There are fewer than 45 endangered red wolves living in eastern North Carolina. But the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Wildlife Resources Commission think there should be even fewer. Only through the actions of a federal judge — at the urging of the Southern Environmental Law Center, the Red Wolf Coalition and Defenders of Wildlife — have the wild wolves been granted clemency.

What’s not to like about a wolf? An anti-government contingent in eastern NC has argued that the federal government released them illegally, that they’re no longer genetically pure because they’ve interbred with coyotes, that they kill deer, and thus compete with human hunters. (The difference: Most humans can shop at a grocery store.)

Federal and state wildlife officials are caving in to this political pressure, over the objections of scientists. The federal government wants to send most of the wild wolves to live in captivity in zoos, which is akin to a person being on house arrest for the rest of her life.



7. DEQ’s and the McCrory administration’s demonization of environmental advocates

Lobbyists, riverkeepers, environmental groups, the media: Bogeymen and women, all of them, trying to foil the good work of the administration’s higher-ups. At various public events, Gov. McCrory, Agriculture Secretary Steve Troxler and Lt. Gov. Dan Forest all called these advocates “environmental extremists.”

Meanwhile, DEQ’s PR team was busy crafting press releases with headlines like:

“State focuses on coal ash clean-up while lobbyist group tries to block progress” wrote DEQ Assistant Secretary Tom Reeder in an October press release.

In “State officials counter false reports about coal ash” Reeder said, “It’s unfortunate that a political group masquerading as environmentalists is deliberately trying to mislead the public.”

Public records show that Crystal Feldman, DEQ deputy secretary of public affairs, said “Liberal groups” launched a “coordinated attack” earlier this year on the NC Department of Environmental Quality over coal ash.

And an in-house video features van der Vaart and Reeder reassuring the public about the coal ash cleanup. We fact-checked the claims.



8. The perils of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline

One of the underreported stories of 2016 is the proposed 150-plus mile section of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline that would run parallel to US 301 in eastern North Carolina. Spearheaded by Dominion Energy, the pipeline would begin in West Virginia and carry fracked natural gas through Virginia and North Carolina.

Aside from the well-documented environmental problems with fracking — earthquakes, drinking water contamination and methane leaks — the NC portion of the ACP would pass through low-income and minority communities, including Lumbee land.

The pipeline would lower property values — few people want to live near an explosion hazard — and would traverse sensitive environmental areas, such as rivers and wetlands. Did we mention the pipeline would not provide natural gas to North Carolina? Dominion hasn’t, either.



9. The buzzkill of Solarbees

The General Assembly and DEQ wasted another $1 million (are lawmakers printing million-dollar bills in the basement of the Legislative Building?) to deploy an army of Solarbees at Jordan Lake. These giant egg-beaters were supposed to stir, aerate, make giant frittatas and improve the water quality in the reservoir, a source of drinking water for 300,000 people in the Triangle.

However, in an unusual move, DEQ Secretary Donald van der Vaart invoked scientific evidence to declare the two-year experiment a failure. The Solarbees were dismantled and removed. Meanwhile, the Jordan Lake rules, which would regulate development in the watershed and reduce water pollution, are still on hiatus, seven years after they were passed.



10. The bashing of solar energy

While solar bees were initially heralded as the Next Big Thing, solar energy is receiving no such love from conservative policymakers. North Carolina is a national leader in solar capacity, and solar farms are being built throughout the state. (There are 26 proposals in the queue awaiting public comment, according to state records.)

Nonetheless, members of the state Energy Policy Council and its Clean Energy Subcommittee say they’re alarmed, even downright scared, about the hidden dangers of solar panels. At a recent subcommittee meeting, member Herb Eckerlin, who was appointed to the Council by Senate President Pro Temp Phil Berger. said most of the panels are made in China (true) but that the North Carolina’s solar farm system has no codes and regulations (not true).

“Citizens are increasingly concerned about their land and groundwater,” Eckerlin, a professor of mechanical engineering at N.C. State University, said with uncommon urgency. “Solar panels are a potential time bomb. This can’t be swept under the rug. Immediate action is required.” Eckerlin was appointed to the Council by Senate President Pro Temp Phil Berger. Berger’s scientific adviser, Jeffrey Warren, is the mastermind of much of the anti-environmental legislation.