in 64 state-approved pretreatment programs across North Carolina, was the only person Tuesday to speak in support of the proposed rules.

But that organization has “several specific concerns” with the rules as they are currently written, he said.

“The costs to treat 1,4-dioxane at the POTW (publicly owned treatment works) level is staggering. Capital costs alone range from $10 million to $1.3 billion, making source control the only practical path forward,” he said.

The proposed rules would require public treatment works in Greensboro, Burlington, Asheboro, High Point and Reidsville, which have been conducting monitoring and minimization activities going back to 2015, to start over, Mlot said.

“We ask for an explicit offramp for POTWs that have already completed successful programs. Replace any detection with a workable screening threshold. As currently written, any detection of 1,4-dioxane triggers ongoing monitoring requirements and a full minimization plan. NCPC members do not believe this is workable. We support an alternative screening threshold based on meaningful concentrations or loading levels,” he said.

DEQ is accepting written comments through June 15. Comments may be submitted by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject heading “1,4-dioxane minimization, or by mail to Bridget Shelton, DEQ-DWR Planning Section, 1611 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1611.

Dare county residents and property owners are invited to participate in an interactive workshop on Tuesday to review and discuss key preliminary findings from an assessment of the vulnerability of unincorporated areas to flooding.

The North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program is hosting the action development program from 5-7 p.m. in room 238 of the Dare County Administration Building, 954 Marshall Collins Drive, Manteo.

The workshop will be a drop-in, open house-style event with interactive stations where participants can learn about the program, review findings of from the assessment, and provide input on topics ranging from natural resources, stormwater management, infrastructure and residential adaptation in unincorporated Dare County.

The workshop will begin with a brief presentation. Refreshments and light snacks will be provided.

The assessment was conducted by a consulting firm through the North Carolina Resilient Coastal Communities Program, which is administered by the Division of Coastal Management to support coastal resilience goals, assess community capacity, and identify and prioritize projects that strengthen resilience to coastal hazards. The division is under North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

North Carolina’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool now includes enhanced flood mapping and risk information for five river basins in Eastern North Carolina.

The online tool designed to help local governments, agencies and nongovernmental partners develop, evaluate and prioritize resilience actions has been updated with new nonregulatory or “advisory” flood maps for the Cape Fear, Lumber, Neuse, Tar-Pamlico, and White Oak river basins.

The need for new maps and modeling efforts were identified in the draft blueprint, which was created by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality at the direction of the General Assembly.

The updates were made through extensive coordination with local leaders, other state agencies, nongovernmental organizations, university researchers and evaluating programs in other states like Texas and Louisiana for guidance, according to an NCDEQ release.

NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson, in the release, stated that research from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill found that more than 90,000 buildings in Eastern North Carolina flooded at least once from 1996 until 2020, and 43% of those buildings were outside the mapped Federal Emergency Management Agency floodplain. “The General Assembly’s investment in updated modeling and mapping means that North Carolinians in five river basins now have a more accurate picture of their actual flooding risk, Wilson said.”   

The improved mapping was done in partnership with the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program, one overseen by the North Carolina Emergency Management.

“NC Emergency Management is proud to provide flood mapping support to DEQ which will produce additional flood mapping products to build resilient communities across the state,” N.C. Emergency Management Director Will Ray stated. “As part of a multi-year advisory flood data web application development project, which began in 2022, the NCEM Floodplain Management Program was able to provide data and resources to assist in this project, once again showing the whole-of-community approach to disaster preparedness In North Carolina.” 

The mapping includes numerical models that simulate surface runoff and routing on a landscape, and are available for previously unmapped or undermapped basins too small to be included on regulatory maps and extend beyond what is normally included in traditional regulatory floodplain mapping.

The maps also include areas that flood despite being many miles from the nearest stream and allow communities to explore their future risk associated with projected growth patterns and the changing climate fueling more frequent and severe storms and sea level rise.

“These new maps, available through our Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool, mean that Eastern North Carolinians can make more informed decisions and better investments to build their resilience in the face of more frequent and severe flooding,” Flood Resiliency Blueprint Manager Stuart Brown said in a release.

River Basin Action Strategies for the five river basins are expected to be available this summer, and new maps for the French Broad River Basin available this fall, according to DEQ.

Presales for commercial and for-hire fishing licenses and permits for the new license year will begin April 15.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is encouraging fishers to schedule appointments to obtain licenses and permits in April and May, when presales traffic is typically lighter.

Walk-in only service will be available in June.

Under new rules this year, all license sales offices will stop taking customers at 4 p.m. during the last two weeks of June and the first week of July. Service may be slower at license offices during lunch between 12- p.m., according to a division release.

The new license years starts July 1.

Applicants are asked to bring any one of the following current/valid photo identifications:

• State Issued Driver’s License.
• State Issued Identification Card (issued by Department of Motor Vehicles).
• Military ID.
• Passport.
• Resident Alien Card (green card).
• Individuals applying for another license under the authority of Power of Attorney must submit a photocopy of the power of attorney and a current/valid photo ID.

Current/valid state vessel registration or U.S. Coast Guard vessel documentation is also required. Anyone applying for a transfer of ownership with pending U.S. Coast Guard vessel documentation may bring a notarized bill of sale.

Those applying as a business are required to provide the following documents to renew:

• A copy of the original business documents from the Secretary of State in which the business was created.
• A copy of the annual report from the Secretary of State in which the business was created.
• A copy of the written agreement partnership.
• A copy of the assumed name statement from the register of deeds in the county in which the business was created.

The North Carolina Division of Water Resources is accepting proposals for stream restoration, water-based restoration and water management projects now through June 30.

Project proposals are being accepted through the current spring 2026 application cycle of the Water Resources Development Grant Program, which provides two different types of grants.

There’s the state and local program, which offers cost-sharing grants of up to 50% of nonfederal project costs for stream restoration, water-based restoration and water management projects.

Grants are also offered for stream restoration projects on agricultural lands that are cost-shared with the Natural Resources Conservation Service Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP. Applications for that program will be accepted through July 30.

The division typically receives $3 million for state and local projects, and $2 million for EQIP projects each year, according to a release.

Links to previously funded projects and additional resources are available online.

Contact Amin Davis, grant manager, at amin.davis@deq.nc.gov for more information. 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s State Energy Office has released a plan that identifies ways to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The North Carolina Comprehensive Climate Action Plan, or CCAP, includes resilience and carbon reduction measures to meet the goal of Executive Order 246, which was signed by former Gov. Roy Cooper in early 2022 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% below 2005 levels by 2030.

“The Comprehensive Climate Action Plan lays out a path for how North Carolina can successfully achieve its greenhouse gas reduction goals,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson stated in a release. “Investing in clean energy and energy efficiency will ensure that electricity supplies are reliable and affordable for families and businesses while driving down greenhouse gas pollution.”  

The plan targets six key areas, including electricity generation, industry, transportation, buildings, waste management and natural and working lands.

The state’s 2024 Greenhouse Gas Inventory forms the analytical foundation for the six key sectors by establishing a statewide baseline for past emissions and future emissions projections, allowing the state to evaluate the potential impact of future greenhouse gas reduction measures. 

Specific strategies such as increasing options for renewable electricity, improving energy efficiency in buildings, and expanding electric vehicle use and land-based carbon sequestration, will help the state reach this carbon reduction goal, according to state officials.

While a majority of the measures the plan identifies are already funded or anticipate funding, in order for the plan to be successfully long-term, continued and increased investments will need to be made to strengthen resilience and reduce climate pollution, support economic development and workforce readiness, and deliver cleaner air and healthier communities.

“Implementing projects to achieve the measures in this plan will result in significant energy savings in all sectors of the economy: electricity, industry, buildings, waste and more, which will help North Carolina keep energy costs down, reduce strain on the grid and help us meet our quickly growing energy demands,” State Energy Office Director Julie Woosley said in a release.

DEQ first published a Priority Climate Action Plan in 2024 after the agency received $3 million in Climate Pollution Reduction Grant planning funds. This plan identified the state’s highest priority greenhouse gas reduction measures.

The CCAP builds on that plan by updating and expanding greenhouse gas emission strategies through new data, modeling and stakeholder input, and identifying strategies that can be implemented and are feasible and measurable, according to a DEQ release.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed shellfish bottom and water column lease in a Pamlico County waterway.

Evan R. Gadow has applied for a 0.72-acre lease in Little Bear Creek.

A public hearing on the proposed lease is set for 6 p.m. on March 24 at the Pamlico County Courthouse, 202 Main St. in Bayboro. The hearing will also be held via Webex.

Anyone who wishes to speak online should preregister at deq.nc.gov/pamlico-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-speaker-registration. Those who attend the in-person hearing must register to speak at the meeting location between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the night of the hearing.

Written comments on the proposed shellfish lease are also being accepted up to 24 hours after the hearing through an online form or by mail to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.

Additional information, including a call-in telephone number, may be found at deq.nc.gov/2026-03-24-pamlico-county-shellfish-lease-hearing or by contacting the Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program at 252-515-5600 or SLAP@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking volunteers for its annual spring count of diamondback terrapins.

The 2026 Terrapin Tally occurs in areas of the state’s southern coast, where the small, aquatic turtles call marshes, estuaries and tidal creeks home.

Diamondback terrapins are listed as a species of special concern in North Carolina and federally as a species of greatest conservation need.

“Diamondback terrapins are a keystone species, critical to the health of the saltmarsh ecosystem,” Sarah Finn, a Wildlife Resources Commission biologist said in a release. “Studying their populations is difficult due to their habitat characteristics and North Carolina’s expansive estuarine systems. Understanding the population status and trends of terrapins in North Carolina is important to the long-term management of this species, and we can work toward this goal with the help of volunteer community scientists.”

Volunteers must supply their own kayaks, mobile phones and take part in a mandatory training session. There will be two training sessions, the first of which is scheduled for 10 a.m. – noon on April 11 at Carolina Beach State Park visitor center. Another training session has been set for 10 a.m. – noon on April 18 at Hammocks Beach State Park visitor center.

Registration is required.

“It’s a wonderful way to get out to explore and learn about our local waterways, while also contributing to a long-term citizen science project,” Amy Long, who will be volunteering in the tally for an 11th year, said in the release. “Really, who doesn’t want to spot adorable terrapins?!? It’s like an easter egg hunt, and when you have friends doing other days or trails, it’s fun to see who had better luck out on the water.”

The Terrapin tally is headed by the Wildlife Resources Commission and supported by partner organizations including the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, N.C. State Parks, Bald Head Island Conservancy, N.C. Audubon, N.C. Aquarium and National Park Service.

Data collected in the tallies has contributed to fisheries management to protect terrapins from drowning in blue-crab pots, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission.

Additional information is available at 2026 Terrapin Tally.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality State Energy Office has set a public hearing next month on a state program that provides free weatherization services for income-eligible households.

Comments will be accepted on the proposed adoption of the New North Carolina Project, a nonprofit founded to increase civic engagement among underserved communities and to act as the service provider to a regional territory that includes Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Duplin, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender and Wayne counties. 

The N.C. Weatherization Assistance Program, funded under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, aims to reduce energy bills and increase home comfort and safety by providing free weatherization services for eligible households.

The state program in 2021 was appropriated $89 million for enhancing energy efficiency in income-eligible households throughout the state. In March 2023, DEQ held a hearing on the proposed plan, which was approved by the U.S. Department of Energy in August of that same year.

DEQ has conditionally approved the New North Carolina Project to be the region’s service. The organization will be awarded about $5 million to be the regional service providers until 2029 or funds are depleted.

The hearing is scheduled for 4 p.m. April 8 at the DEQ Green Square Office Building, training room No. 1210, 217 West Jones St. in Raleigh.

To join the hearing by Webex link to https://ncgov.webex.com/ncgov/j.php?MTID=m21fb07102030a6f681df2f99a5537f0c and use meeting number/access code 2438 254 6635. You may also join by phone at  +1-415-655-0003 with meeting password ncwap (62927 when dialing from a phone).

The hearing officer may limit speaking times to accommodate all speakers.

The agency is also accepting public comments by mail to DEQ Weatherization Assistance Program, 1613 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1613, or by email to seo.publiccomments@deq.nc.gov, with “2026 NNCP Comment” in the subject line.  

All comments must be postmarked, emailed or hand-delivered no later than April 10.

Additional hearing documentation is available at www.deq.nc.gov/wap-hearings. 

Construction and other projects expected to affect waters or wetlands will now be vetted through a newly implemented state process.

Depending on a its impacts to streams and wetlands, some projects will get to bypass a 30-day notice as part of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources Clean Water Act 401 general certifications updates that took effect March 15.

The new certificate of coverage process is anticipated to apply to “many project” currently requiring individual Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certifications, according to a DEQ release.

Applicants must still apply to the division through the new process, but those that meet thresholds and conditions under the general certification will receive a letter of concurrence, which will allow the project to proceed without a 30-day notice.

Project located in sensitive areas, those with a significant quantity of impacts to waters or wetlands, or those that cannot meet the general certification conditions must still go through the process of a 30-day public notice and project-specific decision letter to obtain individual 401 water quality certification.

The state’s update reflects corresponding U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 404 Nationwide Permits, which have been modified following a 2023 Supreme Court ruling that changed the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS.

That same year, the North Carolina General Assembly passed session law directing the state Environmental Management Commission to adopt a rule that aligns the state’s definition of wetlands to those of the federal definition.

The latest definition excludes noncontiguous wetlands, or those that are not connected to navigable waters.

The Corps has extended a one-year grace period to projects it has approved for permitting to complete impacts to waters outlined under their existing federal permit. New certifications will not be required for those projects.

DEQ advises permittees to check with their Corps representative to confirm whether the grace period is applicable to their projects.

The division has included a list of frequently asked questions online for general information.

It’s been nearly a month since a video first aired of Wilmington’s mayor invoking residents to voice their opposition to one town’s plans to pull millions of gallons of water daily from the Cape Fear River.

“Today this vital resource is under threat from growing water-hungry communities upstream,” Mayor Bill Saffo says in the clip as he stands along the city’s downtown Riverwalk.

Fuquay-Varina, a town about 30 miles south of Raleigh, wants to move more than 6 million gallons of water each day from the Cape Fear River to the Neuse River, he explains in the video made in collaboration with the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority.

“That’s 6 million gallons gone, each day, forever. It is important that you make your voice heard now for your family and for future generations. Add your voice to those of your neighbors and friends who already are telling the state to say no to Fuquay-Varina’s permanent taking of our water,” Saffo concludes.

Only a couple of more weeks are left until the public comment period on Fuquay-Varina’s request for an interbasin transfer, or IBT, certificate closes.

Maya Holcomb, a Division of Water Resources representative, told members of the state Environmental Management Commission’s Water Allocation Committee last week that she anticipated receiving comments all the way through to the April 1 deadline.

In her presentation to the committee Thursday, Holcomb provided an update on the numbers of correspondence she’d received in the days since she initially crafted her report, when the email count was at 283.

Related: Opponents say river water transfer puts Cape Fear in peril

“But I just keep getting so many emails, which — we’re hearing from the public, that’s great — but I have received an additional 42 emails since this PowerPoint was created last week,” Holcomb said.

Holcomb said she had also received 41 resolutions from cities, towns, counties, homebuilders, substations and public utilities.

She did not say how many of those resolutions oppose the IBT, but instead highlighted what she described as the “newest” issues of concern: loss of water for agricultural purposes, nutrient concentration in the Neuse River Basin, such as those that cause algal blooms, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, hypoxia, drought vulnerability and chemical export of industrial pollutants from the Cape Fear River.

Those concerns mirror some of arguments made by dozens of people who spoke out against the transfer during a series of state-hosted public hearings in December.

Fuquay-Varina projects that the water supply, from which it currently buys from Raleigh and Harnett and Johnston counties, will fall short of demand by 2030.

Under the proposed preferred alternative identified in a draft environmental impact statement for the transfer, Fuquay-Varina would source its entire water supply from a water treatment plant in Sanford, which is in the Cape Fear River Basin.

Once water pulled from the Cape Fear River is used by residents and businesses in that town, the treated wastewater would then be discharged into the Neuse River Basin.

This would permanently subtract 6.17 million gallons each day from the river flow that currently serves about 900,000 residents of counties, cities, towns and communities from Fayetteville to Wilmington.

“Put in perspective, 6.17 (million gallons per day) of raw water from the river is enough to provide treated drinking water to more than 27,000 homes,” according to Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s website.

In the weeks and months leading up to CFPUA’s campaign against Fuquay-Varina’s plan, several local governments and utilities adopted resolutions and sent letters of opposition to the state.

New Hanover County, Wilmington and Brunswick County and more than a dozen Brunswick County municipalities have officially gone on record opposing Fuquay-Varina’s request.

Holcomb explained last week that, after April 1, state environmental officials will respond to comments on the draft environmental impact statement and then formulate a hearing officers’ report, which will be finalized sometime between July and September.

After that, the Environmental Management Commission will determine whether the EIS is technically adequate. Following that determination, the Department of Environmental Quality will issue its record of decision.

Another round of public hearings will be held before the EMC makes its final determination.

If approved, the transfer would occur after 2031, according to the draft impact statement.

Comments may be submitted to Maya Holcomb, Division of Water Resources, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC, 27604, or by email to maya.holcomb@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has scheduled a series of public hearings in select cities beginning next month on proposed PFAS and 1,4-dioxane monitoring and minimization rules.

In all, six hearings have been set, three of which will focus on proposed rules for discharges of three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances through wastewater into North Carolina’s surface waters and three on proposed rules for monitoring and minimizing 1,4-dioxane in wastewater discharges from certain facilities into surface waters.

A public comment period for each set of proposed rules will kick off on March 16 and continue until June 15.

Under the proposed PFAS rules, all major and minor industrial direct dischargers, and significant industrial users that discharge to publicly owned treatment works, would be required to monitor and implement “minimization activities required to eliminate or significantly reduce” discharges of PFOS, PFOA, and GenX within a period of anywhere between three and five years.

Discharge limits for those specific PFAS have yet to be determined.

PFAS exposure has been linked to a number of adverse health impacts to people, including thyroid disease, increased cholesterol, liver damage, and different types of cancers.

