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EPA to add new rule on power plant discharges
Posted by Charlotte Observer: Bruce Henderson on September 8th, 2015
Charlotte Observer: After decades of inaction, the federal government in September will release its second major rule affecting coal ash from power plants in less than a year.
Last December, the Environmental Protection Agency released the first federal rules on ash disposal. This month, the agency will set the first federal limits on toxic metals – mostly from ash – in wastewater discharges from power plants.
The rule is significant, but its reach will be limited. Most utilities, including Duke Energy, are moving...
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North Carolina returns EPA grant for fracking study
Posted by Charlotte Observer: Bruce Henderson on September 25th, 2013
Charlotte Observer: North Carolina's environment agency has taken the unusual step of returning a federal grant to study streams and wetlands that could be harmed by hydraulic fracturing for natural gas.
The N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources had itself recommended last year that baseline water-quality data be collected where drilling might occur. The information would help document any problems linked to drilling.
But under new leadership appointed by Gov. Pat McCrory, the department now says...