Press Releases

Air quality officials have issued an advisory for air pollution in eastern North Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday as smoke from wildfires drifts downwind. Residents from Elizabeth City to Washington, New Bern and Havelock could experience unhealthy air quality, depending on wind directions.

State environmental department Secretary Donald R. van der Vaart today named Braxton Davis, director of the state Division of Coastal Management, to lead the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries effective immediately.For the immediate future, the divisions will remain separate entities housed under the state’s environmental agency, and Davis will lead both divisions as director. The department intends to examine ways in which the two divisions can achieve efficiencies in operations.

During a town hall meeting in Walnut Cove on Thursday, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney acknowledged that Governor McCrory has done more to address the decades-old problem of coal ash than the previous North Carolina governor.In response to a North Carolina Advisory Committee member’s question on whether the McCrory administration has been more active than previous administrations to address coal ash, SELC Senior Attorney Chandra Taylor stated, “I think that this administration has done more than the previous administration.”

North Carolina’s chief environmental agency announced today that it will go beyond state and federal requirements to ensure minority communities are not negatively impacted by Duke Energy coal ash landfills. Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder made the announcement at a town hall meeting in Walnut Cove where he discussed the McCrory administration’s leadership in addressing the decades-old issue of coal ash.

The ozone season begins Friday as state and local environmental agencies renew their daily air quality forecasts for ozone in metropolitan areas across North Carolina. Air quality across the state has improved significantly over the past decade due to declining emissions from industry and motor vehicles and more stringent standards. Over the past three years, ozone levels have been the lowest since the state began monitoring the air in the early 1970s. All of North Carolina currently meets the new, more stringent federal ozone standard that was adopted in October 2015.

State officials have signed an agreement that will allow a company to safely transform a former industrial landfill into a large sports complex with greenways and ballfields in Asheville.     Officials with the state environmental agency signed a brownfields agreement with Enka Partners LLC, Thursday for the 41-acre site on Sand Hill Road in Asheville.  

WHAT: Public meeting on the draft proposed coal ash risk classifications for Marshall Steam StationWHEN: 6 p.m. March 29 (registration for speakers starts at 5:30 p.m.)WHERE: Catawba Valley Community College Auditorium, 2550 US-70, Hickory, NC 28602RALEIGH – The public is invited to a meeting March 29 in Hickory to provide feedback on the state’s proposed risk classifications for the coal ash ponds at Duke Energy’s Marshall Steam Station.

WHAT: Public meeting on the draft proposed coal ash risk classifications for Belews Creek Steam StationWHEN: 6 p.m. March 24 (registration for speakers starts at 5:30 p.m.)WHERE: Stokes County Courthouse, 1012 Main St., Danbury, N.C., 27016   The public is invited to a meeting March 24 in Danbury to give feedback on the state’s proposed risk classifications for the coal ash pond at Duke Energy’s Belews Creek Steam Station.

March Madness isn’t just about basketball; it also can describe the pollen season.Pollen levels in North Carolina generally reach their highest levels in early to mid-spring when many native trees are flowering, so many pollen sufferers are approaching their most maddening season.People who are bothered by allergies may want to limit their time outdoors until pollen levels subside, particularly during early morning hours and when it is windy outside. Keeping doors and windows shut with air conditioners running will help reduce pollen levels indoors.

WHAT: Public meeting on the draft proposed coal ash risk classifications for G.G. Allen Steam StationWHEN: 6 p.m. March 22 (registration for speakers starts at 5 p.m.)WHERE: Gaston College’s Dallas Campus in the Myers Center Multipurpose Auditorium, 201 Hwy. 321 South, Dallas, N.C. 28034 The public is invited to a meeting March 22 in Dallas to provide feedback on the state’s proposed risk classifications for the coal ash ponds at Duke Energy’s G.G. Allen Steam Station.