More than 3 million North Carolinians are estimated to drink tap water containing PFAS levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency health-based standard scheduled to go into effect in the coming years, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Public hearings on the proposed rules for the three PFAS are scheduled as follows:

• April 7 at 6 p.m. in Ferguson Auditorium, AB-Tech Community College, 19 Tech Drive, Asheville.
• April 20 at 6 p.m. in the Archdale Building, ground floor hearing room, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh. Public parking will be available after 5 p.m. at parking deck 64 across North Salisbury Street from the Archdale Building.
• April 23 at 6 p.m. in Wilmington City Hall at Skyline Center, first floor conference center, 929 North Front St., Wilmington. Parking is available in the south lot using the Brunswick Street entrance. Attendees requiring American with Disabilities Act access should park in the visitor lot.

Written comments are being accepted by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject title “PFAS minimization” or by mail to Karen Preston, DEQ-DWR NPDES Permitting Section, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1617.

Comments will be accepted on the proposed rule adoptions and associated regulatory impact analysis. The commission is also accepting comments on specific questions including:

• Whether it would be scientifically defensible and advisable to establish a screening threshold above the lowest reporting concentration for PFOS, PFOA and GenX that could serve as a trigger for ongoing monitoring and minimization requirements.
• Whether the applicability of the PFAS monitoring and minimization rule should be limited to industrial dischargers associated with a standard industry classification (SIC) or North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes known to be linked to PFAS use or discharge.

Hearings on proposed rules for monitoring and minimizing 1,4-dioxane, a federally deemed likely human carcinogen, in wastewater discharges into surface waters from certain facilities have been scheduled for the following dates:

• April 9 at 6 p.m. in the Catawba County St. Stephens Branch Library, 3225 Springs Road, Hickory.
• April 14 at 6 p.m. at Fayetteville Technology Community College, Tony Rand Student Center multipurpose room, 2220 Hull Road, Fayetteville.
• May 12 at 6 p.m. in the Percy H. Sears Applied Technologies Building Auditorium, Guilford Technical Community College, 1201 Bonner Drive, Jamestown.

Written comments on the proposed rules for 1,4-dixoane may be submitted via email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject heading “1,4-dioxane minimization,” or by mail to Bridget Shelton, DEQ-DWR Planning Section, 1611 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1611.

The EMC will also be accepting specific comments on the proposed 1,4-dixoane minimization rules to include:

• Whether a screening threshold above the lowest reported concentration (currently 1 microgram per liter) for 1,4-dioxane would be appropriate as a trigger for ongoing monitoring and minimization planning.
• whether the applicability of the 1,4-dioxane monitoring and minimization rules should be expanded beyond the currently proposed scope of dischargers with certain standard industry classification or North American Industry Classification System codes to include all industrial dischargers.

Sign-in and speaker registration will begin at 5 p.m. at each of the hearings.

Based on attendance, speaking time may be limited to allow everyone an opportunity to be heard. The commission will accept written comments and copies of prepared remarks at each hearing.

The North Carolina Marine & Estuary Foundation and North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries plan this year to expand a red drum tagging program that offers insight into the movement patterns of North Carolina’s official state saltwater fish.

The foundation announced Tuesday plans to tag 25 more red drum, adding to the 33 tagged last year during expeditions led by the foundation and the division in conjunction with local fishing guides along the North Carolina coast.

The tags allow the public to track the movements of red drum, including through coastal inlets and spawning locations, through an interactive tracking platform funded by the foundation and developed in collaboration with technology company Mapotic.

The interactive tracking platform for red drum brings cutting-edge marine science directly to the public.

Since its launch, the platform has recorded more than 28,000 views.

“Red drum are an iconic symbol of North Carolina’s coastal communities, and the public interest in our groundbreaking red drum tracker demonstrates North Carolinians’ strong affinity for the species,” Marine & Estuary Foundation Executive Director Chad Thomas stated in a release. “This year, we are excited to continue developing our platform and aim to tag 25 additional red drum in partnership with the Division. Our work enables researchers, anglers, and the public to better understand the migratory habits of one of North Carolina’s most economically and culturally significant species.”

A pilot study launched in 2024 in which 10 adult red drum were tagged in Pamlico Sound allowed researchers to determine which tag attachment methods work best and optimal satellite transmission settings.

The tagging project was expanded last year and is being conducted with assistance from recreational fishing guides and as part of the division’s annual longline survey.

Tags are programmed in intervals ranging from 30 days to 12 months to detach from a fish and “pop up” at the surface, transmitting daily location data to the Argos satellite network, creating a detailed map of a fish’s movements.

“Because red drum often travel near the surface, some tags may send data before their programmed release, providing early insights into fish locations,” according to the release.

Gov. Josh Stein and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson made a visit Thursday to Cape Fear Public Utility Authority’s Sweeney Water Treatment Plant in Wilmington to formally announce a $17.8 million grant from the state to support the replacement and capacity upgrade of the utility’s Southside Water Reclamation Facility.

The funds will be used to extend waterlines to connect more than 300 homes with contaminated wells to the utility’s supply of drinking water.

The governor’s office first announced Feb. 19 the nearly $18 million grant, which is coming out of more than $472 million for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure projects.

“The $472 million statewide investment through NCDEQ will help cities, towns and counties strengthen infrastructure to better withstand future storms, improve existing drinking water and wastewater infrastructure, reduce contamination by forever chemicals, and identify and replace lead pipes,” according to the press release.

A list of all the projects selected for funding is on the NCDEQ website.

“When families turn on the tap, they deserve to know that their water is clean and safe,” Stein said in an announcement. “This $17 million investment in Wilmington will protect more than 300 families from forever chemicals by connecting their homes to the public water supply. We’ve made historic commitments to upgrade water infrastructure across North Carolina because keeping North Carolinians healthy starts with reliable, resilient water systems.”

The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will receive the funds through the Department of Environmental Quality’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The $17.8 million funding to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority brings DEQ’s total support for the Southside Replacement Project to $192.8 million.

“People who live in the Cape Fear River Basin are rightly concerned about high levels of forever chemicals like GenX and PFAS in their drinking water,” Wilson said. “The Department of Environmental Quality remains committed to doing everything we can to reduce exposure to these harmful chemicals so that families can trust that the water coming out of their tap is healthy and safe.”

In the parts of New Hanover County served by these waterline extension projects, more than 75% of sampled wells exceeded health-based drinking water standards for certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. PFAS is a group of thousands of human-made, persistent chemicals that have been used for decades to make heat, water, and stain-resistant products.

“Since CFPUA brought new filters online at our Sweeney Plant in 2022, we have been able to effectively remove GenX and other PFAS from our public drinking water,” utility Board Chairman Wesley P. Corder said. “We are very grateful for this support from Governor Stein’s Office and the Department of Environmental Quality, which will enable us to connect more families in our community to CFPUA’s clean, clearly better water.”

Since taking office, Stein has advanced more than $1.4 billion in water infrastructure projects to strengthen drinking water and wastewater systems and address PFAS and other contaminants.

Last week, the Governor traveled to Winston-Salem to join the 40th annual Emerging Issues Forum, where he discussed the importance of sustained investment in North Carolina’s water infrastructure.

Related: Population growth to impact water infrastructure: Forum

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is expected to consider adopting rule amendments pertaining to air quality and domestic wastewater discharges at its upcoming meeting.

The commission, which adopts rules to protect natural resources, will also consider voting on schedules for readopting existing rules at its March 12 meeting.

The commission’s committees are scheduled to meet beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, March 11. The full commission’s meeting the following day is to start at 9 a.m.

Meetings will be held on the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh. The public may attend in-person, by computer or by telephone.

Meeting agendas and supporting documents, as well as steps to join the meeting virtually or by phone can be found on the commission’s website.

Updates of ongoing work, future cleanup plans, and studies of a former wood treatment plant site in Navassa will be included among topics discussed at an upcoming community meeting.

During the meeting scheduled for 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 12, federal and state officials will discuss the recently completed cleanup of contaminated soil and debris in operable unit 2 of the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp – Navassa Superfund Site.

An in-person only drop-in session will be held from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Officials will also highlight the cleanup plan for operable unit 4 and an ongoing pilot study of that unit evaluating whether injecting oxygen into the aquifer would effectively remediate contamination in subsurface soils and groundwater.

Other topics are to include the feasibility study for operable unit 3, also known as the southern marsh, and an update on the Moze Center land donation and draft conservation easement under review by the Navassa Town Council and mayor.

The meeting, which is being hosted by the Multistate Environmental Response Trust in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, will be held in-person at the Navassa Community Center, 338 Main St., on Zoom, or by telephone at 301-715-8592, meeting ID 946 584 8922, passcode 664564.

Those who wish to join online may also enter  tinyurl.com/Navassameetings into a browser.

Coastal Resources Commission members last week held off on addressing oceanfront septic tank system rules in order to give environmental and health officials the opportunity to collaborate on the process.

During the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting in Atlantic Beach, staff with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, which implements the commission’s rules and policies, asked for extra time to work with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS regulates permitting, design, installation, operation and maintenance for on-site septic systems.

The failed septic system issue had been forefront for the commission in the early 2020s, until the topic was sidelined in April 2023 when the Rules Review Commission rejected dozens of rules the Coastal Resources Commission submitted as part of the 10-year rule review process, including protections for Jockey’s Ridge, redirecting the CRC’s attention.

After the rules protecting the sand dune system on the Outer Banks were put back in place in 2025, the Coastal Resource Commission resumed the discussions on remedies for oceanfront septic system failures.

Division Coastal Policy Analyst Cameron Luck explained last Thursday that the commission directed the staff at its November 2025 meeting to find out how many septic system failures along the waterfront were caused by tidal inundation, how many coastal communities rely on septic systems, and the overlap of the commission’s rules with the DHHS’s permitting process.

Luck said that Initially the plan for the February meeting was for the proposed amendments to move forward. But, after the division, DHHS and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, met Feb. 18 to review the issue, the consensus was to pause the rulemaking process.

The plan as of last Thursday was to schedule a meeting in mid-March with the health department and other agencies and organizations. “We want everybody at the table,” to better understand how stakeholders feel about the issue and willingness to address septic tank failures through a collaborative effort, Luck said.

Under the current rules, septic tanks are grouped with houses, which precludes oceanfront septic systems from requiring a permit for repair. And, an oceanfront septic system must be relocated or dismantled within eight years of when a home becomes threatened.

Division staff proposed clarifying that new structures must meet the oceanfront setback, and if a home or septic system is relocated, all remaining debris, including the original septic system, must be removed as well.

Staff also proposed specifying that septic system repair and/or replacement is not evaluated under general statute. Instead, it requires a Coastal Area Management Act permit to replace any septic tank, pump tank, or ground absorption system component.

North Carolina Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis, who was previously director of the Division of Coastal Management, has been involved in the process for some time. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Davis explained to the commission that it already regulates new oceanfront septic tanks by requiring that those systems meet the oceanfront setback. However, the division currently doesn’t have rules regarding repairing oceanfront septic systems.

DHHS, Dare and septic systems

Two officials with the state health department explained to the commission the prevalence of on-site wastewater systems in the state and the role the division plays in managing them.

Deputy Environmental Health Section Chief Jon Fowlkes said that about 50% of the state relies on septic systems and that has remained consistent over the last 20 to 30 years.

“Every county in our state uses septic systems, some counties more, some counties less,” he said, with some ranging from 14% to 93%, “so it really varies on where you’re at, and we’ve had approximately 1 million septic systems installed since 1990.”

The state’s wastewater rules apply to residential and some commercial on-site septic systems.

On-Site Water Protection Branch Head Wilson Mize with DHHS told the commission that neither he nor Fowlkes worked on the coast before, and “it’s been a learning curve” for them while working with Dare, Currituck and Carteret counties.

He used Dare as an example for how the county is handling its oceanfront septic problems, particularly the scenario of when a tank that was once covered in sand is exposed during a weather event.

After every storm, environmental health staff coordinate with local building inspectors and walk the impacted beach areas, looking for damaged dwellings and determine which systems have been compromised, Mize said.

In many cases the health department’s hands are tied when it comes to not issuing permits. “Our rules don’t give the county much authority to deny that permit if it meets our rules,” Fowlkes said.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said the county has a similar situation, stating that they’re also required to issue a permit for septic tanks, even if they’re in the surf zone.

“If the owner can get access to his building, we have to give them the permits. And so now they’ve got a house sitting in the water, their septic tank’s on the wet sand beach, and their drain field is back in the dry sand beach and we have to permit it,” he continued.

“They do it. Two weeks later, we have a nor’easter. It knocks the top off, it dumps the septic in the ocean again, and we start the process again. The water subsides. They put a new top on it. It meets all the requirements. We permit it,” he explained. “And the cycle continues until they lose enough lot that they can’t have a drain field, or they’ve lost enough lot, or lose the tank, and they don’t have anywhere to put the tank, and we don’t have a remedy for that, and we don’t have a remedy for it once it’s all said and done.”

Outten said there are options to break the cycle, including the establishment of setbacks by the commission, or rules that the health department can enforce.

“So we’re stuck in this situation because none of the rules work together to solve what I think we all see as a problem,” he said. “If our goal is to get those tanks off of the beaches, then the rules don’t currently work to do that.”

Commission Chair Renee Cahoon recognized that there’s no easy solution, “but we know that we can’t continue to have all the septic tanks on the beach. It’s not environmentally healthy. It’s not even good business sense for the people in North Carolina, because it does impact our tourism industry and all the property owners that are invested here.”

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is hosting an online public information session this month to provide an overview of the Flood Resiliency Blueprint.

During the meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. March 25, state officials will also provide information on the program’s online decision support tool and ongoing development of river basin action strategies.

The GIS-enabled tool is designed to provide users with accurate, data-driven flood risk and vulnerability assessments, allow them to explore, develop and define flood resilience actions, and help them evaluate and prioritize effective flood resilience actions.

The Flood Resiliency Blueprint, also referred to as the Blueprint, is the largest proactive statewide flood mitigation investment in the state’s history.

The Blueprint supports the planning, evaluation and implementation of flood resilience plans by equipping local governments, the state and supporting organizations with data, tools and processes to guide investments to reduce flood risk, fund priority projects and address gaps in mitigation efforts.

A total of 81 flood resilience projects have been funded since 2024 in the North Carolina General Assembly-designated river basins, which include the Neuse, French Broad, White Oak, Tar Pamlico, Cape Fear and Lumber. Those projects total more than $40 million.

Officials will also deliver during the information session a river basin action strategy for each of the basins, which will include a set of projects and funding strategies to reduce flooding, lessen damage, and strengthen communities’ ability to withstand, adapt to and recover quickly from future disasters.

Attendees of the public information session will get the opportunity to ask questions. Questions may also be submitted via email to blueprint@deq.nc.gov. 

To join by Webex go to https://ncgov.webex.com/ncgov/j.php?MTID=m1e4c9ef1d0647e6928d442190ce486e5. The meeting number/access code is 2438 419 0160 and the password is blueprint. To join by telephone dial 1-415-655-0003. 

Recreational anglers are being asked to donate carcasses of legally harvested Gulf flounder to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries during the 2026 spring season.

Carcasses will be used for research purposes. Biologists with the division will measure each fish, determine the sex of each fish when possible, and remove the otoliths, or ear bones, to determine the age of each fish.

During the recreational harvesting season, which is March 9-22 in ocean waters from Portsmouth Island to the South Carolina line, anglers who donate legally harvested Gulf flounder carcasses and complete the required catch-card (one person per fish, per card) will be entered to win one of five tackle bags filled with fishing gear and more.

Flounder are one of five species anglers are now required to report under a new state law.

Carcass donations may be dropped at one of the division’s Carcass Collection Program’s eight freezer locations.

Those locations include:

• Cape Pointe Marina, 1390 Island Road, Harkers Island.
• Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle, 709 Atlantic Beach Causeway, Atlantic Beach.
• N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Headquarters, 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City.
• Pelagic Hunter, 104 James St., Sneads Ferry.
• Tex’s Tackle, 215 Old Eastwood Road, Wilmington.
• Carolina Beach Municipal Docks, Carl Winner Drive, Carolina Beach.
• Clem’s Seafood, 4351 Long Beach Road SE, Southport.
• Ocean Isle Fishing Center, 65 Causeway Drive, Ocean Isle Beach.

Donation supplies and catch-cards are available at each donation site. Anglers must complete the entire catch-card legibly, completely and truthfully to be eligible to win.

Anglers should leave the head and tail intact and, if possible, not remove the guts/reproductive organs when cleaning their fish.

Those who fish on a charter boat or head boat should let the fish cleaner know that a carcass will be donated.

The minimum size limit for Gulf flounder in North Carolina is 15 inches total length.

Recreational anglers who harvest Gulf flounder in federal waters and bring the fish back to North Carolina must meet the state’s season, size and possession limits.

Additional specific information is available under Proclamation FF-13-2026.

For more information about North Carolina’s Carcass Collection program, contact Amanda Macek, Division sportfishing specialist, at 252-515-5537 or amanda.macek@deq.nc.gov.

North Carolinians may now check daily air quality forecasts for ozone across the state.

This year’s ozone season began Sunday, signaling a reset for state and local environmental agencies to post daily air quality forecasts for ozone.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality will include ozone in its daily air quality forecasts, which includes year-round fine particulate matter pollution, through Oct. 31.

Ozone forms in the air from the Earth’s surface when nitrogen oxides react with hydrocarbons in the presence of heat and sunlight. Potential human health effects from exposure to high levels of ozone including heart and lung conditions, such as asthma, particularly in young children and older adults.

“Ozone levels on North Carolina’s highest ozone days continue to decline due to steady reductions in emissions from its primary air pollution sources: power plants, industry and motor vehicles,” according to the state.

North Carolina was designated as attaining the 2015 ozone standard statewide by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2017, and has maintained compliance with the standard since.

The division’s meteorologists use the air quality index to monitor and forecast ozone and fine particular matter. Daily forecasts are issued every three days out by 3 p.m. with a morning update by 10 a.m. the next day.

The state agency provides up-to-date, localized forecasting for 91 of North Carolina’s 100 counties and two mountain ridgetop zones.

The Forsyth County Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection forecasts air quality for the greater Triad region, including Winston-Salem and Greensboro.

In addition to the state’s air quality portal, forecasts are also available through the EPA’s AirNow website and app.

The division’s X feed and Facebook include forecast updates, information about active air quality alerts and opportunities to learn more about air quality.

