North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality News

North Carolina Regulators Find Chemours Plant Out of Compliance With Air Permit

North Carolina environmental regulators announced this week that a plant that for years discharged so-called “forever chemicals” into the air and water is not currently in compliance with its air permit. In its letter to Chemours, the Department of Environmental …

Chemours Won’t Face Federal Charges Over North Carolina GenX Contamination

Federal prosecutors have declined to pursue criminal charges against a chemical company that for years discharged compounds with health risks that aren’t fully understood into a North Carolina river, the company disclosed. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Environmental Natural …

North Carolina’s Order for Duke Energy to Excavate Coal Ash Can Move Forward

A North Carolina hearing officer says a state agency can order the country’s largest electric company to excavate all its coal ash pits by 2030 so that they quit polluting neighboring rivers. A state administrative judge on Friday dismissed claims …

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 …

Proposed North Carolina Order Requires Chemours to Reduce GenX Emissions, Pay $12M Fine

State environmental officials have proposed a consent order calling on a North Carolina chemical plant to reduce emissions of a compound and pay a $12 million civil penalty. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality said in a news release Nov. …

Dam Breach at N.C. Power Plant Causes Coal Ash Spill into Cape Fear River

Gray muck is flowing into the Cape Fear River from the site of a dam breach at a Wilmington power plant where an old coal ash dump had been covered over by Florence’s floodwaters. Forecasters predicted the water would continue …

Duke Restores Power to 1.2 Million in Carolinas as Florence Heads North

Duke Energy Corp., the biggest utility in the Carolinas, has faced a three-front war as it battles back against the wet and dangerously wild effects of Hurricane Florence. The company restored power to almost 80 percent of customers who went …

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 …

North Carolina Regulators Say Chemours Lied About Chemical Discharge ‘For Years’

North Carolina should tackle an emerging problem of water and air pollution from little-studied industrial chemicals by beefing up the state’s health and environmental agencies, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday. Cooper proposed spending $14.5 million to help improve the ability …

Duke Energy, Environmentalists Clash Over 5-Year-Old Groundwater Cleanup Lawsuit

A North Carolina appeals court should keep alive a five-year-old lawsuit because it increases the pressure on Duke Energy Corp. to clean up groundwater contaminated by its coal ash pits, environmental lawyers argued Thursday. The Charlotte-based electricity utility admits coal …