Press Releases

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve will hold Spring local advisory committee meetings May 11-June 15 for the following reserve sites. All meetings are open to the public. 

Initiative Places Teachers Inside Energy Industries to Strengthen Workforce Connections for Students

With North Carolina’s heat season beginning May 1, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s State Resilience Office, in partnership with N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the North Carolina State Climate Office and the National Weather Service will host a virtual Heat Season Kick-Off Meeting on May 11, 2026, from 1 to 3 p.m. The event is open to the public, but targeted to local government staff, particularly emergency managers, public health personnel, planners and administrators.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Division of Water Resources (DWR) is accepting public comment through Aug. 4 on the draft 2026 basin plan for Cape Fear River Basin, the most populous and largest river basin contained entirely within the state. 

The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) Science Panel will meet May 27 at the Courtyard New Bern Riverfront in New Bern to continue discussion of the proposed report on hardened coastal structures. The in-person meeting begins at noon.

The recreational Red Snapper season will open for 62 days this summer for anglers willing to participate in a pilot project to test a data collection program that will use a mobile application to monitor the recreational Red Snapper season.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet May 13-14 at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 100 Middle St., New Bern, N.C. 28560. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m., Wednesday, May 13, and at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 14. The Commission will accept public comments beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Thursday.

There will not be a conflict between federal and state regulations when North Carolina’s recreational season for Black Sea Bass north of Cape Hatteras opens tomorrow (May 1).

According to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council, extreme drought conditions have expanded across most of the Piedmont and in western North Carolina, and an area east of Charlotte is now considered to be in exceptional drought.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission will meet May 13-14 in the Ground Floor Hearing Room of the Archdale Building in Raleigh. Members of the public may attend in-person or join the meeting by computer or phone.  

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries will hold a webinar to update the public on development of a new benchmark Blue Crab stock assessment.

Drought conditions have expanded in North Carolina. Forty-seven counties are now experiencing extreme drought, and most of the rest of the state is in severe drought, according to the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council (DMAC).

MOREHEAD CITY – An advisory against swimming was posted today at a sound-side site in Beaufort County, where state recreational water quality officials found bacteria levels in the water that exceed the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s recreational water quality standards.

The North Carolina Mining Commission Rules Committee will meet at 11 a.m. on April 27, 2026, online via WebEx.