Real-time and historical air quality and meteorological observations are available through the Ambient Information Reporter tool. Current- and long-term ozone trends for monitors through the United States are provided by the Ozone Design Value Predictor tool.

An educational video explaining the different air quality index color codes is available in English and Spanish.

Four rotational harvest cultch sites in the Pamlico Sound are to remain open until March 31, unless it’s deemed necessary to close these 10-acre sites sooner, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Friday.

The sites are part of the N.C. Oyster Fishery Management Plan’s amendment 5, “which balances harvest opportunities with sustainability by allowing harvest on managed cultch planting sites while protecting oyster habitat in other areas of the Pamlico Sound,” the division said. Cultch sites are oyster reefs the planted in places with the right environmental conditions.

The division rotates which cultch sites are open to mechanical harvest to provide continued opportunities later in the season while supporting the division’s “extensive cultch planting program and long-term management goals for the resource.”

The following sites are open from sunrise to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, in accordance with existing gear, tagging and size limit requirements, and are subject to daily harvest limits of adjacent areas as outlined in a proclamation:

• Up to 15 bushels a day in Turnagain Bay no. 1 in the Neuse River management area.
• Up to 10 bushels a day in Jones Bay No. 1 in the Neuse River management aArea.
• Up to 15 bushels in Crab Hole No. 2 in the Northern Dare management area.
• Up to 15 bushels a day in Swan Quarter No. 2 in the Pamlico River management area.

These sites are marked with buoys and orange flags. Coordinates for the sites are in the press release.

The division reminded commercial fishermen and the public that mechanical oyster harvest seasons were closed:

• Jan 9 in the bays of the Neuse River, Pamlico River and northern Hyde management areas.
• Jan. 16 in the open waters of the Pamlico River and Neuse River areas.
• Jan. 30 in the northern Hyde area.

For more information the state’s oyster management plan, visit the division’s website.

A North Carolina court has ruled that the state’s lead environmental agency has the authority to set 1,4-dioxane discharge limits for public wastewater utilities.

The ruling reverses a 2024 administrative law judge’s determination that the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality did not follow the proper process when it established discharge limits for a handful of municipal wastewater treatment plants in the piedmont.

DEQ followed state Environmental Management Commission and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “protocols in creating the 1,4-dioxane limits and created the criteria for the purpose of protecting the health and wellbeing of North Carolinians,” Wake County Superior Court Judge A. Graham Shirley wrote in his Feb. 5 decision. “Compliance with regulations and a desire to maintain or improve public health cannot be said to be a ‘patently in bad faith’ decision.”

Shirley wrote that the agency “did not err” in considering 1,4-dioxane, a substance used primarily as a solvent in chemical manufacturing, as a carcinogen.

“Because 1,4-dioxane is a pollutant likely to cause cancer in humans, permit limits are necessary to protect North Carolinians’ drinking water and their health,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson stated in a release the agency published Thursday. “The court vindicates DEQ’s decision to impose limits to protect downstream communities from this harmful carcinogen.”

Discharges of the chemical substance into North Carolinians’ drinking water sources has gained attention in recent years, with downstream public water suppliers and communities calling for tighter regulations and that pollution be controlled at the source.

DEQ’s Division of Water Resources attempted to do that when, in August 2023, it issued Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit that capped its releases of 1,4-dixoane.

Asheboro sued, challenging the state’s authority to include a water quality standard for 1,4-dioxane in the permit and arguing the new limits created an excessive financial burden.

The cities of Greensboro and Reidsville joined the lawsuit. Both had been ordered to include limits in their draft NPDES permits after they received notices of violation for 1,4-dioxane discharges in November 2019.

Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant discharges into Cape Fear River basin, where some 900,000 North Carolinians receive their drinking water downstream of the plant.

Brunswick County, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority and Fayetteville Public Works Commission intervened in the case, asserting that upstream 1,4-dioxane dischargers placed an undue financial burden on them to sample drinking water sources for the chemical and try and reduce the level of consumption of it to their customers.

In a September 2024 ruling, then-Chief Administrative Law Judge Dr. Donald van der Vaart sided with the upstream municipalities and revoked the permit limits set by DEQ.

“The Superior Court was right to uphold DEQ’s ability to limit chemicals in our water, and my office will continue working with DEQ to make sure people have clean drinking water,” North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson stated in a release.

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Executive Director Kenneth Waldroup said in a statement to Coastal Review Thursday afternoon that the utility is pleased with Shirley’s decision.

“CFPUA’s raw water intake is the last on the Cape Fear River. We rely on State regulators to set and enforce reasonable discharge standards upstream of our intake to protect our region’s raw water supply,” he explained. “While CFPUA’s Sweeney Water Treatment Plant is able to treat drinking water for 1,4-dioxane, that treatment process carries an expense and our ability to treat this pollution has its limits. Reducing the amounts of 1,4-dioxane and other emerging contaminants being released upstream also reduces the financial burden on downstream customers and communities.”

Last October, Waldroup joined representatives of other public water utilities and residents in asking the EPA to uphold its earlier objection to the proposed NPDES permit excluding Asheboro’s discharge limit for 1,4-dioxane.

As of this report, the EPA had not made its final determination.

Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, said in an email that the Superior Court ruling, “is a win for public health and every downstream community threatened by Asheboro’s irresponsible leadership.”

“It’s a shame cities like Asheboro prefer squandering tax dollars defending industrial polluters rather than protecting the public’s drinking water supplies,” she said. “It’s also a devastating reminder that until North Carolina creates strong source control measures for toxic chemicals, we will always be one discharge away from the next preventable crisis.”

Earlier this year, the state Environmental Management Commission voted to push proposed monitoring and minimization rules for 1,4-dioxane and three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, to the public this month.

Critics of the proposed rules argue they lack any real enforceability because they do not include water quality standards, specify what best management practices dischargers must follow, or how facilities must minimize their discharges.

The public comment period had yet to be announced as of this report.

In June of last year, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly against Asheboro and the city’s industrial customer StarPet Inc., to stop their discharges of 1,4-dioxane into the Cape Fear River basin.

“Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville have spent years arguing for downstream communities to shoulder the health and monetary costs of the cities’ pollution,” Jean Zhuang, a senior attorney with the center’s Chapel Hill office, stated in a release. “The Wake County Superior Court saw through the cities’ arguments and restored a key tool that can be used to protect families, communities, and drinking water utilities downstream.”

According to that release, the cities have filed a motion to suspend the court’s decision and an appeal is pending.

North Carolina has more than $200 million available for residents who qualify for home energy rebates in all 100 of the state’s counties.

Under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Energy Saver North Carolina program, an eligible household may receive up to $16,000 in rebates for making energy-efficient improvements, including installing heat pump heating and cooling systems and insulation.

The program also offers additional rebates of up to $14,000 for high-efficiency electrical appliances like water heaters and electric cooktops.

North Carolina is the first in the nation to fully launch both types of rebates at the same time, according to a DEQ release.

“Electricity bills are too high, and I am committed to doing everything I can to lower your costs,” Gov. Josh Stein stated in the release. “Now, eligible families across the state will be able to lower their energy bills about $1,000 a year on average and improve the comfort and safety of their homes. These upgrades also strengthen our energy system, help our environment, and support good-paying jobs in communities statewide.”

DEQ launched Energy Save NC in January 2025, adding counties to the program throughout the year.

More than 4,800 applications have been submitted to the program and more than 1,700 have been approved and working through the rebate reservation process, according to the release.

Estimates show that, since it was initiated, the program has installed $777,000 worth of rebate-eligible projects in 51 households.

Last year, the program generated an estimated 293,000 kilowatt-hours. Energy upgrades supported through the program make homes resilient, improve home comfort and safety, reduces energy demand and strain on the state’s power grid, and invests in local jobs.

Energy Saver NC is funded through two U.S. Department of Energy rebate programs that aim to help families make their homes more energy efficient and lower their utility bills.

Those programs are the Homeowners Managing Efficiency Savings, or HOMES, which offers eligible households up to $16,000 for upgrades such as air sealing or energy-efficient HVAC unites, and Home Electrician and Appliance Rebates, or HEAR, which provides up to $14,000 for high-efficiency electrical appliances. 

“Now that the program is available across the state, eligible North Carolina families can lower their utility bills by up to $80 per month, and their homes will be more comfortable,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson stated in the release. “These energy-saving steps will also reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality while supporting more than 2,000 jobs for the contractors doing the installations. That’s a win all the way around for North Carolina.” 

Residents eligible for full rebates include single-family homeowners and renters who earn less than 80% of their area median income, or AMI, as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Qualifying residents of partial rebates are moderate-income homeowners or renters who earn 80% to 150% of the AMI.

Rebates also depend on upgrade types, including the following:

• $8,000 for a space heating and cooling heat pump.
• $4,000 for an electric load service center (electric panel).
• $2,500 for electric wiring.
• $1,750 for a heat pump water heater.
• $1,600 for insulation, air sealing, and ventilation.
• $840 for a heat pump clothes dryer and/or electric stove, cooktop, range, or oven.

Rebates are paid to contractors after a project is complete, leaving resident responsible only for any remaining costs after a rebate has been applied.

Once a household qualifies for the program, a certified assessor will conduct a free assessment of the home’s energy use and recommend money-saving improvements.

Energy Save NC-approved contractors, who are registered, licensed professionals specially trained in energy-efficient installations, must complete all upgrades.

Once a household reviews a contractor’s quotes, that household may approve the projects and pricing with the rebate applied.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has opened for public comment a proposed temporary rule amendment to close recreational harvesting of spotted seatrout in the state’s inland and joint fishing waters from April 6 until June 30.

The proposed rule aligns with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ recently announced seatrout harvest closure for all commercial and recreational coastal and joint fishing waters.

The closure was enacted because of recent cold stun events in multiple areas of the state.

“The Wildlife Resources Commission initiated the temporary rulemaking process as quickly as possible to provide regulatory consistency following the Marine Fisheries proclamation,” Inland Fisheries Division Chief Corey Oakley stated in a release. “Temporarily closing the spotting seatrout harvest season will follow recommendations set out by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spotted Seatrout Management Plan to allow the population to recover from cold stun events.”

A virtual hearing on the proposed temporary rule amendment has been scheduled for noon, Feb. 25. Pre-registration is required.

An in-person public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 10 at the N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Lenoir County Center, 1791 NC-11 in Kinston.

Public comments may be submitted through March 13 online, by email to regulations@ncwildlife.gov, or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701. Mailed comments must be postmarked by March 13.

State Wildlife Resource Commission commissioners will review comments and vote on the temporary rule during their March business meeting.

If the proposed rule passes, spotted seatrout harvest season in inland and joint fishing waters will reopen July 1.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission during its February meeting is scheduled to vote on a preferred management option and proposed rulemaking language for the Atlantic bonito.

The meeting is taking place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, and at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

The Division of Marine Fisheries, under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff for and carries out the policies established by the commission.

In response to a request by the Marine Fisheries Commission, the division will present proposed options for management of Atlantic bonito.

The selection of a preferred management option and associated proposed rulemaking language would lead to completion of a fiscal analysis by the division so the formal rulemaking process can begin at the commission’s May 2026 business meeting.

The public comment period will be announced by a news release.

The commission is also expected to vote on an initial determination of rules and public notice for the state-mandated periodic review and expiration of existing rules. If approved, a public comment period for the rules and determinations would be held from March 2 to May 1, according to the division.

The commission is to hear the following information items:

• North Carolina’s application for a red snapper exempted fishing permit pilot project, which will allow the state to test a phone application to collect catch data to monitor a recreational red snapper season this year.
• Spotted seatrout cold-stun closures that occurred in 2025 and early 2026.
• Upcoming fishery management plans and the implementation of recently adopted plans.
• Mandatory harvest reporting.

A full agenda and meeting materials, as well as link to the YouTube livestream, are posted on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

To speak during the in-person public comment sessions at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 and 9 a.m. Feb. 19, sign up at the hotel before the public comment sessions. Bring at least 12 copies if planning to give commissioners handouts.

The public may also submit written comments using the online form on the Marine Fisheries Commission meetings webpage; by mail to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557: or dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St.

The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16.

Widespread cold stun events have prompted the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to close the state’s coastal and joint fishing waters to commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest.

The closure will go into effect at 4 p.m. Friday, according to a release from the division.

In all, 10 waterbodies from Hyde County south to Pender County have been confirmed to have significant spotted seatrout cold stun events.

“The Division is still receiving and verifying more cold stun reports and collecting associated environmental data,” the release states. “These efforts will continue regardless of the closure so the Division can measure the magnitude of the cold stun event to evaluate how to protect the stock.”

Cold stuns occur as a result of a sudden drop in water temperature or prolonged periods of cold weather, making fish sluggish, killing many outright or leaving them vulnerable to birds and other predators.

“Studies suggest that cold stun events can have a significant impact on Spotted Seatrout populations,” according to the release.

The division is ordering the closure through June 30 to allow surviving fish a chance to spawn in the spring before harvest reopens. Peak spawning runs from May through July.

Commercial seafood dealers have until 3:30 p.m. Feb. 13 to sell, offer for sale, transport or dispose of any unfrozen spotted seatrout in their possession from purchases made before the closure.

The public is asked to report any cold stun events in coastal waters to Lucas Pensinger at 252-515-5638 or Lucas.Pensinger@deq.nc.gov.

Plans for the sprawling, undeveloped, south-end tract on Topsail Island that the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust purchased last year call for its eventual transfer to the state to be managed and preserved in perpetuity.

But first, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management must hear whether the public supports its proposal to use no more than $50,000 in grant funding to cover closing costs related to the trust’s donation of that land to the state.

A public hearing has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 during the Coastal Resources Commission meeting at Dunes Club, 710 E. Fort Macon Road in Atlantic Beach.

The division would tap funds from the state Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Grant on a non-competitive basis to cover closing costs, including deed preparation and recording fees and, if obtained, title insurance.

The Coastal Land Trust finalized its $7.5 million purchase of ‘The Point’ last April.

The proposal to use non-competitive funds would cover costs associated with the state’s acquisition of nearly 100 of about 150 acres the land trust bought last year in Topsail Beach. The Division of Coastal Management “will manage and preserve the property for public benefit and support current and future public access to coastal waters,” according to a release.

“The exact amount of closing costs associated with this property transfer is currently unknown and will be determined at the time of closing based on applicable legal, recording, and administrative requirements,” the release states.

The division has opened a public comment period that continues through April 1.

Written comments may be mailed to Tancred Miller, Director, Division of Coastal Management, 400 Commerce Ave., Morehead City, N.C. 28557, or emailed to DCMcomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject line Non-competitive Use – NC Public Land Trust.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management recently announced about $1.5 million is anticipated to available for the state’s Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program.

The program provides matching funds to local governments to build public access facilities in the state’s 20 coastal counties. The state program is supported by the N.C. Parks and Recreation Trust Fund.

“Expanding and improving public access to coastal shorelines continues to be a priority for our program and communities across the coast, so we’re looking forward to supporting additional proposals this year,” Division Director Tancred Miller said in a release.

The division is hosting an online grant application workshop that will cover topics including eligible projects, local match requirements, project timelines and other relevant grant application requirements. The workshop is scheduled to be held 2-3 p.m. on Feb. 18.

Local governments may register for that workshop online.

Examples of eligible projects include walkways, dune crossovers, restrooms, parking areas, piers, land acquisition and urban waterfront revitalization.

Those interested in applying for financial assistance must submit a pre-application by 5 p.m. on April 24. The division will notify applicants whose proposals have been selected by May 21.

Final applications are anticipated to be due by July 31, with selections announced in the fall.

Since the program’s inception in 1981, more than $54 million has been awarded for more than 500 grants.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is accepting public comment on 10 proposed shellfish leases in Onslow County waters.

The division has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed leases for 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Holly Ridge Community Center, and will accept written comments until 7 p.m. Feb. 13.

The following are the proposed shellfish leases in Onslow County the division is considering:

• Old Baldy Aquaculture, LLC has applied for a 4.78-acre shellfish bottom lease in the New River below the N.C. 172 bridge, and for a 1.19-acre shellfish bottom lease in Stones Bay.
• Alonzo L. Davis III has applied for two shellfish bottom and water column leases, one for .76 acres and the other for .58 acres, near Hammocks Beach State Park.
• Stump Sound Oyster Co., LLC has applied for a 4.77-acre shellfish bottom lease and water column lease in Stones Bay.
• Anthony A. Grant has applied for a 0.87-acre shellfish bottom lease in Alligator Bay.
• Joshua A. Thompson has applied for a 3.73-acre shellfish bottom lease and water column lease in Ellis Cove; a 3.65-acre shellfish water column lease in the New River below N.C. 172 bridge; and for a 4.24-acres shellfish water column lease in Stones Bay.

To comment during the meeting through the online platform, register to speak no later than 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at deq.nc.gov/onslow-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-speaker-registration. To speak in person, register a the community center an hour before the meeting starts.

Written comments can be submitted no later than 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, using the online form, or mailed to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, PO Box 769 3441, Arendell St., Morehead City, NC 28557-076.

The division’s Shellfish Leasing Tool interactive map shows the locations of the proposed leases. If accessing from this page, click “Cancel” in response to sign-in prompt, and “OK” to subsequent prompts to continue.

Note: This story has been updated to correct the misspelling of Louis Bacon’s first name.

Restoring land as close to how it was more than two centuries ago is by no means a cheap venture.

Just ask Louis Moore Bacon.

Since 2012, Bacon has invested more than $100 million in the property on which his ancestor, Roger Moore, founded Orton Plantation in 1725 off the lower Cape Fear River’s western bank in Brunswick County.

Nearly a third of that cost has gone toward restoring an expansive, historic rice field system and an earthen dike enslaved Africans built some 250 years ago to protect the fields they planted, grew, and harvested Carolina Gold rice from the river.

If the state green lights a proposed project to deepen and widen portions of the shipping channel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Port of Wilmington, all of it – the dike, 350 acres of historic rice fields and hundreds of acres of freshwater wetlands – will face threat of “irreversible damage,” according to Bacon.

In a 22-page letter he submitted to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management late last year, Bacon detailed how the proposed Wilmington Harbor 403 navigation project “threatens the failure” of the earthen dike.

