Blog | Yadkin Riverkeeper

ACTION ALERT: Call your NC State Legislators. Tell them to VOTE NO to H347!

Once again, Duke Energy is looking to get out of its commitments! Contact your state legislator today and ask them to VOTE NO to H347! House Bill H347 removes the existing coal ash recycling requirement if the entire recycling process is not profitable for Duke Energy. That places Duke’s profit margins over protecting North Carolina families and drinking water from coal ash pollution; and deprives our state’s construction industry of much-needed recycled ash.

Aveda and Yadkin Riverkeeper Team up for Earth Month 2017

Yadkin Riverkeeper has been selected by Aveda as an Official North American Earth Month Partner for 2017 as part of Aveda’s global program to raise more than $6.5 million for 73 non-profits that protect clean water.

What is a Riverkeeper?

What does a #Riverkeeper do? Will Scott talked to students at his high school during #TEDxCaryAcademy about #riverkeeping.

North Carolina v. Alcoa, Riverbed ownership Court Fourth Circuit Appeal

On the morning of October 27th 2016, the state of North Carolina sent two former judges, Bob Orr & Eddie Greene, up to Richmond to argue to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that the people of North Carolina, not Alcoa, own the bed of the Yadkin River throughout the 38 mile stretch on which Alcoa operates four hydroelectric dams. At counsel’s table with them was Yadkin Riverkeeper’s attorney, Ryke Longest, of Duke University, to advise. Here is what happened.

Conservation Groups Obtain Agreement Requiring Coal Ash Removal from Duke Energy’s Buck Plant

Conservation Groups Obtain Agreement Requiring Coal Ash Removal from Duke Energy’s Buck Plant CHAPEL HILL, N.C., October 5, 2016 – Yadkin Riverkeeper and Waterkeeper Alliance, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, have reached a settlement with Duke Energy that requires the removal of all the coal ash from the unlined, leaking coal ash pits at Duke Energy’s Buck facility on the Yadkin River in Salisbury, North Carolina. Under the settlement agreement, Duke Energy must remove all the coal ash and either recycle it into concrete or put it in a modern lined landfill away from the Yadkin River and separated from groundwater and drinking water sources. Duke Energy plans to set up a concrete recycling facility at the Buck site much like the ones serving South Carolina utilities which entered into similar settlements with conservation groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center in 2012 and 2013.

NC Senate Is Putting The Health of Our Waters At Risk. TAKE ACTION!

NC Senate leaders have put the health of our waterways at risk. They have included a sneaky provision in the budget (not a place for policy) that would repeal the pollution control strategies for the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico Rivers and threaten ten years of work put into a pollution control strategy for High Rock Lake on the Yadkin River. Ask them to remove section 14.13 from House Bill 1030 (Budget).

Watershed Protection for the Yadkin

Watershed Protection can provide a low cost solution to improve water quality and protect drinking water for cities like Winston-Salem, whose water comes primarily from the Yadkin River.

How is North Carolina de-listing waters with high copper levels when EPA tells them not to?

Over the past six years the State of North Carolina has not adequately addressed waterbodies polluted by copper and, based on the 2016 delisting proposal, seems intent on continuing this trend.

What To Do About a Problem Like Stormwater?

The North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (“NCDENR”) ranked the drinking water source provided by Salem Lake has having high contaminant and susceptibility levels. In the following map, the Lower Salem Creek Watershed is labeled as number three, and is ranked as the third watershed in the Yadkin Basin for susceptibility to stressors and pollution.

How Healthy is High Rock Lake?

High Rock Lake is a 15,000-acre reservoir on the Yadkin River and is the second largest lake in North Carolina after Lake Norman. At present, High Rock Lake is impaired for chlorophyll-a, due to nutrient over-enrichment. While this fact may give you cause for concern, it may also leave you with a question. What does it mean to be impaired for chlorophyll-a and what is nutrient over-enrichment?