Press Releases

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Secretary Michael S. Regan released the following statement on the Interior Department’s plans, announced today, to open North Carolina and other East Coast states to offshore oil and gas exploration.  

The state Department of Environmental Quality is honoring two educators for their innovative approaches at teaching earth science.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management today asked four companies to submit additional information about proposed seismic surveying for offshore oil and gas resource development because the original proposals did not consider the latest scientific studies on the harmful impacts to marine life.

The N.C.

State officials have ordered Chemours to provide bottled water to 30 more well owners near the company’s Fayetteville Works facility after the latest results from the company’s expanded private well sampling near the Chemours facility showed concentrations of GenX above the state’s provisional health goal.

The state departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services will host a third community information session on Thursday, Dec. 14, to answer questions about drinking water well results from the well sampling conducted near Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility in Bladen County.

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission’s Science Panel will meet Dec. 5 in New Bern to review inlet shoreline change rates and to discuss methodologies used to update inlet hazard areas.

Concentrations of GenX at Chemours’ wastewater discharge outfall in Fayetteville exceeded the state’s provisional drinking water health goal in late October and early November, according to preliminary water quality data the state Department of Environmental Quality received from the company this week. DEQ is investigating the cause of the spike and has demanded answers from Chemours, which is supposed to be capturing GenX rather than releasing it into the Cape Fear River.

Since 1997, the North Carolina Brownfields Program has been turning contaminated properties into viable, successful businesses and community areas. The program, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, works with prospective developers who did not cause or contribute to contamination of an abandoned or unused property they wish to redevelop. A brownfields agreement limits the liability of a prospective developer so the developer can remove or reduce contamination on the property so it can be reused safely.

Local advisory committees for three coastal reserves will meet in December. The meetings are open to the public.