“The structural integrity of the dike is Orton’s number one concern,” Bacon wrote. “The Project poses a real and unacceptable risk of catastrophic failure of the dike system. Failure of the dike will result in a cascading series of events including saltwater intrusion into the historic rice fields, rendering them incapable of growing rice and destroying the freshwater ecological water system at the Orton Property. Failure of the dike would flood the rice fields and freshwater ponds with saltwater, erasing what stands today as a preserved monument to enslaved African Americans dating back centuries.”

He closed the Nov. 24, 2025, letter with an ardent request of the division: Object to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ determination that the proposed project aligns with the state’s coastal policies and rules.

The Corps, Bacon wrote, failed to analyze how the proposed project to deepen and widen the harbor channel might affect historic and cultural resources along the river.

His objections echo those of other individuals and groups voicing concerns about how the project the N.C. State Ports Authority says is needed to keep the Wilmington Port competitive might impact those sites along the river.

Deepening the river channel from 42 feet to 47 feet and widening it along areas throughout the river will allow larger vessels to travel to and from the port, attracting more business, according to the authority.

But opponents of the proposed project say that, in addition to threatening historic and cultural resources along the river, it will accelerate erosion and exacerbate flooding, destroy habitat, disperse contaminants in the riverbed’s sediment into marshes and onto public beaches, and is not economically justified.

Like Bacon, their hope is that the Division of Coastal Management rejects the Corps’ determination.

The determination

Two days before the New Year, NCDEQ announced that the Corps was giving the Division of Coastal Management more time to complete its review of the federal determination, pushing the division’s deadline from Jan. 5 to Jan. 19.

Division officials have until then to determine whether the proposed project is consistent with the state’s coastal rules, including those under the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA.

The division must decide whether to concur with Corps’ determination, concur with conditions, or object.

Related: Wilmington residents see no good in proposed harbor project

If the division decides the latter, that could shutter the proposed project altogether.

“An objection generally prevents the federal permit or approval from being issued unless DCM and the project proponent negotiate a resolution that would allow the project to go forward,” according to the division’s Dec. 30 release notifying the public about the extension.

The Corps “may be entitled to certain mediation/appeal privileges” with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office for Coastal Management, which heads programs including the National Coastal Zone Management Program and Estuarine Research Reserves and works with coastal states, territories and partners to manage resources and address impacts from climate change.

The division has to render its decision months before the Corps wraps what it says will be a detailed examination to identify all historic and cultural properties within the project study area.

“To ensure historical and cultural sites are identified and evaluated properly, the Corps is executing a study specific Programmatic Agreement (PA) with the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, the General Services Administration, the North Carolina State Ports Authority, and possibly the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation,” Jed Cayton, public affairs specialist with the Corps’ Wilmington District, said in an email responding to questions.

The programmatic agreement, he wrote, is a “commonly applied strategy to protect cultural and historical resources.”

“It facilitates more informed decision-making by allowing time for additional data collection and formal coordination efforts to extend beyond the feasibility study phase,” Cayton said.

The agreement, which is currently being reviewed, must be signed before the agency finalizes project plans, which would occur some time after the Corps releases its final environmental impact statement on the proposed project.

Under a tentative timeline the Corps has shared with the public, the federal agency is expected to release the final EIS sometime this summer.

Construction on the project would not begin until 2030 and take about six years to complete, a schedule Corps officials have said is optimistic.

‘Necessary analysis’

Today, the Orton property spans about 14,000 acres. More than 830 acres of that land, including 6,800 feet of restored and repaired earthen dike and coinciding system of canals, roads, dams, and ditches, around the rice fields is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In his letter to the division last year, Bacon argued that CAMA protects the historic resources on his land “from irreversible damage and it protects the Property’s significant ecological resources from adverse impacts.”

The draft environmental impact statement, or EIS, the Corps released last September, “does not disclose these obvious impacts,” Bacon wrote.

“There is no analysis in the Draft EIS about the effects of the Project on the Orton Property or the CAMA-protected resources at Orton. None. This analysis cannot be deferred. The Corps’ consistency determination must be supported by ‘comprehensive data and information.’”

“The Corps’ failure to undertake the necessary analysis is the simplest reason that Division should object to the consistency determination,” he continued.

His land is among nearly 30 historic sites and properties the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ State Historic Preservation Office lists as being within the proposed projects area of potential effects.

Last October, that office penned a letter to the Corps requesting the programmatic agreement, “so as to address effects on known and potentially National Register-eligible historic properties to be adversely affected by the proposed undertaking and the regularly scheduled maintenance dredging, spoil placement, and environmental mitigation measures following the proposed undertaking.”

While Corps studies of historic properties that may be affected by the proposed project “appear to have focused solely on the physical impacts of dredging the river-bottom, placement of dredged materials, and locations of mitigation measures, we believe from nearly two decades of observation and monitoring erosion at historic properties along the channel that we can expect other effects will result from the proposed project,” the letter states.

Dark Branch

Among the list of 28 sites and properties identified in that letter is Dark Branch, a community in unincorporated Brunswick County where land remains largely owned by the descendants of emancipated slaves.

Dark Branch, also known as Kendall Chapel, was founded in the early 1870s by a handful of formerly enslaved people, including Robert “Hooper” Clark, who’d been forced to work the rice fields of Orton, Lilliput, and Kendal plantations.

The land they purchased between those plantations became “a thriving hub of Black farming, entrepreneurship, and civil rights activism,” according to the Historic Wilmington Foundation.

Dr. Charles Chavis Jr., Clark’s fourth-great-grandson and executive director of the Dark Branch Descendants Association, explained in a telephone interview that there is a direct connection between the cultural resources that have been restored at Orton and those members of the Dark Branch community have taken upon themselves to preserve.

“Everything that Mr. Moore Bacon has sought to preserve is the work of our ancestors and those who were enslaved on the various plantations,” Chavis said. “For us, this is not only about protecting our cultural resources, but also about protecting our community.”

Chavis, an assistant professor at George Mason University and founding director of the university’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race, started the association about three years ago to preserve the community’s history.

There are about 20 historical structures in Dark Branch, including homes, a store, and sharecropping and slave cabins.

Some of those structures, as well as the community cemetery, one Chavis calls one of Dark Branch’s most sacred sites, are under threat of riverine flooding.

“We just can’t afford for it to get worse and we’re working with local organizations to try and get resources around historic resource preservation,” he said. “We’re concerned that any potential harm or more work done to the river is going to make our job as an organization harder to protect the cultural resources that we have. Based on the assessments and our conversations with those we’ve consulted with, it’s not going to get better. It’s going to get worse.”

Dark Branch is a member of the National Park Service’s Reconstruction Era National Historic Network.

According to the Division of State Historic Sites, the Dark Branch Community Historic District was added to the National Historic Preservation Study List in 2024.

Sites that make that list are good potential candidates for the National Register.

The association continues to pursue a nomination for the National Register of Historic Places.

The Dark Branch community lies within the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which encompasses 12,000 square miles of coastal area that runs up the southern Atlantic Coast from St. John’s County, Florida, to Pender County.

The corridor links places of historic significance to the Gullah Geechee, West Africans torn from their native land and enslaved on plantations along the southern Atlantic Coast, and tells stories of their lives on the plantations and in the coastal plains after abolition.

Efforts are underway to build the North Carolina Gullah Geechee Greenway Blueway Heritage Trail that will run from Navassa to Southport.

Last summer, the North Carolina General Assembly authorized the trail’s construction.

Veronica Carter, chairwoman of the heritage trail and member of the Leland Town Council, also raised concerns about how the proposed project might affect land within the trail. Carter is also board member with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

“Deepening the Cape Fear River will negatively impact our culturally significant, state-established North Carolina Gullah Geechee Blueway portion of our trail by increasing saltwater intrusion, worsening erosion, and degrading water quality, thereby threatening sensitive habitats,” she wrote Col. Brad Morgan, the Corps’ Wilmington District commander.

The Corps acknowledges that “more surveys are needed to determine the presence of additional historic and cultural properties within the study area,” Cayton said by email. “We have already included conservative cost estimates for this work, based on known resources identified within Wilmington Harbor and experiences at other similar projects, to ensure these resources are properly managed and respected.”

A preliminary study conducted by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources found PFAS in soil, wastewater and biosolid samples collected at sites across the state.

The study assessing concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in biosolids concludes that a majority of those substances entering wastewater treatment plants are discharged into waterways, “as compared with the amount entering the environment through land application biosolids,” according to a Department of Environmental Quality release.

Biosolids are the nutrient-rich organic material that remains after wastewater has been treated. The material is typically used as a fertilizer.

The study is the first that the division has conducted assessing PFAS concentrations in biosolids across the state.

Division staff began gathering samples in 2023 to evaluate PFAS concentrations in wastewater and biosolids from 37 municipal, industrial and domestic wastewater treatment facilities. Soil samples were also collected from 19 fields regulated under non-discharge permits.

Wastewater treatment facilities can receive PFAS, which are a group of man-made chemicals used to make a host of commercial, industrial and consumer products, from residential, commercial and industrial sources.

“The study represents a first step for DEQ to begin to understand PFAS concentrations in wastewater and biosolids in our state,” Julie Grzyb, the division’s deputy director, stated in a release. “The study was based on a small sample size and was limited in scope, but it underscores the importance of characterizing and controlling PFAS contamination at the source.”

The study did not assess how these chemicals in biosolids move in the environment.

DEQ estimates that 3.5 million North Carolinians drink tap water that contains PFAS levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency health-based standard scheduled that was to initially go into effect in 2029.

The Trump administration’s EPA announced last year that it would extend the deadline for public water treatment plants to come into compliance with the federally established limits for two legacy PFAS – PFOA and PFOS to 2031. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin also announced plans to rescind regulations and reconsider regulatory determination for other PFAS, including GenX.

North Carolina does not have state regulatory requirements for PFAS in biosolids.

“The study will inform future study design and identify opportunities for further data collection and analysis,” the release states.

North Carolina is experiencing widespread dry conditions, with 15 of the state’s 20 coastal counties being classified as abnormally dry, according to the latest update of the state Drought Management Advisory Council.

Counties in central and western part of the state are experiencing the driest conditions, with 32 of them considered to be in severe drought, and 53 in drought conditions, according to the council’s Thursday update.

“The state has been drying out since the middle of August,” council Chair Klaus Albertin said in a release. “The region is seeing a La Niña pattern, which often results in lower-than-average rainfall. We hope to see some relief towards the spring, with forecasts predicting this pattern to weaken over the next few months.”

The council recommends water systems in counties experiencing severe drought implement their water shortage response plans, participate in regional and local coordination to manage water resources, reexamine water delivery systems to minimize water loss and eliminate nonessential users of water, according to the release.

Systems in counties under drought should asses their drought readiness and consider voluntary water conservation.

While negative impacts from these conditions are expected to be limited in the cooler months because of lower water demand, water reservoir levels “are continuing to drop,” according to the release.

“For water recreators, stream flow averages statewide are falling below normal. Average streamflows recorded at U.S. Geological Survey ga(u)ges at many locations in central and western North Carolina have fallen below the 10th percentile,” the release states.

Council members meet weekly and submit drought condition recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the National Drought Mitigation Center.

The council consists of drought experts from various government agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia and is organized by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources.

The drought map is updated weekly on Thursdays, based on conditions through the previous Tuesday.

A North Carolina native and long-serving law enforcement officer with the N.C. Marine Patrol was formally pinned Tuesday as the agency’s top cop.

Chris Lee, who most recently served as captain of the agency’s Marine Patrol District 1, took the helm as colonel of the Marine Patrol on Jan. 1, replacing Col. Carter Witten, who retired Dec. 31.

Lee, a native of Colerain, has served with the patrol for 18 years. He was pinned by his father, Vernon Lee, a former deputy sheriff, during the ceremony, which was held at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City. A pinning ceremony is a long-held tradition that marks a a law enforcement officer’s promotion.

Lee helped form the Marine Patrol’s Swiftwater Rescue Team, building and training its members in late 2019. In 2021, the team became North Carolina’s first state law enforcement-certified swiftwater rescue team.

“That’s been one of the most rewarding things of my career,” Lee said in a release. “The relationships we have made across the state have done wonders for us as an agency, and we are providing a better service to the citizens of North Carolina.”

Lee, who trained alongside fellow team members, added, “We were all learning together and trying to make it happen to better serve in times of need.”

The team, which has deployed numerous times across the state, was one of 71 swiftwater rescue teams deployed to Western North Carolina to assist with rescuing people from floodwaters of Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024.

The Marine Patrol enforces coastal recreational and commercial fishing regulations of the state. The patrol has helped transport food to flooded communities, provided security in business districts hit by tornadoes, and its officers have flown Department of Environmental Quality staff to survey shoreline erosion and flooded animal waste operations after hurricanes.

As colonel, one of Lee’s goals is to “make the Marine Patrol even more of an asset to the people of North Carolina through training and working with North Carolina Emergency Management, while continuing to serve as the fisheries law enforcement agency,” the release states.

As colonel, Lee manages more than 50 officers and directs law enforcement efforts over 2.7 million acres of ocean and coastal fishing waters in 21 eastern counties.

“The N.C. Marine Patrol plays a vital role by enforcing fishing regulations and providing water, air and ground support to other DEQ divisions, including during emergencies,” N.C. DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said in the release. “Colonel Lee will do an outstanding job because of his tremendous experience, vision, and commitment to the Marine Patrol’s mission.”

Lee is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, where he served in 2003 as a member of the N.C. Army National Guard.

He began Basic Law Enforcement Training at Beaufort Community College upon his return from overseas and later worked for the Edenton Police Department before joining the Marine Patrol in March 2008.

He earned a degree in criminal justice after joining the Marine Patrol. In 2012, he received the N.C. Marine Fisheries Enforcement Officer of the Year award from the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards Program.

Lee was joined in his pinning by his wife Melissa, who pinned his badge; sons, Sonny and Banks; parents, Vernon and Tammy Lee; brother, Bryan Lee; and mother-in-law Kathy Rea.

Proposed rules that would require industrial polluters to monitor and minimize their discharges of some chemical compounds into drinking water sources may soon go out for public comment.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is scheduled to vote this week on whether to approve proceeding to public notice and hearing proposed monitoring and minimization rules for direct dischargers of three types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances into the state’s surface waters.

Under the proposed rule, all major and minor industrial direct dischargers, and significant industrial users that discharge to publicly owned treatment works, would be required to monitor and implement “minimization activities required to eliminate or significantly reduce” discharges of PFOS, PFOA, and GenX anywhere between three and five years, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Discharge limits for those specific PFAS have yet to be determined.

PFAS exposure has been linked to a number of adverse health impacts to people, including thyroid disease, increased cholesterol, liver damage, and different types of cancers.

The commission will also consider whether to proceed to public notice and hearing proposed 1,4-dioxane monitoring and minimization rules, which would target industries likely to discharge the organic synthetic chemical the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a likely human carcinogen.

Critics of the proposed rules argue the rules lack any real enforcement because they do not include discharge limits or penalties for industries that increase their discharges.

Various committees of the commission are scheduled to meet beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh. Those meetings will also be livestreamed on WebEx.

The full commission is scheduled to meet at the same location 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Thursday. The meeting will also be livestreamed.

Cape Fear River Watch is kicking off its First Saturday Seminar series for the New Year with a discussion about the potential impacts of a Piedmont town’s request to permanently pull millions of gallons of water a day from the Cape Fear River.

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Executive Director Kenneth Waldroup will discuss how Fuquay-Varina’s request to transfer 6.17 million gallons per day from the Cape Fear River Basin to the Neuse River Basin could impact the region, and how local leaders are responding.

An update on major CFPUA projects, including the Southside Water Reclamation Facility, will also be provided.

The event will begin at 8 a.m. Jan. 3 with a pancake breakfast, following by the presentation at 9 a.m. at 617 Surry St., Wilmington.

Those interested in attending the seminar are encouraged to arrive early as seating is limited.

Cape Fear River Watch will have postcards available at the seminar for anyone who is interested in writing comments about Fuquay-Varina’s proposal.

The organization will send those postcards to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, which is accepting public comments on the proposal through April 1.

Comments may be submitted to Maya Holcomb, Division of Water Resources, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC, 27604, or by email to maya.holcomb@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has suffered the highest percentage of staff cuts of any state, with nearly one-third of its workforce eliminated between 2010 and 2024, according to an environmental watchdog group.

A whopping 32%, or 386 DEQ staff positions, were wiped out during that 14-year period, according to an Environmental Integrity Project report released earlier this month.

Those staff cuts, the report concludes, leave the state agency responsible for administering regulations to protect water, air quality and the public’s health “ill-positioned to confront” pollution from the state’s growing factory farming industry, climate-driven storms and flooding in coastal communities.

The report notes how the agency was downsized when former Gov. Pat McCrory signed the 2015-16 state budget into law, triggering a shift of several divisions from what was then the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The Republican governor, who also renamed the agency the Department of Environmental Quality, said the move aligned with his vision for government efficiency.

Josh Kastrinsky, DEQ’s deputy communications director, said in an email last week that it is “difficult” to directly compare present staffing levels to those in 2010 because of the changes that were made to the department in 2015.

“However, for several regulatory divisions that existed in 2010 and 2025, staffing levels declined by at least 25%,” he wrote, adding that, “The EIP report focuses on regulatory work and does not include DEQ’s non-regulatory work, which affects the total numbers of staff shown.”

As of the week that began Dec. 8, the departments vacancy rate was 8%, Kastrinsky said.

“This includes an engineer vacancy rate of 14% and an environmental specialist vacancy rate of 9%,” he said. “Several DEQ programs have larger workloads and several programs have less staff than they did in 2010.”

North Carolina’s population has increased by more than 11.5% since 2010, according to USAFacts, a nonprofit organization that gathers data from federal, state and local governments.

The state’s population growth corresponds to an increase in environmental permit applications filed with the department.

Since 2010, the department’s Division of Mitigation Services has seen a 200% increase in projects.

During that same time period, the number of erosion and sediment control project applicants filed with the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources has jumped by nearly 60%, and the Division of Waste Management has received a 62% increase in underground storage tank applications.

“The 2010-2025 period also includes several destructive hurricanes, and DEQ staff have been heavily involved in recovery and long-term resilience in impacted communities,” Kastrinsky said. “DEQ’s ability to hire and retain sufficient staff levels has a direct effect on its ability to provide permit oversight, technical assistance to businesses and customer service to North Carolinians.”

