Environment

Researchers at North Carolina A&T University have developed a composite building material using plastic and coal ash from ponds and landfills.

A controversial pipeline project is getting some support from local elected leaders in the eastern part of the state.

In an uncommon step for a state regulator, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is seeking public comment on a federal government program that may allow offshore oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean.

Federal prosecutors are investigating a company and its discharges of a little-studied chemical into a North Carolina river that supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people.

Officials with Greensboro's Division of Water Resources are monitoring a water facility in the city.

Recently released research from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill projects that unchecked climate change will significantly impact premature deaths associated with air pollution.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has received a federal grant to clean up debris from an abandoned clam growing operation off Harkers Island.

Governor Roy Cooper has directed the State Bureau of Investigation to look into possible criminal charges against Chemours, the chemical company behind the release of GenX into the Cape Fear River.

An Outer Banks beach nourishment project has caught more sea turtles than expected.

The Atlantic Coast Pipeline intended to carry natural gas across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina would have some adverse environmental effects, including impacts on water resources, forest and other habitats, but most could be reduced to insignificant levels, an assessment by federal regulators found.

The historic 2016 wildfires in North Carolina burned almost 100 percent of the known habitat of the noonday globe snail, yet the federally threatened species survived.

The number of probable Lyme disease cases in North Carolina has been rising in recent years. The tick-borne bacteria can cause aches and fatigue, as well as serious neurological and muscular disorders.

Eradicating invasive plants and species may not always be the best policy. A new study shows a non-native species of seaweed is helping coastal habitats in North Carolina.

North Carolina has received $3 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help the state enforce the Safe Drinking Water Act.

As a Democratic gubernatorial candidate last fall, Roy Cooper blasted his Republican opponent for adopting a more lenient standard than what's recommended by North Carolina's health agency for cancer-causing hexavalent chromium in well water.

The nation's largest electric company wants regulators in North Carolina to force consumers to pay nearly $200 million a year to clean up the toxic byproducts of burning coal to generate power. That doesn't sit well with neighbors of the power plants who have been living on bottled water since toxic chemicals appeared in some of their wells.

Visitors to the Neuse River Greenway can enjoy a large field of blooming sunflowers this month. But the greenway doesn't maintain the bright field of flowers. The sunflowers are actually owned and operated by the Neuse River Resource Recovery Facility, formerly known as the wastewater treatment plant. 

At least two wind farm developers say they will likely suspend their projects in North Carolina if a proposed moratorium goes into effect. 

Plastic grocery bags are still banned on the Outer Banks. At least for now.

Gov. Roy Cooper made another visit to Kinston as it continues to recover from Hurricane Matthew. 

The city was one of the hardest hit from the storm's record floods in October.