Environment

April 2, 2012 - Another forum to let the people weigh in on a proposal to lift the state's ban on the controversial natural-gas drilling technique will take place tonight in Pittsboro, N.C. The hearing was added after large crowds showed up at two earlier forums.  

March 29, 2012 - The state Utilities Commission's decision to give the power giant's shareholders a 10.5 percent return on investment was not supported by the evidence, argues AG Roy Cooper.

March 29, 2012 - Since the BP disaster, a small but dedicated corps of Gulf residents has monitored the beaches and shorelines, photographing and documenting the steady stream of death and oily waste that still washes in.

March 27, 2012 - As North Carolina considers lifting its ban on the controversial natural-gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or "fracking," a growing body of evidence documents serious public-health threats due to air pollution from such operations, which have already been linked to water contamination.

March 22, 2012 - As President Obama pushes to speed construction of the southern tier of a controversial oil pipeline leading to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast, nearby residents speak out against worsening the disproportionate toxic burden they already bear.

March 21, 2012 - State regulators release a draft report for comment that says fracking for natural gas can be done safely -- but they also admit that there "is a lot of projecting going on."

March 15, 2012 - Scientists at East Carolina University have found oil bearing the specific fingerprint of crude from BP's Gulf oil spill in tiny creatures known as zooplankton that form the base of the marine food chain.