The department’s “roughly 1,700 staff members remain dedicated to providing science-based efforts to ensure clean air, water and lands by managing applications, conducting inspections and permit oversight, investigating complaints and taking enforcement measures as appropriate under law,” he continued. “DEQ also continues to focus on a variety of funding and assistance programs to maintain critical infrastructure and make communities’ aging systems more resilient to increasingly severe natural disasters.”

The Environmental Integrity Program analyzed the budgets, annual expenditures and staffing levels from 2010 through to 2024 of the environmental agencies of all 50 states.

North Carolina topped the list of 31 states found to have cut jobs at their environmental agencies from 2010 to 2024. Connecticut experienced a 26% cut during that same time, followed closely by Arizona, which saw a 25% reduction in its environmental agency’s staff.

Seven states, including Texas, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Connecticut, reduced their pollution control funding by at least a third, the report concludes.

The impacts of such cuts will likely only be exacerbated by the Trump Administration’s plans to downsize the Environmental Protection Agency, the program warns.

“The Trump Administration is attempting to dismantle EPA and rollback commonsense federal pollution rules, claiming that the states can pick up the slack and protect our communities – but that’s not the case,” Jen Duggan, Environmental Integrity Project executive director, stated in a release. “The implementation of our environmental laws depend on both a strong EPA and state agencies that have the resources they need to do their jobs. But our research found that many states have already cut their pollution control agencies and so more cuts at the federal level will only put more Americans at risk.”

The report highlights North Carolina’s factory farming industry, which includes the production of nearly 1 billion chickens annually for sale as meat. And, as of March, there were 8.1 million hogs in concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, in the state.

Poultry waste at these CAFOs is sometimes dumped in open-air heaps and, when it rains, washes into nearby streams, discharging harmful nutrients into waters downstream, including those in the Cape Fear River Basin, which has the highest density of CAFOs in the world, according to Cape Fear River Watch.

“The unchecked expansion of hog and poultry farms has left the state environmental agency unable to even evaluate the cumulative impacts,” Drew Ball, director of Natural Resources Defense Council’s Southeast Campaigns team, states in the report. “At this point, policy experts and advocates can’t even get the information they need to protect the public. You can’t respond if you don’t know what’s coming online. We need to think a lot harder about keeping track of potential pollution and what it could mean for downstream communities.”

Coastal Review will not publish Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

More than 100,000 gallons of untreated wastewater is estimated to have been released over this past weekend into a major tributary in Jacksonville.

City crews worked throughout Saturday evening after being notified of and finding a broken stormwater pipe and sewer line near Lejeune Boulevard, which is also Highway 24, near Scales Creek, according to a release.

An estimated 129,000 gallons of untreated wastewater is believed to have been discharged into the creek, which flows directly into the New River.

Crews “will continue work over next several days to fix the issue,” the release states.

Motorists on Lejeune Boulevard are being asked to slow down and use caution in the area where crews are working.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources was notified Saturday about the discharge “and is reviewing the matter,” according to the release.

An aggregates and heavy building materials supply company has received a revised permit to release millions of gallons per day of mine dewatering and stormwater discharge into unnamed tributaries of Blounts Creek.

The North Carolina Division of Water Resources issued Martin Marietta Inc.’s Vanceboro Quarry a revised wastewater discharge permit on Wednesday, according to a release.

“The revised permit requires an assessment of biological integrity, or the condition of the organisms such as fish and insects in a waterway, once every two years through sampling for benthos, or small aquatic organisms that live in water, with the first sampling event to occur between Feb. 1 through March 15, after the discharge begins,” the release states.

The permit also requires the company to monitor monthly for pH levels, total suspended solids and turbidity in the discharge, or effluent, from the mine.

The permit allows for the discharge of 12 million gallons per day from two outfalls into unnamed tributaries of the creek, which is classified as a Class C, swamp, nutrient sensitive waterbody in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin.

Waterways classified as Class C are protected for uses that include aquatic life survival and fish and wildlife maintenance, and agricultural and recreation such as wading or boating.

The division initially approved a permit to the company last February, then rescinded the permit following the March ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, which sided with San Francisco’s challenge to water quality regulations issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The mechanical oyster harvest season has been extended in portions of Pamlico Sound.

The extension, which began Monday, is a result of “adaptive management measures that included collaboration with stakeholders,” according to a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries release.

“The Division’s annual mid-season sampling of the mechanical oyster harvest areas showed the numbers of legal sized oysters in several management areas of the Pamlico Sound met the management thresholds established in Amendment 5 to extend the season,” the release states.

That amendment in the North Carolina Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan includes a provision that links mechanical oyster harvest management in the Pamlico Sound to the state’s cultch planting efforts, where season length is based on pre- and mid-season sampling of oyster resources.

Commercial fishermen helped the division identify sampling sites.

The division is maintaining closures in Deep-Water Oyster Recovery Areas designated to protect sensitive habitat.

Select rotational harvest cultch sites identified in Amendment 5 remain open for the entirety of the mechanical harvest season through March 31, 2026.

As temperatures drop on the coast, the state is asking the public to report any cold-stunned spotted seatrout to the North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

Cold stuns can occur when there is a sudden drop in temperature or during prolonged periods of cold weather, making fish so sluggish they can be harvested by hand.

Spotted seatrout can be vulnerable to cold stuns during the winter when they typically move to relatively shallow creeks and rivers.

“Studies suggest that cold-stun events can have a significant negative impact on spotted seatrout populations as many fish that are stunned die from the cold or are eaten by birds or other predators,” fisheries officials said Friday.

No cold-stun events have been reported so far this season, but if there are concerning weather conditions in the upcoming weeks or months then a cold stun event could occur in coastal rivers and creeks.

Under the North Carolina Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan, if a significant cold stun event occurs, the division is to close all spotted seatrout harvest in the affected areas through June 30.

A significant cold stun is determined by assessing the size and scope of spotted seatrout affected by cold stun, and evaluating water temperatures to determine if triggers of 41 degrees for eight consecutive days or 37.4 degrees during a 24-hour period are met.

The intent of a harvest closure is to allow surviving fish a chance to spawn before harvest reopens. Peak spotted seatrout spawning occurs from May to June, fisheries officials said.

Data loggers are deployed statewide to continuously measure water temperatures in coastal rivers and creeks that are prone to cold stuns.

Spotted seatrout cold stun events can be reported at any time to the N.C. Marine Patrol at 252-515-5507 or during regular business hours to the division spotted seatrout biologist Lucas Pensinger at 252-515-5638 or Lucas.Pensinger@deq.nc.gov.

Officials ask that the public provide the specific location, date, and time the cold-stun event was observed along with contact information when reporting a cold-stun event.

The state Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Raleigh.

Per a draft meeting agenda, the board, which advises secretaries of state regulatory agencies, will review and consider providing a formal response to the human health risk assessment for 1,4-Dioxane in Drinking Water Legislative Report released in May 2024.

The draft agenda also includes informational items for the board, including a presentation by state Division of Waste Management staff on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances data submitted by landfill facilities across the state and on the utilization of the Bernard Allen Drinking Water Fund for PFAS compounds.

The meeting will be held in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.

The public may attend the meeting in person, virtually (webinar number: 2434 343 5955), or by telephone at 1-415-655-0003 US Toll, access code 243 626 85243.

An in-person public comment period will be held at the meeting. Anyone who wishes to speak may sign up upon arriving at the meeting.

The Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board includes experts in toxicology, public health, ecology, engineering, and other related fields. It’s members assist the state departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services by recommending reviews and evaluations of contaminants, acting as consultants on DEQ’s determinations to regulate contaminants, and helping the agencies identify contaminants of concern and determine which contaminants should be studied further.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is hosting a public hearing next week on two proposed shellfish leases in Carteret County.

The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in the division’s Central District Office, 5285 U.S. Highway 70 West, Morehead City, as well as by Webex.

The focus on the hearing will be on the following lease permit requests:

• I. Salts Oyster Co., LLC, Ralph W. Brittingham, Jr. and Ryan D. Salter, who have applied for a 6.08-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in North Bay (25-007BL/25-008WC).
• Rough Atlantic, LLC, Michael T. Dale, who has applied for a 6.02-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in North River (25-032BL/25-033WC).

Additional information, including presentation slides, biological investigation reports, the web conference link, and call-in telephone number, are available on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s website.

Anyone who wishes to speak at the in-person meeting should sign up on-site between 5-6 p.m. on the night of the hearing.

Written comments are also being accepted through 5 p.m. Dec. 2.

Online written comments will be accepted through an online form. Comments may also be mailed to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Leases, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557-0769.

For more information, contact Mitch Melkonian with the division’s Habitat and Enhancement Section at 252-515-5495 or SLAP@deq.nc.gov.

The Coastal Resources Commission approved last week revised text that is meant to satisfy the latest objection from the Rules Review Commission regarding Jockey’s Ridge’s designation as an area of environmental concern.

The Coastal Resources Commission, or CRC, has been trying to get this text sorted since October 2023, when the Rules Review Commission objected to and removed 30 rules, including those for Jockey’s Ridge protections, as part of the 10-year periodic rules review process.

According to the the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, which carries out the rules and regulations set by the CRC, the text that had been up for review a few years ago was almost identical to what had been approved in 1984 for the centerpiece of Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Dare County.

Part of the text the Rules Review Commission most recently objected to reads: “(a) Description. Jockey’s Ridge is the tallest active sand dune (medano) along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Located within the Town of Nags Head in Dare County, between US 158 and Roanoke Sound, Jockey’s Ridge represents the southern extremity of a back barrier dune system which extends north along Currituck Spit into Virginia.”

The CRC at its regular business meeting in Beaufort Hotel was briefed about the rules commission’s latest objection Wednesday during the annual rules review update, and again Thursday before voting unanimously to submit the amended text to the rules panel.

Daniel Govoni, policy analyst with the Division of Coastal Management, said Wednesday that a general statute directs staff to review and identify any rules that are unnecessary, burdensome or inconsistent. Rules that are considered necessary, go through the rules review process, and that includes being run through the Rules Review Commission.

Govoni said that just recently, the Jockey’s Ridge area of environmental concern permanent rules the Coastal Resources Commission approved Aug. 27 was sent to the Rules Review Commission and “they again have objected.”

The reason this time, he continued, “is because the rule was split up into three categories: (a) being description, (b) being boundaries and (c) the use standards. They basically said that the description was unnecessary.”

When Coastal Resources picked up the discussion Thursday, Govoni reiterated that the rule was drafted into three parts, with a description explaining Jockey’s Ridge and its importance, and a boundary describing the area of environmental concern boundary and an accompanying map.

Govoni stated that the Rules Review specifically objecting to “the paragraph (a) description,” and that it “was not the same as the designation as under general statute.”

Coastal Resources was left with two options with a deadline of Dec. 1: either amend the rule to address the Rules Review objection, or submit a written response explaining why the rule won’t be changed.

Govoni said staff came up with the following proposed language as a way to meet the requirement: “Designation. Given the status of Jockey’s Ridge as a State Park, State Nature Preserve, complex natural area, and an area containing a unique geological formation as identified by the State Geologist, the Coastal Resources Commission hereby designates Jockey’s Ridge as an Area of Environmental Concern pursuant, as required under general statute.”

The amendment also included adding that “The AEC is located within the Town of Nags Head in Dare County, between US 158 and Roanoke Sound” to the boundaries explanation.

The Coastal Resources Commission’s legal counsel, Sarah Zambon, explained that the legal counsel for the Rules Review Commission was consulted on the proposed permanent language but, “just like I don’t speak for all of you, RC Council doesn’t speak for the RRC, but they have reviewed this language.”

Zambon continued that “the main issue was with the description of it being the tallest sand dune along the Atlantic Coast.”

Coastal Resources Chair Renee Cahoon pointed out that “this description just became a problem in August. Amazing. Amazing. After 40 years.”

About Jockey’s Ridge rules

The more than two-year back-and-forth between the two commissions began in early October 2023 over 30 rules undergoing the 10-year periodic review process.

“Development activities in and around the state park boundaries have been regulated by the administrative rules of the Coastal Resources Commission since the designation of Jockey’s Ridge as a Unique Geologic Feature Area of Environmental Concern in 1984,” division documents explain.

When the rules commission reviewed the 30 rules the division submitted, including Jockey’s Ridge as an Area of Environmental Concern and use standards, the rules panel removed the rules from the North Carolina Administrative Code and returned them to the Division of Coastal Management.

Coastal Resources filed a lawsuit shortly after contesting the Rules Review’s decision to remove the 30 rules, which is still in litigation.

The CRC then adopted emergency and temporary rules reestablishing the area of environmental concern and use standards that went into effect Jan. 3, 2024, and expired May 13, 2024, which the Rules Review Commission also objected.

Coastal Resources decided to move forward with permanent rulemaking on April 25, 2024, and adopted the permanent rule Nov. 14, 2024. The rules commission objected to the proposed permanent rule on Dec. 19, 2024, for failing to comply with public notice requirements. Staff said in documents that the terms of this objection had been satisfied.

A Wake County Superior Court judge in February of this year ruled in favor of Coastal Resources in the lawsuit that directs the codifier to “immediately return” the rules to the administrative code. Rules Review has since filed an appeal challenging the ruling and the Coastal Resources is due to submit a brief in response by Dec. 12.

The Coastal Resources Commission took up the subject again Aug. 27 and adopted permanent rules designating Jockey’s Ridge as an area of environmental concern and use standards. The Rules Review Commission objected on Oct. 30 to the recently submitted text for using the word “Description” because it is “not the same as a ‘designation’ as required under state law.”

The Coastal Resources Commission was given Dec. 1 as a deadline on the new proposed designation, which is an attempt to clarify the language going forward, Govoni said Thursday. In the time since the judge ruled that the Jockey’s Ridge rules would be returned to the administrative code, the division decided to amend and clarify the language.

If the suggested language meets final approval, the existing rule would be repealed and replaced with this new version.

Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant has once again discharged elevated levels of 1,4-dioxane into a creek that drains into a river within the Cape Fear River Basin, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

The plant detected a concentration of 651 parts per billion, or ppb, of the chemical compound, one the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has categorized as a likely human carcinogen, in a sample it collected Nov. 7 from Hasketts Creek, according to a DEQ release.

Hasketts Creek drains into the Deep River, which converges with the Haw River to form the Cape Fear River.

Using the EPA’s toxicity calculations for lifetime exposure, DEQ “has determined that the average monthly concentration of 1,4-dixoane in the Asheboro discharge safe for downstream water supplies is 22 ppb or less,” the release states.

The department’s Division of Water Resources took additional sampling and is waiting to confirm results. Division officials have notified downstream drinking water utilities, which provide drinking water to some 900,000 North Carolinians.

Earlier this year, downstream water utilities were notified that sampling results by the state and Asheboro revealed 1,4-dixoane levels were more than 10 times higher than the average established as safe for downstream water supplies.

DEQ’s announcement Friday comes a little more than three weeks after the EPA hosted a public hearing in Asheboro regarding the agency’s objection to the city’s proposed permit that excludes an effluent discharge limit for 1,4-dioxane.

All but one person who spoke at that hearing urged the EPA to uphold its objection to the proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit issued by the division.

DEQ issued an NPDES permit to the plant in August 2023 that included effluent discharge limits for 1,4-dioxane.

The city sued and, in September 2024, the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings struck the limits from the permit.

DEQ’s appeal of that ruling is pending in Wake County Superior Court.

“Monitoring is ongoing at wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Fear River Basin to track 1,4-dixoane,” according to the release. “Significant reductions have occurred at some wastewater treatment plants through a collaborative effort with the Environmental Management commission (EMC), DEQ and municipal operators. DEQ will continue to work with the EMC to seek additional ways to achieve reductions in 1,4-dioxane discharges.”

On Thursday, the EMC voted to push to a later date hearing proposed monitoring and minimization rules for 1,4-dixoane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from industrial users and dischargers.

The commission is not scheduled to meet again this year.

Sampling data is posted on the division’s website.

A group of volunteers spent peak visitor season this year under the blistering sun and swarmed by thick clouds of flying insects, all to make sure the wild horses, including the newborn foals, inhabiting Cape Lookout National Seashore and Rachel Carson Reserve were undisturbed by the thousands who make their way to the barrier islands that are only accessible by boat.

The volunteers are part of the Pony Patrol program, which trains the “Pony Patrollers,” as they’re called, to share with visitors how to safely observe the two herds. One herd is on Shackleford Banks, the national seashore’s southernmost island, and the other is on the reserve site that is across Taylors Creek from downtown Beaufort.

The National Park Service, Foundation for Shackleford Horses and reserve staff organize the outreach effort that just wrapped up its third year. The foundation is the federally designated co-manager with the park service of the herd.  

Rich Rehm, a volunteer who leads the program for Cape Lookout, explained that the goal of Pony Patrol for the park service is twofold. First is to make sure guests on Shackleford Island stay at least 50 feet from the horses and keep their dogs leashed. Second, as representatives of the National Park Service, is to answer questions visitors may have about the horses, the island, or the seashore.

Paula Gillikin, stewardship coordinator for the 10 reserve sites, has been the longtime manager for the herd at Rachel Carson Reserve, one of 10 protected sites along the coast managed by the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, under North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

“The Pony Patrol plays a vital role in supporting the Rachel Carson Reserve and our partners by helping us educate the public about the wild horse population that makes the reserve such a unique part of North Carolina’s coastal heritage,” Gillikin said. “When the public understands what the horses need to survive and be healthy, they are more likely to give the horses the space they need to thrive. This understanding also keeps our visitors safe.”

Foundation President Margaret Poindexter told Coastal Review that the 2025 season had been the largest “and undoubtedly our most successful,” despite its “very difficult start.”

What made 2025 special, she continued, was the determination and resolve of the close to 50 volunteers.

The rocky start began when the first foal of the year from either herd was born at the Rachel Carson Reserve in early May, Poindexter said.

“Her presence was immediately known — lots of eyeballs in Beaufort are constantly on that herd. Just a few days after her birth, and within days of the Pony Patrol season launching, a group of visitors got too close to the foal, the anxious stallion gathered up his mare to get away from them, and the foal was stranded on the oyster rocks unable to keep up with its mama,” she explained.

Though the reserve staff was able to intervene and reunite the two, the Pony Patrollers “were very disappointed that something so potentially tragic could happen so early into the season, before the real rush of visitors even started,” Poindexter said.

