Gov. Pat McCrory plans to call a special session of the legislature within the next month to address Hurricane Matthew recovery plans, but the date and details of any request depend heavily on end-of-year action in Congress. McCrory said that although the timing of the session hinges on the federal calendar, he expected to ask […]
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EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA — Floodwaters were starting to recede last week upstream along the Tar, Pamlico, Cape Fear and Neuse rivers, but an increasingly contaminated flow of freshwater is headed downriver, eastward to the coast. The short-term prospects don’t look good for those ready for their first taste of local oysters this season. Throughout the river basins, sounds […]
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Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, confirmed this week that he’ll try again in the next session of the General Assembly to pass restrictions on land-based wind farms that he says could be in conflict with military flight paths. Brown’s bill was one of several regulatory efforts that fell victim to a contentious end-of-session showdown between the state […]
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When it came to shaping coastal policy, the 2015 legislative session could go down as the year of the oyster. In a bid to jumpstart low, relatively static production levels, legislators added more than a half-dozen provisions, including a look at new leasing practices, the potential end to a moratorium on shellfish leases in Core […]
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The Obama Administration did the expected Tuesday and announced plans to potentially open portions of the Atlantic coast, including offshore North Carolina, to oil and natural gas drilling for the first time in almost three decades. In keeping with Obama’s all-of-the above approach to energy development, the federal Bureau of Energy Management, or BOEM, yesterday […]
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Core samples from a decades old oil test well near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse that was abandoned as a dry hole in 1946 will get another look as part of the state’s effort to expand oil and gas exploration, state officials say. Officials with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources said last week […]
Island Features | Full Article
Like all state budget bills, what’s not in the final deal is often just as important as what is. In the case of the 2014 legislative session, the budget passed last week has some significant no-shows. The legislative committee that devised the compromise budget that Gov. Pat McCrory signed earlier this month got rid of […]
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A legislative task force is hurrying to meet a May 1 deadline for a report on the potential state takeover of Oregon Inlet and adjacent land on the Outer Banks in Dare County. Meanwhile, the inlet is again showing how cantankerous and unruly it can be to whoever wants to try and corral it. The […]
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A resolution up for a vote next Monday evening by the Dare County commissioners and a position paper from a regional water resources group in Onslow County are the latest indications of the fast-growing coastal opposition to using coastal aquifers to eliminate wastewater from hydraulic fracking. The position paper by the Onslow Water Resources Group […]
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After months of preparation and following an election that further consolidated legislative power in the hands of Republicans in the state House and Senate, the new North Carolina General Assembly session will be gaveled in Wednesday, Jan. 9. Meanwhile newly sworn-in Gov. Pat McCrory, who took the oath of office Saturday, Jan. 5, held his […]
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