Environment

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Every day, more than a dozen sorters spend more than 11 hours pulling out materials that can’t be recycled from a conveyor belt at New Hanover County’s recycling facility off U.S. 421. “They’re up there all day, from six in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon,” said David Walker, Sonoco […]

NAVASSA — The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to redraw portions of the Navassa Superfund site after soil sampling found some sections of the former creosote plant are unsuitable for residential use. In early 2020, the EPA recommended taking no action to remidiate about 100 acres on the site, which would have freed up the […]

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — While Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will continue its vow of continuing to provide water access to customers behind on payments, a new initiative — which at a meeting this week was delayed until March 2021 — will experiment with restricting the water flow to a select group of those who […]

SOUTHEASTERN NC—It’s official: The holidays have arrived. We’re sure you were busy this week decking the halls, stringing the lights, choosing a tree, and finding yourself gearing up for the season. So, we figured we’d catch you up on stories you may have missed this week. Port City Daily’s top read piece between Nov. 30 […]

BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Brunswick County Public Utilities reported its tenth sewer spill of the year late Wednesday evening, after an estimated 32,000 gallons of untreated wastewater leaked through a cracked pipe, reaching the Shallotte River Basin. Tuesday morning’s spill brings the county’s total amount of publicly reported untreated wastewater discharges to approximately 405,750 gallons in […]

WILMINGTON — Since (re)opening in March, Sealevel City Vegan Diner employees have painstakingly diverted every possible ounce of waste away from two small trash cans to be recycled or composted. The efforts have left the all-natural diner with just one trash bin out back that’s finally nearly full — after collecting seven months of waste. […]

WILMINGTON — Another rain garden project recently wrapped at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. This one is expected to capture about 1 million gallons of polluted runoff each year that otherwise would have dumped into the already threatened Bradley Creek. The North Carolina Coastal Federation, UNCW staff and students, and the City of […]

SOUTHEASTERN NC—After two years of studying new regulations over the release of the neurotoxin methyl bromide, the Department of Environmental Quality has introduced new emissions limits. Used to fumigate logs to meet foreign export requirements, methyl bromide was barely regulated previously. The only prior emissions limit subjected permitted operations to cap releases at 10 tons […]

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A host of environmental and civic groups is asking the county to revisit its industrial use rules, which currently lack the requirement that applicants hold community information meetings before earning approval to carry out their light manufacturing plans. There’s a loaded history behind the request. Between 2015-2017, more than a dozen […]

WILMINGTON — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking the state’s permission to eliminate the regulatory window that limits when it can dredge near the Port of Wilmington. If approved, the state could allow the Army Corps to oversee hopper dredge and bed-leveling activities year-round at both the Port of Wilmington and Morehead City. […]