Bills to establish a new shellfish leasing program and extensive changes to the state’s marine fisheries oversight began moving through the Senate this week. Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, introduced both measures Wednesday morning in a review-only session of the Senate’s Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources Committee. Sanderson said Senate Bill 554, Marine Fisheries Reforms, […] Fishing | Full Article
Legislators at the helm of key House and Senate committees said they will try again to reach a broad agreement on the path forward for the state’s mariculture industry. A bill that would have established a new leasing program and new rules to encourage mariculture in state waters failed in the final days of last […] Local News | Full Article
Environmental advocates are warning that a constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall will dramatically shift implementation of environmental policies, allowing for greater direct control by the legislature. Last week, in the closing days of this year’s short session, legislators approved six constitutional amendments for the November ballot, among them a revision to the constitution’s […] Community News | Full Article
By KIRK ROSS COASTAL REVIEW ONLINE Dozens of coastal provisions were approved last week as the North Carolina General Assembly pushed through more than a hundred bills in an attempt to wrap up its 2018 short session by month’s end. The week began with a House override of Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the state […] Local News | Full Article
The reception to recommendations for fare increases and cuts in off-season ferry trips ranged from tepid to ice cold at a legislative hearing here last week. Members of the joint House and Senate Program Evaluation Oversight Committee said the proposal from the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division, which would double the fares for some state-operated ferry […] Local News | Full Article
If this seems all too familiar, well … it should. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working under the Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, otherwise known as the 2017-2022 National OCS Program, for offshore oil and gas development, which was approved in 2016. The Obama administration ultimately took Atlantic offshore waters […] Local News | Full Article
The federal government and Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration remain on course for a legal battle over the push to open the East Coast to offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling. After a weekend meeting with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Cooper said he had reiterated his request for an exemption similar to one […] Local News | Full Article
A study directed by the legislature’s Program Evaluation Division and released Monday says the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division could save $1.5 million by reducing off-season crossings and raise $1.7 million though fare hikes without harming year-round residents and businesses. The 45-page report, commissioned last year, recommends that the DOT evaluate crossing schedules […] Local News | Full Article
Facing a key deadline later this week, legislators last week began a full-on push to move several bills affecting the coastal region, including a controversial repeal of the plastic bag ban in place on the Outer Banks since 2009. On Thursday morning, the Senate Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources Committee reviewed a new environmental omnibus […] Local News | Full Article
Legislators Eye Beach Sand Funding, Rules
