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How a new EPA rule could impact North Carolina's drinking water

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency recently passed a rule that diminished regulations on bodies of water in North Carolina, which produce over half of the state's drinking water. This new rule puts North Carolina's wetlands and water bodies at risk and opens our communities to the risk of contaminated drinking waters and increased flooding. 

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Report Says Triangle Cities Had High Ozone Levels in 2018

Environment North Carolina Reserach and Policy Center released a report called "Trouble in the Air" that describes the air quality for cities in the country in 2018. Durham and Chapel Hill had higher than normal ozone levels for 90 days and that same report shows that Raleigh had 75 such days. 

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Rollback of federal protections could affect NC's drinking water

A federal decision to roll back Clean Water Act protections could affect water quality in central North Carolina – everything from drinking water to algae in lakes. The policy change, signed by heads of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, narrows the types of waterways that qualify for federal protection under the half-century-old law.

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Recycling hits a rough patch

As late as April 2018, SONOCO Recycling LLC was writing checks to New Hanover County to pay for materials recycled by county and Wilmington residents and businesses.Those materials, including glass and co-mingled items such as plastics and paper, were, for the most part, sent overseas to be sorted and recycled into new products.Then the bottom suddenly dropped out of the market.

“Starting in early 2018, East Asian governments began banning, limiting or more heavily regulating U.S. recyclable exports,” according to the “The State of Recycling In North Carolina” from U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Environment North Carolina.

In December, New Hanover County paid SONOCO $9,382 to take those same recyclable materials off its hands. The county then billed the city for its share of the cost. The PIRG report essentially lays the blame for the sudden shift of recycling costs on what it says is the United States becoming dependent on exporting its recyclables.

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Report: Wisconsin, Texas, Illinois lead 30 states that slashed environmental agency funds

According to a new study of state budget records, 30 state governments cut funding for their environmental agencies’ pollution control programs and 40 reduced environmental agency staff size.

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