N.C. Environment News and In-Depth Reporting

On the Frontlines of North Carolina’s Natural Gas Buildout

The construction site of the Moriah Energy Center in southeastern Person County. (Julia Wall for ICN/The Assembly)

A LNG processing facility, four power plants, multiple compressor stations, and a number of pipelines are all awaiting state approval.

(Photo courtesy of the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.)

Installers are navigating new state rules that have put a damper on rooftop solar.

Volunteers with the Environmental Quality Institute use a net to catch invertebrates. (Mike Belleme for The Assembly)

The governor keeps asking for more money to protect waterways. Citizen scientists are taking up the slack.

Jamie White on the porch of her Gray's Creek home. (Tony Wooten for The Assembly/CityView)

As governments crack down on PFAS, residents of affected areas say it’s too little, too late as a new industrial boom is already underway.

Disney is planning a new development near the Haw River in Chatham County. (Julia Wall for The Assembly)

Disney’s new planned development in Chatham County adds to tensions over growth, infrastructure, and the environment.

A still from video ECCO posted of Charlotte, an allegedly pregnant stingray.

Owner tells WLOS: “This was not a scam. This was not anything made up, but people do that. People have their own thoughts.”

A still from one of the videos ECCO has posted of Charlotte.

A Hendersonville aquarium blew up the internet with the announcement of a “miracle” pregnancy.

Joe Hampton and Lee Menius at the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services’ Piedmont Research Station. (Travis Dove for The Assembly)

State measures taken to address the shortage of local meat during the pandemic have had a longer shelf life than anyone imagined.

A basket of foraged wild mushrooms, rosehips, and pine sprigs. (Photo by Nevin Martell)

With 2,000 different varieties of fungi, the region is a forager’s paradise and a destination for “find dining.”

Outside of Fowler's Supermarket. (Photo by Les High)

With 10,000 new homes expected over the next decade, once-rural southern Columbus County is experiencing some growing pains.