Opinion
Bigger Aircraft Will Shake Up Local Aviation
The changing economics of air travel will have an impact on smaller airports across North Carolina.
News
Friday Interview: Air Pollution Lawsuit Squashed
RALEIGH — A federal appeals court dealt a major blow this year to North Carolina’s efforts to force the Tennessee Valley Authority to cut back its power plant emissions. N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper and others had blamed TVA emissions for air pollution problems in western North Carolina. Carolina Journal Associate Editor David Bass discussed the court ruling with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio.
News
Lawyers Spent Gas-Tax Funds on Beer and Candy
RALEIGH — Washington lawyers assisting Attorney General Roy Cooper in his suit against the Tennessee Valley Authority used North Carolina gas-tax revenue to purchase alcohol, candy, airline flight upgrades, and valet parking, an investigation by Carolina Journal reveals.
News
Air Quality Official Recruited for Nonprofit on Taxpayer Dime
RALEIGH — A former official in the N.C. Division of Air Quality charged about $2,000 to his state reimbursement account while traveling for The Climate Registry, an out-of-state nonprofit that seeks to fight global warming. Brock Nicholson, who was deputy director of DAQ until he retired in December, also worked on state time to convince entities to join the registry and pay membership fees.
News
JLF Report Exposes Pollution Myths
RALEIGH — Air pollution has been solved as a long-term problem by already-adopted measures that will eliminate most remaining pollution from automobiles and industry in coming years, according to a new report released by the John Locke Foundation. Author Joel Schwartz notes that the recently raised federal ozone standard is the only remaining air-quality challenge facing the state, which meets the EPA’s standards for carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and “coarse” airborne particulates (PM10). Nearly all of the state’s monitors comply with new fine particulate standards (PM2.5), as well as the EPA’s previous ozone standard.
Opinion
Murky Reporting on Soot
The Charlotte Observer continues to publish stories with scary warnings about how soot in the air could "prematurely kill thousands of people" annually — even though the Observer knows the the link to lung cancer or heart disease is inconclusive at best.
