Press Releases

Local Advisory Committees for three coastal reserves will meet in December. The meetings are open to the public. The Currituck Banks Reserve Local Advisory Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Dec. 15 at the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, 1160 Village Lane in Corolla.   The Buxton Woods Reserve Local Advisory Committee will meet at 2 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Hatteras Village Community Building and Library, 57709 NC-12 in Hatteras.  

State environmental officials have extended the public comment period for a water quality permit for Duke Energy’s retired power plant in Chatham County. The federally mandated National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, wastewater permit is a necessary first step towards permanently closing the ash ponds at the Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant, which is located at 500 CP&L Rd. in Moncure. The draft permit includes requirements for all wastewater to be treated prior to discharging.

WHAT: Public hearing on the draft NPDES wastewater permit for the Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant WHEN: 6 p.m. Nov. 28; speaker registration begins at 5 p.m.  WHERE: Wicker Center, 1801 Nash St., Sanford, N.C.   State environmental officials will hold a public hearing Monday to receive public comments on the draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater discharge permit for Duke Energy’s Cape Fear Steam Electric Plant.

State environmental officials are asking the public to provide input on the proposed draft wastewater permit for a Duke Energy Progress facility in Wayne County. The state environmental agency has drafted a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit for wastewater discharges at the H.F. Lee Energy Complex in Goldsboro. The facility discharges to the Neuse River.

WHAT: Public hearing on draft cleanup plan for former DuPont Corporation site  WHO: Hosted by N.C. Division of Waste Management WHEN: 6 p.m. Dec. 1 WHERE: Transylvania County Public Library, 212 South Gaston St., Brevard  

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission will meet Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at the Hilton Double Tree, 2717 West Fort Macon Road in Atlantic Beach. The meeting will begin at 3:15 p.m. on Nov. 30 and 9 a.m. on Dec. 1. The meeting is open to the public. Items on the commission’s agenda include:

The chairman of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission said he intends to allow public comment on a petition for rulemaking calling for habitat protections that, if adopted, would impact shrimp trawl fishing in most North Carolina waters. The petition was submitted Nov. 2 by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and the commission has 120 days from that date to grant or deny the request. Chairman Sammy Corbett outlined the petition review procedure at the commission’s business meeting last week.

With wildfires burning across Western North Carolina, state air quality officials are distributing a visibility guide for assessing health risks from smoke due to wildfires.Smoke from wildfires periodically causes locally unhealthy air quality in North Carolina, depending on winds, moisture levels and other weather factors. The N.C. Division of Air Quality or DAQ has a network of monitors that have measured unhealthy levels of particle pollution at some locations, but those monitors are not always situated where smoke is heaviest.

For the first time since the drought of 2008, exceptional drought conditions have moved into Clay and Cherokee counties, the two most western counties in North Carolina. Exceptional drought is the highest level of drought determined by the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council and the U.S. Drought Monitor. Extreme drought, or the second highest of the four drought categories, has spread to three additional western counties, bringing the total number of counties in extreme drought to nine.

Officials with the state environmental department are asking for public feedback on draft permits that aim to protect water quality at Duke Energy’s W.H. Weatherspoon Plant.