Press Releases

The application period ends June 30 for N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve local advisory committees. Community members are needed for each of the Coastal Reserve’s ten sites: Bird Island Reserve, Bald Head Woods Reserve, Zeke’s Island Reserve, Masonboro Island Reserve, Permuda Island Reserve, Rachel Carson Reserve, Buxton Woods Reserve, Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve, Currituck Banks Reserve, and Emily and Preyer Buckridge Reserve.

Smoke from the Pulp Road fire in Brunswick County has the potential to create unhealthy air quality today for areas downwind of the fire.

A fun day led to a big win for one Carteret County youngster who attended Saturday’s Bicentennial Jamboree at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ office in Morehead City.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Division of Water Resources (DWR) has issued National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit #NC0090000 to Colonial Pipeline Company (Colonial Pipeline) for remediation of a major petroleum spill near Huntersville, Mecklenburg County.

Sapphire Renewable Natural Gas applied for an air quality permit to allow it to accept and process landfill gas into natural gas onsite at Sampson County Disposal, LLC, in Roseboro.

DAQ will solicit new project proposals from state agencies for electric vehicle chargers to be funded with Volkswagen Settlement dollars not claimed through public rebate programs.

The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission will meet June 15 at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, 203 South Front Street, New Bern. A public input and comment period is scheduled for noon. At the chair’s discretion, comments may be limited to three minutes per person. The meeting is open to the public.

As smoke from Canada continues to travel south, fine particle pollution will remain elevated in parts of North Carolina on Friday.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) issued a Title V air quality permit to Wolfspeed, Inc. – Siler City Factory.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is launching a new license and vessel registration system July 1. As part of the transition to the new system, hunting and fishing licenses — including Coastal Recreational Fishing Licenses — and vessel registrations will be unavailable for purchase from 5 p.m. Tuesday, June 27 to 8 a.m. Saturday, July 1.

The Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources is investigating a discharge event related to foam substance reported in Lincoln and Gaston County waterways on June 6-7. The source of the discharge has been identified by DWR as untreated animal waste from Gar-Mac Dairy of Crouse in Lincoln County (AWC550002) as the result of a broken hydrant in their irrigation system.

North Carolina residents should continue to exercise caution while outside on Thursday due to smoke and fine particle pollution from Canadian wildfires.

North Carolina continues to lead the way on addressing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS.   

An advisory against swimming was posted today at a sound-side site in Dare 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.

Due to rapidly rising levels of fine particle pollution attributed to smoke from active wildfires in Canada, all of North Carolina will be under a Code Red or Code Orange Air Quality Action Day tomorrow, June 7.