Press Releases

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources (DWR) issued the owner of B&L Farms a civil penalty assessment totaling more than $87,000. This is in response to the June 12 animal waste lagoon breach, which released an estimated three million gallons of animal waste in Sampson County.

RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Waste Management issued a notice of violation to Colonial Pipeline for impacts to groundwater quality due to a 273,000-gallon gasoline spill on August 14 in Huntersville. The pipeline has been repaired, and cleanup efforts are underway with oversight by DEQ.

RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality recognized the newest members of its Environmental Stewardship Initiative (ESI) today for their outstanding commitment to environmental excellence during the ESI’s virtual annual conference.

In celebration of Estuaries Week, September 19-26, 2020, six environmental and natural resources agencies from North Carolina and Virginia are releasing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that re-affirms their commitment to foster interstate collaboration within the shared waterways of the Albemarle-Pamlico region.  

State recreational water quality officials today lifted a water quality swimming alert at an ocean-side site in Brunswick County.

State recreational water quality officials today are alerting the public that initial testing at an ocean-side site in Brunswick County showed levels of bacteria exceeding the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s recreational water quality swimming standards.

The public is invited to share feedback for the Environmental Justice and Inclusion Subcommittee of the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force during a public listening session on Tuesday, September 29 at 5 p.m. 

RALEIGH - The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is investigating a sinkhole collapse and release of sediment containing coal ash adjacent to Hwy 150 in Mooresville. DEQ was made aware of the collapse of a stream culvert pipe under a coal ash structural fill during heavy rains on Thursday, September 17, that caused a previously repaired sinkhole in a parking lot to reopen.

RALEIGH – As Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) trustees, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this week filed a motion in federal court that requests the judge to approve and enter a consent decree to resolve the trustees’ claims for natural resource damages, resulting from the 2014 Dan River coal ash spill.

State recreational water quality officials today lifted a precautionary swimming advisory in Oak Island. The advisory was lifted because floodwaters have rescinded, and pumping has ceased.