Press Releases

Air quality officials have continued an advisory for air pollution in eastern North Carolina on Friday as smoke from wildfires drifts downwind. Residents in the northern Outer Banks and Wilmington areas could experience unhealthy air quality, depending on wind directions.

A statewide drinking water protection group has announced the winners of an awards program that recognizes individuals and organizations that protect sources of public drinking water.

The state environmental agency is encouraging people to do their part to protect the environment this Friday on Earth Day.

Air quality officials have issued an advisory for air pollution in eastern North Carolina on Wednesday and Thursday as smoke from wildfires drifts downwind. Residents from Elizabeth City to Washington, New Bern and Havelock could experience unhealthy air quality, depending on wind directions.

State environmental department Secretary Donald R. van der Vaart today named Braxton Davis, director of the state Division of Coastal Management, to lead the state’s Division of Marine Fisheries effective immediately.

The State Water Infrastructure Authority, or SWIA, will meet at 9:00 a.m. April 20, 2016 in the first floor training room (#1210) at Green Square, located at 217 W. Jones St. in Raleigh. The meeting is open to the public.

The meeting agenda includes:

During a town hall meeting in Walnut Cove on Thursday, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney acknowledged that Governor McCrory has done more to address the decades-old problem of coal ash than the previous North Carolina governor.

North Carolina’s chief environmental agency announced today that it will go beyond state and federal requirements to ensure minority communities are not negatively impacted by Duke Energy coal ash landfills.

The ozone season begins Friday as state and local environmental agencies renew their daily air quality forecasts for ozone in metropolitan areas across North Carolina. 

North Carolina’s environmental agency filed a complaint today against federal environmental officials for failing to act on a petition that inappropriately blamed North Carolina for contributing to air quality problems in the Northeastern United States.