Press Releases

RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is accepting public comment through July 10 on the continued development of the Community Mapping System with Environmental Justice tool. Unveiled last month, the beta release of the mapping system provides communities with up-to-date information for future planning. Public feedback will help DEQ improve the next version of the mapping system.

State recreational water quality officials today lifted a water quality swimming advisory for an ocean-side swimming area in Brunswick County.   

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality has issued an air permit for the coal ash beneficiation project at Duke Energy Progress’s former Cape Fear Power Station in Moncure, North Carolina. The permit applies to the installation and operation of a Staged Turbulent Air Reactor (STAR) to convert fly ash for use in cement.  In response to public comments, the Division of Air Quality staff revised the original draft permit to include additional recordkeeping and reporting. 

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) today issued the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit for Duke Energy Progress, LLC’s H.F. Lee Energy Complex in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

An advisory against swimming was posted today at an ocean-side site in Brunswick County, where state officials found bacteria levels in the water that exceed the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s recreational water quality standards.   

Memo Re: Settlement agreements to add controls at Enviva Hamlet and Enviva Sampson wood pellet plants

Drought has returned to North Carolina for the first time in more than a year.  Lack of adequate rainfall and hot temperatures have pushed 10 counties in southeastern North Carolina into a moderate drought, according to the state’s drought map, which is updated every Thursday. Thirty other counties in eastern and central North Carolina are abnormally dry, which means they are not experiencing drought but could be if dry conditions persist. Today’s drought map can be found at www.ncdrought.org.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) issued an administrative amendment to the air permit for the Chemours Company Fayetteville Works facility.

Statement from DEQ Secretary Michael S. Regan regarding the Senate budget provision delaying the three animal waste permits by one year: After a lengthy and transparent process involving discussions with numerous stakeholders from all walks of life and a review of more than 6,500 public comments, DEQ revised three permits to provide more certainty to farmers and communities. The Senate’s budget provision, unlike our permit process or even a proposed bill, lacks transparency and justification.

The N.C. Sedimentation Control Commission will meet Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in the Ground Floor Hearing Room of the Archdale Building in downtown Raleigh.