Category: LAKES & RIVERS_MN NC_MN

Bordered in part by a thin chain of barrier islands—the Outer Banks—the sounds, shorelines, and marshes of North Carolina’s coast form one of the largest estuary systems in the country. The seagrass found in its vast underwater meadows is unusually diverse, consisting of species found to the south and the north, but nowhere else together. The coast is also home to a wide array of wildlife that depends on this habitat year-round.

Duke Energy would be able to lock in rate increases over a three-year period under a compromise N.C. Senate Republicans and Gov. Roy Cooper struck this week on a piece of controversial energy legislation.

The storm pelted North Carolina with rain and wind. Hurricane Dorian, the storm that devastated the Bahamas and put much of the southeastern United States on edge, battered the coast of North Carolina with heavy rain, wind and flooding on Friday, after making landfall on the Outer Banks.

 It’s been almost five years since Hurricane Matthew flooded this small town on the coastal plain of North Carolina. But somehow, the damage keeps getting worse.

The House amended the budget Wednesday night to strip the isolated wetlands language from the bill.

The House released its $25.7 billion budget proposal this week, and unlike previous legislative sessions when lawmakers held a veto-proof majority, there are no dire cuts to the Department of Environmental Quality. (Considering past slashes to DEQ’s budget, there’s little left to trim.)

The Interior Department is set to conduct an environmental review of a proposed wind energy project that, if approved, would be the first off the coast of North Carolina, the department announced Thursday.

Colonial Pipeline Co. could face daily fines of up to $200,000 per violation if it fails to improve the way it detects leaks in its U.S. pipeline system, after a massive gasoline leak in Huntersville, according to a recent settlement in the case with the U.S. government.

Bobby Outten, a county manager in the Outer Banks, delivered two pieces of bad news at a recent public meeting. Avon, a town with a few hundred full-time residents, desperately needed at least $11 million to stop its main road from washing away. And to help pay for it, Dare County wanted to increase Avon’s property taxes, in some cases by almost 50 percent.

A change to North Carolina’s building code would let developers skimp on insulation and other energy-saving basics in exchange for flashier elements such as solar panels and super-efficient appliances.

The 2020 Atlantic Basin tropical season was predicted to be an active one, and it was. More specifically, North Carolina saw its fair share of storms in 2020.