Press Releases

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)’s Division of Water Resources is holding two additional public meetings in April on draft Animal Waste Management Digester System General Permits. In addition to two held this week in Sampson and Duplin counties, a third meeting will be held in-person and a fourth will be online via Webex. Members of the public are invited to attend and submit comments on the draft permits.

The recreational black sea bass fishing season will open May 15 in both federal and North Carolina waters north of Cape Hatteras.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will begin renewing commercial fishing, seafood dealer, and for-hire licenses and permits on April 18.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority will meet in Asheboro on Wednesday, April 13 and Thursday, April 14. The public may listen to the meeting online or by phone.

As part of a settlement signed today with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ), Chemours has agreed to further limit GenX emissions, conduct additional testing and pay the penalty assessed last year by DAQ.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is accepting applications for the Federally Funded Fishery Disaster Relief Program for Hurricane Florence.

Forty-three readopted fisheries rules become effective today, but fishermen will see very little change.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Resource Fund Committee and the Funding Committee for the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund will begin accepting applications on April 1 for the 2022 funding cycle from the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund.

The Stormwater Funding Committee of the State Water Infrastructure Authority will meet Thursday, March 31 at 2:00 p.m. by teleconference. The public may listen to the meeting online or by phone.

The Division of Coastal Management (DCM) invites local governments throughout the 20 Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) counties to apply for Phase 3 of the NC Resilient Coastal Communities Program (RCCP). Municipal and county governments are invited to apply for funding for the engineering and design of a prioritized project identified in their RCCP Resilience Strategy, or other existing plan that meets the RCCP’s Phases 1 and 2 planning criteria.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources (DWR) is accepting public comments on a draft permit to treat PFAS-contaminated groundwater, surface water and stormwater from the Chemours Fayetteville Works site before discharge into the Cape Fear River.

The state Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board will meet on Monday, April 4, via WebEx. The public is invited to attend the meeting online or by phone. In addition to updates by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), DEQ staff will present information about the signatures of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the Lower Cape Fear River area, and about the availability of reference doses for PFAS in North Carolina. DHHS staff will provide an overview of the process to develop fish consumption advisories. For details, view the agenda.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)’s Division of Water Resources will hold the first of four public meetings April 5 and April 7 in Duplin and Sampson counties on draft Animal Waste Management Digester System General Permits. Members of the public are invited to attend and submit comments on the draft permits. A virtual meeting is being held April 21 for those who cannot attend an in-person meeting. A third in-person meeting is planned in Statesville on April 19.