Press Releases

As part of an effort to improve regulatory efficiency, the state Coastal Resources Commission will hold public hearings in each of North Carolina’s eight oceanfront counties to gather comments on a proposal to change the formula used to calculate the width of the Ocean Erodible Area of Environmental Concern. The change will result in an overall decrease in the amount of oceanfront property that falls under the commission’s permitting authority. The hearings are scheduled for the following dates and locations:

State environmental experts released the scientific data used to determine the risk level each coal ash pond presents to public health and the environment. This classification will determine the closure timeline for each of Duke Energy’s 33 coal ash ponds in accordance with the framework developed by Governor Pat McCrory. 

State officials have reached an agreement with a company to clean up groundwater contamination in a Wake Forest community where residential drinking wells were impacted by chlorinated solvents.Federal officials in 2014 paid to supply people in the Stony Hill Road community with clean drinking water after state groundwater tests revealed the presence of chlorinated solvents in residential wells. State and federal officials believe two former circuit board assembly companies are the source of contamination from 7303 Stony Hill Road. 

Businesses that account for less than 1 percent of statewide emissions from factories and other industry will no longer need air quality permits under a proposal passed today by the Environmental Management Commission. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality developed the plan to exempt about 1,200 very small facilities from permitting requirements. The plan does not remove or relax any existing emissions standards and still requires businesses to comply with all air quality rules and regulations.