ENVIRONMENTALISTS FILE PETITION WITH DEQ TO REVOKE PIPELINE PERMIT: The North Carolina Climate Solutions Coalition and Friends of the Earth filed a petition with the state Department of Environmental Quality to revoke the permit the agency issued last year to the pipeline's developers under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act. The groups say the facts that were presented in the application for the permit were incorrect and are no longer accurate. The 600-mile pipeline is expected to carry natural gas from West Virginia to North Carolina, crossing eight eastern North Carolina counties from Halifax County to its terminus in Robeson County. Activists for low-income and Native American communities in North Carolina have been protesting the pipeline since state regulators approved it in January 2018. They claim the pipeline will put dangerous, dirty natural gas infrastructure in the middle of one of the largest Native American communities east of the Mississippi River.
https://www.wral.com/environmental-activists-seek-reversal-of-nc-permit-for-atlantic-coast-pipeline/...

ACTIVISTS RALLY IN HILLSBOROUGH AGAINST RACISM AND VIOLENCE: Saturday’s rally — held by the Hate-Free Schools Coalition, local NAACP chapters, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence and other groups — was a culmination of a week of national mourning, after two mass shootings in the U.S. A local conflict also was on their minds, one that involved Hillsborough business owner Matthew Shepherd and pro-Confederate demonstrators. Hillsborough has been a target for pro-Confederate protests for the past few years after Orange County officials took steps to limit Confederate flags and symbols in the area. And late last month, after encountering a pro-Confederate demonstration near his chocolate shop, Matthew’s Chocolate’s, Shepherd put out a sign that read: “Burn a Rebel Flag… Get a Free Chocolate!” The sign went viral after three Confederate flag bearers stood behind it and posted it to social media. Shepherd later received death threats.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article233747937.html

STANDOFF OVER NEW STATE EMPLOYEE HEALTH PLAN IS OVER, FOR NOW: The State Treasurer announced a new move Thursday to ensure that the health insurance plan covering more than 720,000 teachers and other state employees will include major N.C. hospital systems as in-network facilities. Two big providers for the Charlotte area, Atrium Health and Novant Health, said the new deal means they will remain in-network for state employees next year. Duke Health also said it will be in-network. The new plan will let those health care systems and other providers that didn’t sign on to State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s proposal of state-set prices for medical service to keep their existing agreements with Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. Blue Cross Blue Shield administers the state insurance plan.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article233673197.html

CLUB FOR GROWTH RUNS FALSE AD AGAINST MCCREADY OVER REPS: The Club for Growth ad says McCready backed regulations that would cost consumers $149 million a year in their electric bills. While it is true that the clean-energy group pushed to keep a renewable portfolio standard in North Carolina, the standard had already been established for close to a decade at the time McCready joined the group’s board. It is misleading to say that NCSEA lobbied for “costly state regulations” when RPS had already been in the law for years before the House put forward legislation that would have watered it down. The ad gives an exact figure for the costs of the standard, but experts told us that estimates on the effects of RPS vary widely, ranging from savings to costs. What’s more, the ad fails to mention that renewable energy decreases toxic and costly carbon dioxide emissions. Therefore, we rate this statement Mostly False.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article233572392.html

NC'S BEACHES CONTAMINATED BY SEWER RUNOFF: More than 100 North Carolina beaches and waterways were potentially unsafe for swimming at least one day last year because they were contaminated with bacteria that makes people sick. A report by Environment North Carolina Research and Policy Center released Monday said 127 of 213 areas in the state had levels of fecal contamination that made swimming unsafe on at least one day in 2018. Fecal contamination comes from runoff, sewer overflows and leaks, and industrial farms, the report said. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality tests water at 204 coastal beaches weekly or every other week between April and September, twice a month in October, and monthly from November through March, and posts advisories on its website. Four of the top 10 sites in North Carolina with potentially unsafe swimming days were in Beaufort County. A Pamlico Sound access point in Belhaven had 11 potentially unsafe days, the most recorded in the state, according to the report.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article233545667.html