north carolina

North Carolina Town Launches First U.S. Climate Lawsuit Against a Utility Company

North Carolina Town Launches First U.S. Climate Lawsuit Against a Utility Company

The small North Carolina town of Carrboro has initiated the country’s first climate accountability litigation against an electric utility. The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, claims Duke Energy waged a “deception campaign” in order to obscure the climate hazards of fossil fuels. This led to delayed action in curbing planet-warming emissions, which caused the costs of […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Sea-Level Rise Takes Business Toll in North Carolina’s Outer Banks

    Sea-Level Rise Takes Business Toll in North Carolina’s Outer Banks

    North Carolina’s Outer Banks are dotted with vacation beaches and historic communities. But the sweeping water views do not only draw tourists. They give locals a front row seat to sea-level rise. Many, like Jamie Anderson, face more frequent floods. Anderson is the owner of Downtown Books on Roanoke Island. Since she opened the store […]

    How a Small North Carolina Community Is Pushing Back on Pollution

    How a Small North Carolina Community Is Pushing Back on Pollution

    By Isabella Garcia On Thanksgiving Day 2019, right after Caroline Laur had finished giving thanks for her home, a neighbor at church told her that a company had submitted permit requests to build an asphalt plant in their community. The plans indicated the plant would be 250 feet from Laur’s backdoor. Laur has a premalignant […]

    What a Real Coal Ash Cleanup Looks Like

    What a Real Coal Ash Cleanup Looks Like

    By Emilie Karrick Surrusco The toxic mess left behind from burning coal is a growing, nationwide problem. But we’re seeing that state governments can be convinced to do the right thing and clean it up. Recently, North Carolina joined its neighboring state to become a trendsetter in the proper disposal of coal ash waste. Following […]

    Undercover Investigations Will Be Legal Again at Iowa Animal Farms

    Undercover Investigations Will Be Legal Again at Iowa Animal Farms

    On Thursday the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa struck down the Iowa Ag-Gag law, holding that the ban on undercover investigations at factory farms and slaughterhouses violates the First Amendment. In 2017, a coalition of animal, environmental and community advocacy groups, including Center for Food Safety, challenged the law’s constitutionality. Federal […]

    The Storm Moved on, But North Carolina’s Hog Waste Didn’t

    The Storm Moved on, But North Carolina’s Hog Waste Didn’t

    By Emilie Karrick Surrusco It’s been nearly four months since Hurricane Florence battered the North Carolina coast, dumping 9 trillion gallons of water on the state in the span of four days. In Duplin County, home to the nation’s largest concentration of industrial hog operations, the storm’s deluge laid bare problems that persist in good […]

    9 States Sue ‘Flat-Out Wrong’ Trump Administration Over Seismic Blasting in Atlantic

    9 States Sue ‘Flat-Out Wrong’ Trump Administration Over Seismic Blasting in Atlantic

    A coalition of attorneys general from nine states added their clout to a South Carolina-based lawsuit against the Trump administration to block seismic airgun blasting off the Atlantic coast. Democratic attorneys general from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York filed a motion on Thursday to intervene in […]