Canton mill receives new water quality violation

Evergreen Packaging is no longer making paper in Canton, but it’s still receiving environmental violations. A new notice issued Thursday, Oct. 26, brings the mill to 17 since May 2021. 

Research to test for contamination near Canton mill property

A research project aiming to understand contamination levels outside the fence line of the now-shuttered Canton paper mill is likely to draw more than a quarter-million dollars in state funding to test soil, water and air samples nearby. 

Local waste management resources expensive, finite

Most people don’t give a lot of thought to what happens when they throw something away, but the ecological and economic consequences of the western consumerist lifestyle don’t end when that bag, bottle or box hits the garbage can. 

Francis Farm landfill needs cover

A problematic landfill in Waynesville’s Francis Farm community will be seeing a lot of activity between now and 2019 — about $5 million worth.

Lead contamination prompts permanent monitoring at SCC

Simply removing contaminated dirt from the Southwestern Community College shooting range won’t be enough to close out a lead removal project that’s been in the works since April 2014, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality announced this month. 

Contamination persists at SCC shooting range, testing shows

The first round of soil removal at Southwestern Community College’s lead-contaminated shooting range has substantially reduced the concentration of metal in the soil, but there’s still more work to be done before lead measurements retreat to safe levels. 

Lead cleanup poised to start at SCC

After more than two years of tests and evaluations, the end is now in sight for an effort to remove 450 tons of lead-contaminated soil from a shooting range at Southwestern Community College. The job will cost $237,000, but by the end of the summer the soil should be excavated, treated, hauled away and replaced with new, uncontaminated soil.

Additional testing under way for SCC shooting range

fr scctestingThe lead-contaminated shooting range at Southwestern Community College in Webster is in for another round of testing after the state called for further sampling to determine levels of several other potentially toxic substances in the soil.

SCC gears up to get rid of lead contamination near shooting range

fr shootingrangeAfter measuring lead levels of more than 200 times the state limit for safety near its shooting range, Southwestern Community College is getting ready for some potentially pricy cleanup.

Faircloth’s lead finding lands him state award

fr fairclothHarold Faircloth was recently named Environmental Specialist of the Year in North Carolina after uncovering widespread lead contamination in private wells throughout Macon County.

“I had been so busy with my duties and responsibilities in my position in addition to my research and analysis of the lead in private drinking water wells that I didn’t expect anything,” he said about his award. “I feel as though I have been admitted to a special fraternity of achievers and scholars involved with environmental health.”

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