On June 26, 2018, the NC Senate predictably voted to override by a wide margin. In the NC House, the vote to override passed 74-45 (a 3/5 majority is required to override a gubernatorial veto). Thanks to all of you for your valiant efforts in this legislative fight.

More Information on S711: On Monday, June 25, 2018, NC Governor Cooper took action on 39 bills that were passed by the General Assembly and brought to his desk for approval. He VETOED Bill S711, the bill that is intended to limit hog nuisance suits. Please contact the Governor and your legislators and show your support to maintain the veto.

OP ED by Elise Wallace: I completed the Yadkin River Trail, five days after I began...

Yadkin Riverkeeper announced today that a second film showing and dance performance have been added for the opening of DANCE FOR THE RIVER by Photographer Christine Rucker

DANCE FOR THE RIVER, presented by Yadkin Riverkeeper, is a traveling multimedia exhibit that connects audiences with the Yadkin River, the region’s primary water source, through dance, photography, and video.

The “Garbage Juice Bill” would force the Department of Environment Quality to allow the spraying of landfill wastewater into the air (known as Leachate Aerosolization) without a permit. 

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.

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. Here is what happened.

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. 

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. Your elected leaders need to hear from you! 

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?

Winston-Salem’s Storm Water National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit is intended to protect the public drinking water, but there are currently not enough funds to take the necessary steps to manage runoff entering the Lower Salem Creek Watershed. Storm water utility fees could be used to fund projects and land conservation plans to protect the watershed and effectively manage polluted runoff.

There are a number of waterbodies in the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin that are impaired by a high concentration of copper, some of which have been impaired for a number of years. Rather than develop a plan to reduce these impairments to a lower concentration of copper, the State has proposed to reclassify these waterbodies so that they do not trigger corrective actions required by State and Federal law.

OP ED by Alison RIngwood. The Yadkin River Basin is a critical source for drinking water that relies on the protection from undeveloped lands to help maintain water quality…

Pushing off from the east end of Fishing Island, we enter the Great Bend area of the Yadkin River. This stretch is significant, both geographically and historically. Here is where the Yadkin changes course from west to east and begins flowing north to south. It is where the town of East Bend derives its name. This area is rich in Native American history…

Going down Bean Shoals is probably my most favorite part along this section of the Yadkin. It will test your skills to “read” a river, maneuver quickly around obstacles (rocks) and make quick decisions on the best course to pursue.

The following is a series of excerpts of Judge Biggs' ruling against Summary Judgement on our federal Clean Water Act case at Buck Steam Station on High Rock Lake.  Yadkin Riverkeeper brought this case to force clean up of ongoing and continuous discharges of coal ash to the Yadkin River via unpermitted seeps and contaminated groundwater flowing into the Yadkin River in September 2014.  Oral arguments on Summary Judgement were in August 2015 and Judge Biggs' decision came down in October 2015. 

Ever since the Europeans settled in the Yadkin River Valley attempts have been made to turn the river into a commercial waterway. Area residents were eager to make the river accessible for transporting their agricultural goods and products to other markets by linking the western and central parts of North Carolina to the eastern part of the state…

The North Carolina Legislature is once again attacking provisions that protect our water. The rivers and streams of North Carolina belong to the people. TAKE ACTION NOW: Call your NC House member and Senator today and tell them you want your water protected. If you have already reached out to them, thank you!

Driving down the dirt road to the put-in at the end of Shoals Road, you cross Hall Creek, one of the six tributaries along this part of the Yadkin River. This south bank is actually the far, southwest corner of Pilot Mountain State Park, and is maintained by the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. What is striking about the put-in location is how calm the river appears – almost mirror-like. Do not be fooled by the placid waters. The excitement of Bean Shoals waits just downstream.

Adventures on the Yadkin River is written by former journalist and life-long river enthusiast, D.R. White. He is a self-proclaimed guardian of the Shoals Road to Donnaha Bridge section of the Yadkin River. Over the course of the next few months, he will bring this stretch of the river to life in words.