Articles by Emery P. Dalesio

EPA Investigating GenX Production at Chemours’ North Carolina Plant

A chemical maker’s North Carolina plant may have broken federal law by failing to notify the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency before it started manufacturing and repurposing new industrial compounds, the agency said this week. The Chemours Co. also failed to …

North Carolina’s Environmental Chief Says Chemical Maker Must Change its Ways

The largest penalty a polluter has paid North Carolina should change the way one of the country’s biggest chemical companies makes compounds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said appear dangerous even in small amounts, the state’s top environmental official …

How Taxpayers Subsidize Rebuilding Homes After Flooding… Repeatedly

Floodwaters rose about 15 inches (40 centimeters) into Danielle Rees’ home in September when Hurricane Florence drenched this tidewater city on the Pamlico River and overwhelmed a local creek and marshland. The first floor was a sopping mess of gritty, …

GenX Undetected in Bloodstreams of North Carolina Chemical Plant Neighbors

Dozens of neighbors of a North Carolina chemical plant had industrial compounds in their bloodstreams, but tests by state and federal health officials outlined Tuesday didn’t find the much-debated and little-studied one they were looking for. None of the 30 …

North Carolina Approves $400M in Florence Recovery Funds

The sharp partisanship that’s typified North Carolina’s government was buried temporarily on Monday as legislators approved spending $400 million to quickly help people and communities reeling from flooding left by Hurricane Florence and setting aside another $450 million for upcoming …

Florence Crop Damage to Farms in the Carolinas Could Cost Billions

Hurricane Florence is testing the resolve of farmers in the Carolinas, who could face billions of dollars in agricultural damage while still feeling the sting from Hurricane Matthew almost two years ago. After last weekend’s high winds and rain that …

Jury Orders Pork Producer to Pay $473.5M in North Carolina Nuisance Lawsuit

A federal jury decided Aug. 5 that the world’s largest pork producer should pay $473.5 million to neighbors of three North Carolina industrial-scale hog farms for unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks. The jury found that …

Jury Orders Pork Producer to Pay $473.5M in North Carolina Nuisance Lawsuit

A federal jury decided Friday that the world’s largest pork producer should pay $473.5 million to neighbors of three North Carolina industrial-scale hog farms for unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks. The jury found that Smithfield …

Pork Giant Smithfield Foods Ordered to Pay $25M in Nuisance Lawsuit

A federal jury in North Carolina has punished the world’s largest pork producer, deciding Smithfield Foods should pay two neighbors more than $25 million for unreasonable nuisances they suffered from odors, flies and rumbling trucks after an industrial-scale hog grower …

Duke Energy to Pay $156K Fine for North Carolina Coal Ash Pollution

Duke Energy Corp. will pay a $156,000 penalty to for polluting ground and surface waters in North Carolina with potentially toxic coal-ash waste around three power plants, an amount one critic compared to a couple of days salary for the …