Then, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, a newborn foal was found alone on the east end of Shackleford, on the oceanside. The foundation “made the difficult decision to remove it in order to save its life. Again, the Pony Patrollers were discouraged, afraid that perhaps human intervention had caused the foal to be separated from its mother,” she continued. 

Another foal on Shackleford was separated from its mother 10 days later, found in the mud on the sound side, likely as the result of a stallion fight. It too was removed to save its life, Poindexter said.

Volunteers Margo Hickman and Laura Palazzolo, both Carteret County residents, agreed it was particularly heartbreaking to see the foals removed from the island earlier this summer. Hickman said it was uncertain if they would survive.

“’The Americas’ TV episode about Shackleford was beautiful, but it drew a lot of attention — and with that came more pressure on the horses,” Palazzolo said. The first episode, “The Atlantic Coast,” of the NBC series dated Feb. 23 began with the wild horses at Cape Lookout.

“There were multiple incidents of visitors getting too close, trying to take selfies, or even attempting to pet the ponies,” Palazzolo explained. “We can’t say for sure why two foals were abandoned on the east end, but human interference could certainly have played a part.”

Poindexter continued that “Shortly after those incidents, a filly was born on the west end of Shackleford, in an area that receives significant visitation because of its close proximity to the ferry drop and the crossover to the beach. The Pony Patrollers committed themselves to ensuring the safety and survival of this little girl.”

The volunteers scheduled regular tours in the area around the pair and reported to each other after their shift about the whereabouts and well-being of the foal and her mother. “They intercepted numerous visitors who were curious about her, moving them away from her so as not to interfere with her nursing and nap times, but sharing insider information about her and her harem to create a unique and enhanced visitor experience,” Poindexter said.

Some of the volunteers that have been with the program since the first season, including retirees Hickman and Deb Walker, have been captivated by the filly.

Walker, who grew up in Newport and returned after retiring in 2015 from several decades as an educator in Mississippi, said a major highlight for her this summer was the newborn filly.

Hickman called the filly’s birth “the icing on the cake” for her. “We all became part of her family as her honorary aunts. We weathered heat and humidity and some god-awful mosquitoes daily to check on her.”

Fellow Pony Patroller Cindy K. Smith, who began volunteering in 2024, was the first of the group to spot the filly.

Smith, a Straits resident, said she was fortunate to be leading a tour that day in June when she spotted the foal shortly after birth. “Her little legs wobbled to steady herself against her Mama.”

Smith is photographer, naturalist and guide who has been visiting Shackleford and Rachael Carson for 30-plus years and joined Pony Patrol because, like so many others, she has a “fascination with the ‘ponies.’”

Smith said once realized the foal was a newborn, she began calling seashore staff and other patrollers.

“We were all elated,” Smith continued, adding that knowing that the Fourth of July week, and the associated influx of visitors, was near, the volunteers knew extra precautions would be needed to keep her safe and at a distance from human interaction.

The volunteers were given guidance from seashore and foundation staff to developed a plan to quietly watch from afar, Palazzolo said, adding they always kept a respectful distance. “At least one Patroller was stationed on the dunes, watching and ready to gently intervene if visitors wandered too close.”

Smith reiterated that the volunteers “went over and above for this little girl, perching on dunes, hiding behind bushes or whatever it took to make sure she would not be approached. Individuals went out on their own and watched over her even when it was not a shift. I think this camaraderie bonded us in a way that made each of us better and as a whole, a more cohesive unit.”

The foal is thriving now, Palazzolo explained, and along the way, “visitors got to experience something really special. We’d share what we’d learned from our reports — her habits, her routine — and people would sit quietly to watch. We’d tell them, ‘If you stay back and give her space, you’ll see her nurse, nap, or maybe even get the zoomies.’ It became this magical moment of connection — respectful and joyful all at once.”

How Pony Patrol began

Poindexter explained that the first year in 2023 was truly a pilot, and began with around 30 participants.

“We only sent volunteers to Shackleford that first season. Rich Rehm, one of the seasoned volunteers at Cape Lookout National Seashore, stepped up and offered to be the program coordinator. Truly, without his willingness to fill that role, the program likely would never have gotten off the ground,” Poindexter said.

Rehm retired as an environmental consultant in the Research Triangle Park area and moved to in 2016 to Merrimon with his wife. He began volunteering with the seashore in 2017.

When Rehm was asked in 2019 to coordinate the program for the National Park Service, he said he passed on the opportunity. Then, the program was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, he decided he would take up the role.

After that first year in 2023, the seashore “was pleased with the success of the program and we expanded the program to include Rachel Carson Reserve,” Rehm said. “In 2025, we expanded the program again to include the east end of Shackleford Island.”

Though the 2025 season wrapped up in late September, a call for volunteers will likely go out in the coming months from both the National Park Service and Rachel Carson Reserve ahead of the 2026 season. Gillikin, with the reserve, said Pony Patrol applications for both herds will likely be launched in January or February.

Poindexter said that those interested in joining the Pony Patrol should know that conditions are rough. “Walking over dunes, in sand, through mud and marsh, often in extreme heat and humidity, while being besieged by mosquitoes,” she said.

Despite the challenges like the heat, the bugs, the mud, and the occasional rude visitor, Palazzolo said the horses make it all worth it.

“There’s nothing like standing on those dunes, watching them go about their day. It reminds you that wildness still exists — and that it’s fragile,” she said. “I’m looking forward to checking on her this winter — and jumping right back in next summer.”

Rehm added, “If you can put up with the heat, the humidity, the bugs, and the storms by all means you should volunteer.”

Coastal Review will not publish Tuesday in observation of Veterans Day.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries reminds seafood dealers that they need to switch from the PC Trip Ticket Software Program to the new VESL software by the end of the year to report their transactions with fishermen.

The division’s Trip Ticket Program was notified earlier this year that the software contractor, Bluefin Data, will no longer support the old program as of Jan. 31, 2026. Due to these changes:

All electronic trip tickets for calendar year 2025 should be entered through the PC Trip Ticket Software Program by Jan. 10, 2026.

All electronic trip tickets for calendar year 2026 should be entered in the VESL system.
Bluefin Data released the web-based VESL program for North Carolina in January 2025. To use VESL, dealers need a valid email address to create an account on the VESL platform and an internet connected device with a web browser.

Seafood dealers who have not already done so should contact Trip Ticket Program staff at the following email addresses or phone numbers to set up an account:

• Josh Beil — Joshua.Beil@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5549.
• Travis Williams — Travis.Williams@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5550.

The Division’s Trip Ticket Program was implemented in 1994 when North Carolina law mandated trip level reporting of all commercial fishery landings. The program requires seafood dealers to complete a trip ticket for each transaction with a fisherman and to submit these reports monthly to the Division of Marine Fisheries.

People in the charter or for-hire business are invited to share their perspectives on challenges facing the industry during upcoming meetings with state fisheries officials.

The meetings, hosted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, will cover topics to include mandatory harvest reporting as well as other subjects those in attendance would like to discuss.

The first of three meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70, Morehead City.

A meeting will be hosted at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 at Cape Fear Community College, room 252, 502 N. Front St., Wilimington.

On Dec. 2, a meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at College of the Albemarle – Dare Room 110, 205 U.S. 64, Manteo.

For additional information about the meetings, contact Coral Sawyer at coral.sawyer@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5527.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has extended the public comment period on a proposed rule change that would allow domestic wastewater discharges into zero-flow streams in the state.

A public hearing will be hosted by the EMC and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on the proposed rule at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 5 in the ground-flood hearing room of the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh. Speaker registration will begin at 3 p.m.

Comments on the draft rule will be accepted through Dec. 15 by mail to Karen Higgins, DEQ-DWR Planning Section, 1611 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1611, or by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov.     

The EMC, which is the rulemaking body that oversees and adopts rules for several divisions within DEQ, is required to adopt rules allowing domestic wastewater discharges to low-flow streams under Session Law 2024-44 (s. 5.1).

Lawmakers in 2024 adopted a provision to the law that mandates DEQ develop draft rules that permit households and light-industrial businesses to release up to 2 million gallons per day of treated wastewater into zero-flow surface waters, such as perennial streams, unnamed tributaries and wetlands.

Guest Commentary

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. Note: This piece was updated Nov. 3 to correct an erroneous statistic regarding Chemours’ proposed expansion.

One of the state’s most egregious corporate polluters has evaded public accountability for years. Now, the company is seeking to expand its output of toxic chemicals in eastern North Carolina. 

Since the mid 1970s the Chemours chemical manufacturing facility in Fayetteville has been spewing toxic PFAS into the air and water, contaminating the air and drinking water, food and bodies of water of a half-million people in the southeast region. The public was unaware of this until 2017, when researchers at NC State University detected high levels of the chemical GenX in the river’s drinking water. The revelation was so egregious community group Clean Cape Fear engaged the U.N. Human Rights Council to find Chemours and its parent company DuPont had committed business-related human rights abuses and called for accountability. Exposure to PFAS is known to cause certain types of cancers, immune system suppression, and developmental issues. But even after the news broke about this public health crisis in 2017, Chemours continued to produce PFAS and poisoning the Cape Fear River region. 

Beyond polluting the Cape Fear River, which supplies drinking water to more than 500,000 people downstream of Chemours’ discharge pipes, Chemours’ airborne PFAS emissions have poisoned at least 7,000 private drinking water wells across ten counties. This is not just a historical issue – it’s an ongoing crisis. Eight years after learning about GenX in North Carolina’s tap water and state regulators still do not know the full scope of groundwater contamination to the region. 

Despite this legacy of harm across southeastern North Carolina, the company has recently applied to NC DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) for an air permit to dramatically expand its Fayetteville chemical production operations and increase its PFAS production and waste. Chemours has demonstrated a pattern of corporate misconduct, concealing information about the dangers of its water and air pollution from regulators and the public for decades. The company has violated court orders to curb PFAS pollution. And, earlier this year, the state expanded its PFAS testing zone, ordering Chemours to test for PFAS in an additional 150,000 private wells in six counties – a sign of how far these toxic chemicals have spread across the state.  

This is not a company that can be trusted to expand its operations responsibly, and it is one local example of the  PFAS pollution crisis, which is now a nationwide problem. Thoughtful and common-sense federal solutions were recently put in place, but  are now being rescinded.  

In 2024, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) restricted six PFAS chemicals (GenX/HFPO-DA, PFBS, PFHxS PFNA, PFOA, and PFOS), under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which the agency estimated could benefit up to 105 million people nationwide. But the Trump administration is now in the process of trying to rescind some of those restrictions that would have helped reduce PFAS pollution in public tap water. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and its partners are opposing the EPA’s proposed rollbacks and have turned to the courts for protection.  

Until federal regulators issue clear guidance and protections for PFAS, it is up to state agencies to protect our health and natural resources. In North Carolina, that means DEQ must reject Chemours’ air permit application and do its job to protect North Carolinians from being further poisoned by this company’s toxic chemical pollution.

Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

North Carolinians from cities, towns and communities throughout the Cape Fear River Basin urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to uphold its objection to a municipal wastewater treatment plant’s proposed permit that excludes an effluent discharge limit for 1,4-dioxane into their drinking water sources.

One after another, speakers at a public hearing the EPA hosted last Wednesday night asked the agency to force the state to reissue a permit that will limit discharges of the likely human carcinogen into surface waters that flow into tributaries of the Haw and Deep rivers, which converge to form the Cape Fear River.

Residents from Wilmington northwest to Fayetteville, Sanford, Pittsboro, Siler City, and Asheboro joined representatives of environmental organizations and downstream public water utilities at the hearing at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, the very city that fought to get 1,4-dioxane limits removed from its permit.

“Frankly I’m embarrassed that Asheboro is polluting the drinking water of as many as 900,000 people who live downstream from us,” longtime Asheboro resident Susie Scott said. “The solution, to me, seems simple. Our city should hold the companies producing this pollution to account and insist that they clean up their waste before we accept it into our treatment plant. People living downstream from us deserve safe drinking water.”

In August 2023, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources issued Asheboro a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit limiting the city water treatment plant’s release of 1,4-dioxane.

The city sued, challenging the state’s power to include a water quality standard for the clear, odorless chemical solvent used in manufacturing processes.

In September 2024, the Chief Administrative Law Judge for North Carolina at the time, Donald van der Vaart, ruled in the city’s favor and revoked permit limits of 1,4-dioxane.

In his ruling, van der Vaart said that DEQ officials did not follow the letter of the law written in state statutes when they calculated discharge limits and established an enforceable water quality standard for 1,4-dixoane. He also noted anticipated high costs associated with monitoring and treatment of the chemical compound.

DEQ’s appeal of that ruling is pending in Wake County Superior Court.

Costs to treat 1,4-dioxane will fall on the backs of downstream water utilities customers if the pollutant is not controlled at the source, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Executive Director Kenneth Waldroup said.

“The presence of 1,4-dioxane in our source water is just the latest example of how gaps in regulation can lead downstream communities exposed to risk,” he said. “1,4-dioxane is a synthetic, highly mobile compound that resists natural degradation and conventional water treatment. Once it enters our watershed, it is persistent and travels far downstream, all the way to our drinking water intakes. Removing 1,4-dioxane from our drinking water requires advanced and very costly treatment technologies. We’re talking millions of dollars in systems and additional millions in operations costs over a period of time.”

Waldroup said DEQ “took appropriate action” when it included 1,4-dioxane limits in Asheboro’s NPDES permit, but that the state Office of Administrative Hearings “inappropriately and inaccurately invalidated that move.”

“EPA is obligated to assume permitting authority if the state fails to comply with federal permits, and EPA must require the state of North Carolina to address this pollutant and protect 900,000 downstream users,” he said.

Public water utilities, including CFPUA, and businesses downstream of Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant were notified by DEQ last January that the plant had discharged substantially high concentrations of 1,4-dioxane into Hasketts Creek, which empties into the Deep River.

Misty Manning, Fayetteville Public Works Commission’s chief operations officer for water resources, recalled to EPA officials last week of the Jan. 24 sampling results reported by the state and Asheboro.

“Asheboro’s own sampling result from that day was 3,520 parts per billion. This is more than 10 times higher than EPA’s calculation of what Asheboro’s discharge should be to protect public health at 22 parts per billion. Without enforceable limits, the city of Asheboro’s pretreatment program has yet to be successful in limiting 1,4-dioxane discharges to levels that meet water quality goals for a pollutant with a reasonable potential to cause or contribute to an excursion above state water quality standards,” Manning said.

She was one of several speakers at the hearing to point out that other municipalities in the state have successfully reduced 1,4-dioxane discharges through industrial pretreatment processes without bearing economic hardship.

“And Asheboro has the responsibility to do likewise, using its permitted authority over their local industrial users,” Manning said. “Downstream communities should not bear the financial burden of treating and removing pollutants introduced by unchecked upstream discharges.”

Last June, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly against Asheboro and the city’s industrial customer StarPet Inc., to stop their discharges of 1,4-dioxane into the Cape Fear River basin.

“As part of its antiregulatory fight, Asheboro has raised the absurd argument that it should not be the one that has to pay to control the cancer-causing pollution that it dumps upstream of drinking water supplies,” SELC attorney Hannah Nelson said. “I want to be clear. Asheboro could stop this pollution today by requiring its industries to treat for 1,4-dioxane, but it has chosen not to. In making that choice, Asheboro forces us, the families, the drinking water utilities, the local businesses, the schools, all of those who live downstream of the city, choose us to have to pay for their pollution.”

Stephen Bell, an attorney with Cranfill Sumer law firm’s Wilmington office and outside counsel for Asheboro, said that the city he represents believes steps DEQ took in implementing the August 2023 permit “set dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications.”

“Asheboro is not asking for no water regulation. They’re asking for regulation in accordance with the state law. As it stands today, based upon the court’s ruling, there is no water quality standard for 1,4-dioxane. The courts, our environmental rulemaking agency, they’re currently addressing this issue of limits for 1,4-dioxane and the EPA should respect that state-level process,” he said.

Once everyone at the hearing who signed up to speak addressed EPA officials, a member of the audience asked when the agency expects to make a final determination on the permit. The EPA may reaffirm its objection to the permit, require that the state modify the permit, or withdraw its objection of the permit.

Paul Schwartz, associate regional counsel in the Water Law Office at EPA’s Atlanta region office, said there is no statutory or regulatory timeline in which the agency must decide.

“In terms of specifying a date, certain that it would be done by, I don’t think we can do that,” he said. “And it doesn’t make it any easier that we’re operating during a period of government shutdown. But I think we want to give it immediate attention and focus on it so it doesn’t drag on too long.”

If the EPA decides to reaffirm its objection or require the permit to be modified, DEQ will have 30 days to submit a revised draft permit to the agency. If DEQ does not do that, the EPA will become the permitting authority.

The EPA is accepting public comments through Oct. 31 via email to R4NPDESComments@epa.gov or by mail to US EPA, NPDES Permitting Section, Water Division, 61 Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, GA 30303-8960.

The practice of burning as a way to clear land has been banned in Leland.

During a special-called meeting on Monday, the town’s council unanimously enacted the ban, citing growing concerns about smoke and air quality impacts from recent burns, according to a release.

The ban “does not affect other forms of open burning permitted under state law,” the release states.

The town will host an open burning workshop next month with a focus on educating residents about state regulations on opening burning and how those apply within the town’s limits.

Town staff will be joined by officials with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality and North Carolina Forest Service in giving brief presentations on existing regulations, enforcement, and applicability in the Brunswick County town.

Those presentations will be followed by a public comment period, after which time Leland Town Council members will discuss the information presented, public input, town policies, practices, and ordinances.

The workshop, which will be held as a special meeting of the town council, is set for 3 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Leland Cultural Arts Center, 1212 Magnolia Village Way.

Chemours’ air permit application to expand production at its Fayetteville Works plant excludes emissions data that should be disclosed to the public, environmental lawyers say.

The company “improperly withheld vital emission data from the public” in its Aug. 14 application to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality, according to a letter Southern Environmental Law Center attorneys sent the department last month.

“We urge the Department to require Chemours to re-submit its application with disclosed emissions data,” the Sept. 19 letter states. “North Carolina law clearly states that emission data cannot be kept secret.”

Jess Loizeaux, Chemours’ communications leader, refuted that claim, writing in an email responding to a request for comment, “our permit application fully disclosed the projected emissions associated with the expansion.”

“Certain details included in the application submitted to DAQ – such as production capacity, operating hours, and emissions factors – were redacted from the public version because they are considered confidential business information and, if made public, could harm our competitive position,” Loizeaux said. “Protecting confidential business information is standard practice and does not affect transparency regarding environmental impacts.”

Attorneys for Chemours and its predecessor company DuPont made a similar argument earlier this year when they filed a court motion to keep under seal thousands of pages of documents they say include “non-public facts” that largely pertain to chemical production.

Lawyers representing public utilities and local governments downstream of Chemours’ Bladen County plant submitted 25,000 pages of documents to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina as part of lawsuit those entities brought against the companies in October 2017.

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, Brunswick County, Lower Cape Fear Water & Sewer Authority, and Wrightsville Beach aim to recover costs and damages associated with the Fayetteville Works’ plant’s discharges of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, for decades into the Cape Fear River. The river is a drinking water source for tens of thousands of residents in the region.

The court had not rendered a decision on Chemours’ request as of this story’s publication.

In 2020, Chemours submitted an application to renew its Title V permit, which applies to major source of air emissions, for its Fayetteville Works plant to the state Division of Air Quality.

Two years later, the company applied for a separate permit to expand its production of vinyl ethers and IXM.

Chemours revised and resubmitted that permit application to expand only its production of vinyl ethers last August. Vinyl ethers are a class of compounds used to create a variety of products used in a range of technologies from semiconductor chips to aviation components.

Vinyl ethers are used to create a wide variety of products, including polymers for adhesives, coatings, and plastics

The expansion would pertain to the plant’s two existing vinyl ethers production units, Loizeaux said.

“As outlined in the revised permit application, additional abatement technology will be installed alongside each expansion and is projected to decrease the site’s overall fluorinated emissions by approximately 15%, despite an increase in production,” she said. “A timeline for the expansions has not yet been set.”

Southern Environmental Law Center attorneys argue in their Sept. 19 letter to DEQ that Chemours is violating provisions within the state law that outlines protection and disclosure rules for confidential information.

The application, “blacks out emission rates from stack testing, uncontrolled emission factors, hours of operation, maximum hours of operation, historic production, and post-modification production capacity. The information is necessary to verify and fully understand the emissions and authorized emissions at the facility and cannot be withheld from the public,” according to the letter.

The letter goes on to state that Chemours previously disclosed similar information in previous submissions to DEQ.

“Chemours’ about-face from its past submissions further confirms that this information cannot be treated as confidential,” the letter states.

Last April, the SELC, on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, asked DEQ to deny Chemours’ request to expand production at its Bladen County plant, arguing that the company’s air permit application was riddled with flaws.

As part of 2019 consent order with DEQ and Cape Fear River Watch, Chemours installed a thermal oxidizer to capture and destroy PFAS from emitting into the air. The order also requires the company to test tens of thousands of private drinking water wells for PFAS contamination throughout the region.

In a 20-page letter to DEQ, SELC attorneys argue Chemours questioned the efficacy of thermal destruction technology on PFAS.

“Investigating Chemours’ thermal oxidizer specifically, [the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] determined that, due to a lack of data, ‘removal processes for products of incomplete combustion or of destruction of potential compounds not studied … are still unclear.’ In other words, it is possible that the company’s thermal oxidizer does not fully destroy many PFAS. Some may break down into other harmful chemicals, and others may not be destroyed at all,” the letter states.

DEQ Interim Deputy Communications Director Shawn Taylor said in an email earlier this month that while air quality officials deem the latest version of Chemours’ application administratively complete, “the Division may require additional information from the applicant to conduct its technical review.”

“The Division plans to schedule a full public engagement process, including a public comment period and public hearings, to be announced at a later date,” he said.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries recently certified a new state record for almaco jack, or Seriola rivoliana.

Henry Barksdale of Sutherland, Virginia, caught the 60-pound, 8-ounce fish Sept. 18 off Cape Hatteras. The previous state record was 56 pounds, 4.8 ounces, and was landed earlier this year in the same area.

Barksdale was fishing with Capt. Shaun Dunn out of Teach’s Lair Marina in Hatteras Village. He landed the fish with a jig attached to an Okuma Cedros rod and Daiwa Saltist LD 50 reel with 80-pound braid.

Barksdale’s fish measured 46 inches fork length, or from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail, and had a 32-inch girth. The fish was weighed at Teach’s Lair Marina and confirmed by staff in the Marine Fisheries Division’s Manteo office.

Fisheries officials note that almaco jack can be easily mistaken for other amberjack species, such as the greater amberjack, aka Seriola dumerili, or lesser amberjack, aka Seriola fasciata.

The almaco jack can be distinguished by the tall and elongated second dorsal fin and anal fin, darker body color, gill raker count and alignment of the maxilla (upper lip) relative to the eye. Lesser amberjacks are also much smaller with the current International Game Fish Association’s world record weighing 12 pounds.

For more information on state record fish, go to the division’s State Saltwater Records webpage or contact the North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.

An Onslow County-based fishing charter is among this year’s recipients awarded a total of $1.14 million in grants for projects aimed at reducing air pollution from diesel-powered engines.

Nancy Lee III Fishing Charters LLC in Swansboro has been awarded $88,000 to replace two tier-0 1978 model diesel propulsion engines with new tier-3 low-emission diesel engines, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality announced Wednesday.

“This project eliminates 1,100.16 tons of lifetime CO₂ emissions and reduces 1.56 tons of lifetime NOx emissions,” according to a DAQ release.

The fishing charter is among nine recipients of the 2024 Mobile Source Emissions Reduction grants, which are funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program. The federal program supports projects designed to significantly reduce diesel emissions.

Projects awarded this year will replace or retrofit 20 older diesel vehicles and equipment with cleaner alternatives, including new electric vehicles.

Other grant winners include:

• Cumberland County: $289,380 to replace an international box truck, crawler dozer and rubber tire dozer with new, modern equipment.
• Delta Air Lines Inc. in Wake County: $268,248 to replace six tier 1 and tier 2 diesel belt loaders with zero-emission electric belt loaders.
• Espinoza Hauling and Trucking Co Inc. in Swain County: $185,991 to replace a 1999 tier 1 cold milling machine with a 2025 CARB-certified tier 4 cold milling machine.
• Fortner Contracting Inc. in Swain County: $62,039 to replace a 1992 tier 0 off-road wheel loader with a 2025 tier 4 rubber tire loader.
• The HMC Paving and Construction Co Inc. in Swain County: $19,913 to replace a 2008 tier 0 diesel truck with a new CARB-certified EPA tier 4 2024 ULSD truck.
• Progress Freight Lines Inc. in Wake County: $100,000 to replace two older diesel Class 8 trucks with new, cleaner technology.
• Carrboro in Orange County: $6,951 to replace a 2005 utility terrain vehicle with an electric model.
• Waste Management of Carolinas, Inc. in Buncombe County: $120,000 to replace four diesel vehicles with heavy duty near-zero emission compressed natural gas vehicles.

Projects that were awarded this year’s grant funding are projected to eliminate more than 3,400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetimes and reduce more than 57 tons of nitrogen oxides and 7,700 pounds of fine particulate matter across all projects.

DAQ awards the grants each year to projects that will replace, retrofit or repair diesel-powered mobile sources to reduce emissions.

Projects funded through the 2023 Mobile Sources Emissions Reductions Grant replaced 18 vehicles and reduced more than 43 tones of lifetime NOx emissions and more than 3,000 tons of lifetime CO2 emissions.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking a permit to install a temporary groundwater well off Carolina Beach’s ocean shore for an upcoming beach nourishment project on Pleasure Island.

The request is available for public review and comment through Oct. 15. Related documents are online.

The water well would be installed by the project’s contractor and used to cool an inline booster pump to reduce the likelihood of a booster failure. The contractor is requesting to install the temporary well because there is not adequate water pressure from a local fire hydrant to cool the booster pumps.

The pump would be located along the pipeline route for the Carolina Beach and Kure Beach and vicinity coastal storm risk management project, according to a N.C. Division of Coastal Management release.

The pump would be used to move dredged material to southerly areas of the island.

The temporary well would be dug at a depth of 60 feet below existing grade and at a with of 8 inches in diameter, according to the Corps. The well would be installed behind the dune line at the Freeman Park public access behind the public restrooms.

The well would be removed from the point of entry on the beach once the project is complete.

Written comments on the proposed temporary well may be mailed to Federal Consistency Coordinator, 400 Commerce Ave., Morehead City, NC 28577, or emailed to DCMcomments@deq.nc.gov with “Federal Consistency: USACE Carolina & Kure Beach CSRM” in the subject line.

A notice of the decision for this request will be provided upon request.

The N.C. Division of Water Resources has released for public comment a revised discharge permit for a quarry operation in Vanceboro.

Martin Marietta Material Inc.’s revised wastewater discharge permit for it’s Vanceboro quarry requires a biological integrity assessment once every two years through sampling for benthos, or small aquatic organisms that live in water.

The permit also includes a monthly monitoring requirement for pH, total suspended solids and turbidity in the discharge, or effluent, from the mine.

Permit revisions were made after the permit the division issued last February to the company was rescinded based on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that “end-result” requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in permits were not allowed under the Clean Water Act.

Mining activity has not occurred at the Vanceboro site since the original permit was issued in 2013, according to a N.C. Department of Environmental Quality release.

The proposed permit would regulate 12 million gallons per day of mine dewatering and stormwater from two outfalls to unnamed tributaries of Blounts Creek. The creek is classified as a Class C, Swamp, Nutrient Sensitive Waterbody in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin.

The first benthic sampling would occur after the discharge begins between Feb. 1 and March 15, according to the release.

Public comments on the revised permit will be accepted through Oct. 29 by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with the subject line “NC0089168 Vanceboro Quarry,” and by mail to Wastewater Permitting (NC0089168), 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1617.

Details about the permit and a technical fact sheet are available at online DWR Vanceboro Quarry permit file.

North Carolina Division of Water Resources officials are reminding residents to steer clear of water that looks discolored because it could be an algal bloom.

Water that looks bright green, blue, discolored or scummy could indicate the presence of an algal bloom.

Certain types of algal blooms can create toxins harmful to humans, pets and aquatic organisms. Harmful algal blooms are indistinguishable from nonharmful blooms by mere sight.

The state Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health encourages people to avoid contact with large algae accumulations. Children and pets should be prevented from swimming in or ingesting water in an algal bloom.

If you do come into contact with an algal bloom, wash thoroughly. If your child becomes ill after being in waters containing an algal bloom, get medical care immediately.

Pets that may have come into contact with an algal bloom should be rinsed off. Seek veterinary care immediately if your pet appears to stumble, stagger, or collapse after being in a pond, lake or river.

Blooms should be reported to your nearest Department of Environmental Quality regional office or online.

Algal bloom events that are reported to the state are available on the Division of Water Resource’s Fish Kill & Algal Bloom Dashboard.

Although algae naturally occur in all waterbodies, certain environmental conditions, including increased nutrients, elevated temperatures, increased sunlight and low or no water flow, can prompt rapid algal cell growth that causes algal blooms.

Wind and wave action can move blooms and decaying algae may create a strong, foul odor.

Featured Image

Wild horses cross tidal waters from Town Marsh to Bird Shoal along Beaufort’s barrier islands, which are part of the Rachel Carson Reserve, in Carteret County. The cluster of islands includes Carrot Island, Town Marsh, Bird Shoal, and Horse Island, and the horses are descended from those brought to the islands by a Beaufort area resident in the 1940s, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. The state manages the horse population for its health and for the health of the environment, but the herd is otherwise left to fend and forage for itself. Photo: Dylan Ray

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management has issued a permit for the proposed mid-Currituck bridge that would connect mainland Currituck County and its barrier island beaches.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality on Friday announced that the division had issued a Coastal Area Management Act dredge and fill law permit and that, in a separate action, the agency’s Division of Water Resources had issued a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for the toll road and 6.7-mile-long bridge.

The project will connect the mainland at U.S. Highway 158 near Aydlett to the Outer Banks near Corolla with two-lane bridges spanning the Currituck Sound and Maple Swamp.

As previously reported in Coastal Review, the project has received wide support from Dare and Currituck counties and most Dare towns, though residents of Currituck County communities on either side of the bridge have expressed concerns about the impacts of more traffic on the neighborhoods’ infrastructure, environment and quality of life.

The N.C. Department of Transportation/North Carolina Turnpike Authority submitted the CAMA permit application one year ago. The Division of Coastal Management accepted the application as complete early this year.

CAMA Major/dredge and fill law permits must be obtained for projects that cover more than 20 acres, include activities that require other state or federal permits, or for construction covering more than 60,000 square feet.

Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification determines whether a project complies with state water quality standards.

The Division of Water Resources issued a certification for the project with conditions, which include an agreement to offset unavoidable impacts to wetlands by creating, restoring or enhancing wetlands elsewhere from the construction area.

The applicants are also required to mitigate unavoidable impacts to submerged aquatic vegetation by monitoring for the effects of shading and replacing or restoring impacted vegetation as close to the area as possible.

“The certification also includes a condition that the applicant must submit an update to the project stormwater management plan prior to construction,” according to an NCDEQ release.

This report has been updated to correct the area code in Chemours’ well sampling request phone number.

About 14,000 additional residences in the lower Cape Fear region have been added to the list of private drinking water wells eligible for PFAS contamination sampling.

N.C. Department of Environmental Quality announced Thursday that it is requiring Chemours to expand sampling eligibility to more areas of Brunswick, Columbus, New Hanover and Pender counties.

“This expansion comes after Chemours and DEQ staff completed an extensive review of existing residential well data as part of the ongoing assessment work and continued actions taken in accordance with the 2019 consent order between DEQ, Cape Fear River Watch and Chemours,” according to a DEQ release. “Current information provided by Chemours indicates that only a portion of these residences may receive their water from wells and need to be sampled.”

Residents within the newly expanded sampling area whose primary drinking water source is a private well may request well sampling by calling Chemours at 910-678-1100 or by completing the company’s online form.

Those who call are asked to live their name, phone number, email and mailing address if prompted to leave a message. The return call may come from Parsons Environment and Infrastructure, which is the authorized third-party contractor conducting the well sampling.

Newly eligible residents who previously requested sampling will be contacted soon by the third-party contractor to arrange sampling.

DEQ’s Division of Waste Management is scheduled to host a virtual public meeting at 6 p.m. Oct. 7 to provide more details about expanded sampling and answer questions.

The webinar number is 2435 548 5932 and the password is chemours (24366878 when dialing from a phone or video system).

Residents may also join the meeting by phone at +1-415-655-0003 (US toll) or +1-904-900-2303 US toll (Jacksonville), access code 243 554 85932.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is hosting a virtual public information session at 10 a.m. Thursday to provide updates and an overview of the draft North Carolina Comprehensive Climate Action Plan.

DEQ’s State Energy Office is accepting public input on the draft plan as part of the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant through Oct. 6. Comments may be submitted by using this form or by email to cprg@deq.nc.gov with “CPRG Input” in the subject line.

The grant program is part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act and provides funds to states, local governments, territories and tribes to develop and implement plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other harmful air pollutants.

North Carolina was awarded $3 million for the planning phase of the grant and, last year, the state developed and submitted a Priority Climate Action Plan. That plan identified the state’s highest priority greenhouse gas reduction measures “and determined the methods for ensuring equitable implementation of these measures for the benefit of all North Carolinians,” according to a DEQ release.

The state is now developing a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan, which is due to the EPA in December. That plan builds upon the Priority Climate Action Plan and aims to update and expand on the state’s existing climate strategies.

The virtual session will be held via Webex at https://ncgov.webex.com/ncgov/j.php?MTID=m312ed6d07f15ed9e238e05dcbd2c37c2. The meeting number/access code is 2424 976 1867 with the password CCAP2025 (22272025 when dialing from a phone).

To join by phone dial +1-415-655-0003 U.S. toll, +1-904-900-2303 U.S. toll.

The Environmental Protection Agency is hosting a public hearing next month on a proposed permit for a municipal wastewater treatment facility that discharges 1,4-dioxane into the drinking water supplies for about 1 million North Carolinians.

Oral or written comments about the federal agency’s specific objection to Asheboro Wastewater Treatment Plant’s proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit will be accepted at the hearing scheduled from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. Oct. 22.

The hearing follows the EPA’s response to a ruling last year by former Chief Administrative Law Judge Donald van der Vaart that N.C. Department of Environmental Quality officials did not follow state law when they calculated discharge limits and established an enforceable water quality standard for 1,4-dioxane.

That chemical, one that cannot be removed through conventional water treatment methods, is deemed by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen.

The state has appealed the ruling.

The Asheboro Wastewater Treatment Plant has been discharging high levels of 1,4-dioxane upstream of the drinking water supply for several cities and counites, including Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties.

The hearing will be hosted both virtually and in-person at the JB and Claire Davis Corporate Training Center at Randolph Community College, 413 Industrial Park Ave., Asheboro. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Those who plan to attend in-person are encouraged to arrive early and preregister at least 72 hours before the hearing.

Virtual attendees may register online. Instructions are available on how to submit written comments during or after the hearing up until the close of the period for receiving comments. Those who attend virtually will not be able to present oral comments during the hearing.

The hearing will kick off with brief presentations by EPA officials and a neutral process facilitator. Oral comments will be limited to three minutes per person.

The agency does not guarantee that everyone who wishes to speak will get the opportunity to at the hearing, but will accept written comments from anyone who does not.

Written comments will be accepted through Oct. 31 and may be emailed to R4NPDESComments@epa.gov or mailed to US EPA, NPDES Permitting Section, Water Division, 61 Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, GA 30303-8960.

The North Carolina NPDES permit number is NC0026123.

MOREHEAD CITY – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management has awarded more than $2.25 million in grants to fund 10 projects to expand and improve public access to beaches and coastal waterways.

The grants, awarded through the Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Grant Program, will help local governments in the 20 coastal counties acquire land for public access sites and build or improve amenities such as dune crossovers, fishing piers, parking areas, restrooms and kayak launches.

“These state investments will both ensure safe and expanded public access to our coastlines and strengthen the resilience of our communities by supporting infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather,” said DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson in a news release announcing the awards. “As we face increasingly severe storms, these projects will play a key role in safeguarding both public safety and the long-term health of our coastal environments.”

The division on Thursday announced the following awards:

• Atlantic Beach in Carteret County is awarded $115,200 for improvements to the New Bern Street Public Access. The work will entail removing the existing dune crossover and rebuilding 381 feet of the walkway with treated wood, Trex decking and handrails to provide access to the Atlantic Ocean.
• Beaufort in Carteret County is awarded $120,000 for an Ann Street Park water access project. The work will create an access site at the west end of Ann Street featuring an observation deck, greenspace, a picnic area and rain gardens while preserving existing open vistas and improving stormwater drainage.
• Belhaven in Beaufort County is awarded $540,000 for its Harbor Park expansion, which involves acquiring 0.74 acres. Recent site improvements include a new bulkhead and a 200-foot dock.
• Bertie County is awarded $80,000 for the second phase of the Tall Glass of Water Beach Access enhancement and will provide safe, maintenance-free access to the beach by providing a solid surface, accessible 12-foot by 440-foot path to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and expanding the existing public beach by planting vegetation to stabilize the base of the bluff.
• Cedar Point in Carteret County is awarded $305,000 for the second phase of the Boathouse Creek Park bathroom facility project. The project is to add three ADA-accessible bathrooms and associated accessible parking to support and enhance usage of the town’s existing water access site at Boathouse Creek Park.
• Nags Head in Dare County is awarded $400,000 to replace the bathhouse and dune walkover at its Hargrove Street Public Beach Access. The project will also remove and replace existing decking, the emergency vehicle ramp, all wooden stairs and walkways, trash cans, fencing, three shower stations and signage.
• New Hanover County is awarded $265,000 to install a new kayak launch, ADA parking, and an ADA sidewalk to the existing pier, along with additional signage at the Trails End Waterfront Access. The work will be completed concurrently with bulkhead repairs.
• Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County is awarded $82,500 to replace a non-ADA-compliant dune crossover at the Shallotte Boulevard Beach Access. The new access will be widened to 8 feet and made to comply with ADA requirements. The stairs will be replaced with wheelchair-accessible ramps.
• Swansboro in Onslow County is awarded $127,623 to demolish the Main Street Dock, rebuild an existing pedestrian, fishing, and dinghy day dock at the end of Main Street, along the downtown waterfront area south of the White Oak River Bridge. The new docks will be built within the footprint of the existing facility.
• Vandemere in Pamlico County is awarded $167,700 to build an ADA-compliant fishing pier about 80 to 100 feet long and 9 feet wide. It will be located at the end of North First Street and provide access to the Pamlico River.

The North Carolina General Assembly created the Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program in 1981 in response to concerns over declining public access by amending the Coastal Area Management Act, also known as CAMA.

The program was expanded in 1983 to include estuarine areas. The program uses 5% of state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF, annual funds to offer matching grants to local governments. It has supported more than 528 projects, enhancing public access for recreation and coastal enjoyment.

For more information about the program, go to the Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access website.

Clarification Aug. 29: Coastal recreational anglers will have a higher flounder quota this season, but that does not change the season length or bag and size limits.

Original post Aug. 22:

Coastal recreational anglers are now allowed to catch more southern flounder.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission earlier this week adopted an amendment to the southern flounder fishery management plan that evenly splits landings of the popular fish between commercial and recreational fishers.

Amendment 4 shifts total allowable landings to an additional 53,000 pounds from the commercial sector to the recreational sector this upcoming season, which is scheduled for Sept. 1-14.

The additional quota, however, does not equate to an extension of the 2025 recreational season, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

“Rather, it will reduce the risk of recreational catch overages in the fishery this year, which would be subtracted from the next year’s quota,” according to a division release.

The division is exploring “more comprehensive management measures” through developing Amendment 5 to the plan.

Measures fisheries commissioners said they would like to be considered in that proposed amendment include decoupling southern flounder management from Gulf flounder and summer flounder management, and allocating quota equitably between commercial gears and management areas.

During the commission’s two-day meeting in Raleigh earlier this week, division staff presented an analysis of the striped bass harvest closure and gill net closure above the ferry lines in the Neuse and Tar/Pamlico rivers. Data shows those closures have not resulted in an increase abundance of striped bass in those rivers, despite continued stocking efforts.

Based on current management plans in the striped bass fishery, the division “will develop harvest management measures that allow access to, and protection for, the resource,” according to the release.

“The harvest management strategy will focus harvest on stocked fish in the Neuse and Tar/Pamlico rivers but limit harvest of Albemarle-Roanoke Striped Bass that occasionally occur in these rivers,” it states.

Restrictions on gill nets will revert to those in place before the prohibition, including tie-down and distance-from-shore requirements.

A harvest management plan is expected to be presented to the commission in November.

Prior to the November meeting, the division will host a public meeting on the striped bass harvest management plan. Details of that meeting will be announced at a later date.

The commission also directed the division to draft proposed rule language for a 5-fish per person recreational bag limit for Atlantic bonito, which the commission is expected to consider at its November quarterly business meeting.

Commissioners also voted to set the annual cap on the number of commercial fishing licenses available in the eligibility pool at 500, draft a letter to the North Carolina General Assembly highlighting the importance of finance resources to the Department of Environmental Quality and Division of Marine Fisheries, and elected Commissioner Sarah Gardner as vice chair.

A video recording of the meeting is available on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

BOILING SPRING LAKES – For the most part, work had wrapped on Pine Lake Dam here back in mid-June.

The light at the end of a tunnel of headaches caused since the closure of one of this city’s main traffic arteries, portions of which run atop Pine Lake and North Lake dams, was shining brighter and brighter.

With the dams complete, reconstruction could begin on sections of East Boiling Spring Road that have since the summer of 2023 been closed while crews rebuild and restore the dam system crippled by rainfall during Hurricane Florence nearly seven years ago.

But a swift burst of rain that drenched this little Brunswick County city on June 14 revealed that something was not right about the nearly finished Pine Lake Dam. It did not seem to be functioning properly.

That was the message one of the city’s commissioners relayed in a phone call to town staff that day. Rainwater, the commissioner reported, wasn’t stacking up behind the dam.

“In other words, there wasn’t a lake there,” City Manager Gordon Hargrove said. “It was a significant rainfall and it should have held some water. It did not hold water. It was running right through the dam.”

An investigation found that Pine Lake Dam, the design for which was vetted in multiple reviews by both federal and state agencies, is at an elevation of about 5 feet too low.

More than a month has passed since the city informed its residents of the revelation, one that has drawn a firestorm of criticism and finger pointing in a matter that might very well end up getting hashed out in court.

No timeline in sight

Today, large bright-white and blaze-orange barricades block off a roughly 750-foot stretch of neatly packed dirt and coarse sand imitating a road over top of Pine Lake Dam.

Pine Lake Dam is part of a system of five earthen dams initially built here in the mid-1960s.

Throughout the years, the dams withstood the brute force from powerful coastal storms that have swept through the region.

But the unprecedented rain Hurricane Florence dumped in September 2018 over the area – up to more than 30 inches in some parts of coastal North Carolina – proved too much.

Rainwater filled the 275-acre Boiling Spring Lake to the brink, overtopping Sanford Dam. The breach, paired with substantial embankment erosion, led to the dam’s catastrophic failure.

The breach caused a domino-like effect of failures at all four of the smaller upstream dams in the city, and then the lakes that made up Boiling Spring Lakes were no more.

During the years since, the city secured about $56 million in funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, through Department of Defense grants, and Brunswick County to repair and restore the dams it owns and operates: North Lake, Pine Lake, Sanford, and Upper Lake dams. A fifth dam, Middle Lake Dam, is privately owned.

That funding has been spent, in part, on hiring firms to undertake the task of designing and building dams that meet today’s safety codes.

Work to restore Sanford Dam was progressing nicely, Hargrove said, when another coastal storm, one often referred to in these parts as the “unnamed storm,” caught Brunswick County and southern portions of New Hanover County by surprise last September.

Potential Tropical Cyclone No. Eight pummeled Boiling Spring Lakes with more than 20 inches of rain within a short period of time. Rain waters swept away Sanford Dam’s bypass channel, destroying the work that had been completed thus far and forcing construction crews to essentially start from scratch.

“Weather forecast was for 3 inches,” Hargrove said. “We got 22. It flooded out the detour route and so people were stranded in particular pockets in that side of town with no way of getting out.”

The city experienced a similar scenario last May with residents becoming trapped in patches of the community as a wildfire spread through the area and jumped N.C. Highway 87.

East Boiling Spring Road is a primary entry and exit point as a hurricane evacuation route through the city.

“So, yes, there’s a lot of angst involved with getting this road open,” Hargrove said. “I mean, we have looked at every possible alternative short of building a bridge, but by the time we finish a bridge, this project will be done.”

When that might happen remains an unanswered question.

“The setback with Pine Lake Dam, I can’t even give you a timeline of how long it’s going to keep that road closed. It took 12 months to get our permits last time” from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Dam Safety Program, Hargrove said.

Days after Hargrove met for an interview with Coastal Review in city hall, he returned to the commissioners’ chamber for the board’s Aug. 5 meeting, where he provided an update on the dams.

Work continues at Sanford Dam. Had it not been for the potential tropical cyclone last September, that dam would be finished, he said. Upper Lake Dam is complete.

The section of East Boiling Spring Road atop the newly reconstructed North Lake Dam will hopefully be finished in the next two to three weeks, Hargrove told commissioners.

There was still no word as to when construction to fix Pine Lake Dam might begin.

Hargrove explained that Sequoia Services, LLC, the Greensboro-based construction company hired by the city to rebuild the dams, agreed to build a temporary road atop the dam.

But the city would be responsible for any damages to the site should any occur if the temporary road, one that would cost an additional $175,000, were to be built. Pine Lake Dam is valued at $3.5 million.

Commissioners voted against the proposal, saying it was a liability too steep.

Who’s responsible?

Hargrove didn’t mince words when he sat down for an interview with Coastal Review on a late July morning.

“There’s going to be some things I’ll talk about and then there’s, for liability reasons and that sort of thing, I’m not going to comment on them because this is obviously an issue that could grow larger over time,” he said.

The defunct Pine Lake Dam is not the construction contractor’s fault, Hargrove said. The contractor built the dam to the design the company was given.

“I’m not willing to say where the problem exists and how that problem came about. It’s the city’s position that this is a third-party responsibility,” Hargrove said.

The city hired consulting firms Ashville-based McGill Associates and Greensboro-based Schnabel Engineering to design the project.

Those designs were vetted through a series of agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA and N.C. Dam Safety.

“As it goes up through the line, they’re really not getting into the hydraulics and analysis,” Hargrove said. “They’re just looking to make sure that the math works. So, the primary responsibility for the design of that dam is McGill and Schnabel.”

During the city commissioners meeting July 8, McGill Vice President Michael Hanson said that, unlike the other dams, there were no sufficient surveys or as-built records for Pine Lake Dam.

“We relied on information that was provided by the city, which was the best available information that was the original design plans,” Hanson said at the meeting, according to a WECT-TV report. “We relied on that information and moved forward. That was reviewed and approved by city staff. That was reviewed and approved by Dam Safety.”

This was Hanson’s first update to commissioners in a public setting since June 27 when the city announced in a social media post that Pine Lake Dam was defective.

The public’s response to that update was biting. There were one-word retorts including “Figures” and “Unbelievable” to accusations of “backdoor deals” and at least one call for city tax refunds to residents.

One commenter correctly pointed out, “THE HOOVER DAM WAS BUILT IN 5 YEARS, Y’ALL! In the 1930’s.”

The engineering marvel that spans the Nevada-Arizona border was, in fact, built from 1931-36, but not without disaster. The official number of people who died at the dam site during that time from causes ranging to drowning, blasting, rock slides, falls from the canyon walls, and heavy equipment and truck accidents, is 96, according to the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation.

City officials understand the mounting anger and frustration from Boiling Spring Lakes residents.

Hargrove wants them to know that commissioners have and continue to be “very proactive” and have tried to make sure the dam reconstruction cost doesn’t fall on the city’s taxpayers.

Earlier this year, commissioners approved an 8-cent tax hike, revenues of which will cover the costs of the city’s new stormwater department.

“This board does focus and look at the future and how we can improve it,” Hargrove said. “It just takes time. We’re catching up to 30 or 40 years of inactivity, but this board, my administration, are working hard to put that into play.”

Millions of dollars in state funding are being awarded for beach renourishment and dune projects along the North Carolina coast.

Projects in Dare, Carteret and Currituck counties and in Oak Island have been selected by the North Carlina Division of Water Resources to receive more than $9.39 million from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund.

Funding will go to the following projects:

• In Dare County, Buxton nourishment, $3.6 million and Avon Beach nourishment, $2 million.
• In Carteret County, Bogue Banks 2025-26 beach nourishment design, $663,537.
• Currituck County’s beach management plan, $120,568.
• Oak Island beach nourishment, $3 million.

The applicants are matching the state grants with more than $44 million in local government funds.

“The coastline is one of our state’s natural treasures and serves as the livelihood of many communities in eastern North Carolina,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a release. “These grants will help preserve our state’s beauty, protect people’s livelihoods, and keep communities safe.”

The North Carolina General Assembly funds the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund to help with local costs associated with beach nourishment, artificial dunes and other projects to mitigate or remediate coastal storm damage to the state’s ocean beaches and dune systems.

“This funding will help coastal communities protect natural resources that are essential to their quality of life and economies,” said state Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson in the release. “By restoring beaches and dunes, the projects will also make these communities more resilient to future storms.”

The division scores applications on several criteria, including environmental, social, and economic benefits, life of the project, financial resources, and project efficiency.

For additional information about the application process, contact Kevin Hart with the division at 919-707-3607 or kevin.hart@deq.nc.gov.

The state board that oversees commercial fishing license eligibility is scheduled to meet this fall to review license applications.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Standard Commercial Fishing License Eligibility Board is set to meet by conference call at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 22.

The board will consider applications deemed complete and submitted by Sept. 24, according to a release.

Members of the public are invited to listen to the meeting by calling 919-212-5733 or at the state Department of Environmental Quality Wilmington Regional Office, 127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington.

Those who call in are asked to refrain from announcing their names when they call and remain on mute throughout the meeting.

Directions on applying for a commercial fishing license are available at https://deq.nc.gov/scfl-eligibility-pool under the eligibility pool application link.

For more information about the meeting, contact License Eligibility Clerk Ann Bordeaux-Nixon at 910-796-7261 or Ann.Bordeaux-Nixon@deq.nc.gov.

A father-son duo from Grimesland, while fishing recently off the coast of Ocracoke, established state records for two species: a channel scabbardfish (Evoxymetopon taeniatus) and a spinycheek scorpionfish (Neomerinthe hemingwayi).

There were no previous state records for either species, according to a Wednesday announcement from the Division of Marine Fisheries, which is under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Jody Hopkins landed what officials called a “rarely encountered and deep-dwelling” channel scabbardfish that weighed 7 pounds, 3.2 ounces. The fish measured 60 inches total length from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail and had a 10.25-inch girth.

Hopkins’ son, Oden, landed a spinycheek scorpionfish, weighing in at 4 pounds, 6.4 ounces. The fish measured 20.63 inches total length and had a girth of 13.63 inches.

The Hopkinses were jigging 33 miles off Ocracoke July 13 in nearly 700 feet of water, both using a torpedo jig, a Dragon Strike DSC-633 rod and a Gomexus SX450L reel with 30-pound line and a 50-pound leader. The two fish were weighed in at Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston.

This is Jody Hopkins’ second state-record fish for 2025. He established a state record for bulleye in June.

The International Game Fish Association, or IGFA, current world record for the channel scabbardfish is 9 pounds, 9 ounces. That fish was landed in the Bahamas in 2023. This is one of only a few dozen recorded observations of this species in the Western Atlantic.

The channel scabbardfish was taken to the Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City for identification. Biologists worked with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to identify, photograph and collect genetic samples from the fish that will be donated to the museum’s permanent specimen collection.

The spinycheek scorpionfish unofficially tied the existing IGFA world record that was landed in Virginia in 2015. Fisheries officials advise anglers to handle any species of scorpionfish with care as the spines of the fish are venomous and dangerous.

For more information on state record fish, visit the state saltwater records webpage or contact the N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.

More than 30 North Carolina coastal communities have been awarded grants to boost their resilience to hazardous weather events.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management announced Thursday the award of nearly $6 million in Resilient Coastal Communities Program grants to 32 counties, cities and towns along the coast.

“Increasingly catastrophic storms like Helene and Chantal underscore how important it is for communities to take concrete steps to strengthen their resilience to hazardous weather events,” DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said in a release. “These grants provide technical assistance and resources so that community leaders can identify the most important actions they can take to safeguard their residents, their infrastructure, and their economies.”

Of the grant money awarded, $1.9 million has been funneled for the completion of phases 1 and 2 of the Resilient Coastal Communities Program, or RCCP, which includes technical assistance in risk assessment and resilience planning and incorporating resiliency into Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, land use plans.

Those plans, which communities use to guide development and drive future public investments, will include resilience policies and projects that focus on highly vulnerable areas.

“Given that many existing land use plans are outdated and typically only designed to be relevant for up to 20 years, the RCCP aligns with the growing demand in North Carolina for updated land use plans to better anticipate future development and weather hazards,” according to a release.

During phases 1 and 2, the division contracts with third-party firms, which directly receive the funding, to provide technical assistance services to the local governments.

Funding for those phases is going toward technical assistance for Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, New Hanover, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender and Tyrrell counties.

Municipalities for those phases include: Carolina Beach, Wilmington, Colerain, Holden Beach, Elizabeth City, Jacksonville, Manteo, Murfreesboro, Newport, Oak Island, Shallotte, Southern Shores and Southport.

More than $4 million in grants have been awarded to communities for phases 3 and 4 of the program to assist with engineering, design, construction and implementation of projects.

Nearly $3 million of that is being passed to five counties, including Beaufort, Carteret, Dare, Hyde and Pasquotank for the engineering and design of projects that will incorporate natural and nature-based elements like wetland restoration and living shoreline design. Municipalities receiving funding for engineering and design projects include Aulander, Belhaven, New Bern, Edenton, Elizabeth City, Holly Ridge, Plymouth and Washington Park.

Burgaw, Nags Head and Vandemere have been awarded a total of more than $1.2 million to complete phase 4 projects for stormwater management and flood mitigation. Those projects include building rain gardens and living shorelines to mitigate flooding and erosion.

The RCCP has awarded a total of about $16 million through 108 grants to 56 coastal communities.