Sugarloaf Island, a small island off downtown Morehead City, NC serves as a protective barrier for the town. Yet with every passing storm, Sugarloaf's banks have rapidly eroded, causing grave concern over the island's ability to shield Morehead City from severe storm damage and flooding.

In a lightly populated area of northern Charleston County, developers are planning two major projects that could bring hundreds of new homes to the doorstep of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge.

Three federal leases have been granted for large-scale ocean wind farms off the coast of North Carolina, with two more potential sites now the subject of a monthlong public comment period.

With 230,135 visitors recorded in October, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) is on track to have another busy year in 2022, with total visitation close to record-breaking 2021.

The future of North Carolina's coastal wetlands is uncertain due to rising sea levels

DUCK — It was flashback to high school chemistry class for some, but Duck residents were up to the challenge last week at an information session about a carbon capture demonstration project proposed off their beach.

There’s a swath of ocean just over the horizon off Oak Island, in the southeast corner of North Carolina, that one day could be home to hundreds of towering offshore wind turbines. The project, federal regulators say, could produce as much power as Duke Energy’s nearby Brunswick Nuclear plant.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is currently deciding a case which may determine the future of wetlands around the Chesapeake Bay and across the country.

On November 16, 2022, the United States Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced eight draft wind energy areas (WEAs) covering approximately 1.7 million acres offshore North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.

US offshore wind developer has entered into a partnership with Massachusetts outfit Charles River Analytics

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen and Congressman John Sarbanes (both D-Md.) were joined by state and local officials, economic leaders, watermen, advocates for conservation, and others at Burtis House in Annapolis as they released draft legislation they’ve authored to create a unified Chesapeake National Recreation Area (CNRA).

Outer Banks communities are taking steps to replace quickly-eroding beaches.

Millions watched the videos of a house falling into the Atlantic Ocean in May, the third this year, but now several more houses in Rodanthe on the Outer Banks are in danger of meeting the same fate.

If you’re trying to catch a living dinosaur, you’d better use a big net.In this case, that would be a net long enough to stretch nearly the entire 400-foot width of Marshyhope Creek. Even then, you’re likely to come up empty.

At the northeastern tip of the Grand Strand lies a hidden sanctuary — an undeveloped maritime forest and beach in an area where nearly every acre of oceanfront land has been converted to condominiums, hotels and residential subdivisions. The soon-to-be designated state heritage preserve is called Waties Island, a green oasis in a virtually unbroken, 50-mile-long wall of development.

RODANTHE — Nothing good can be said about septic tanks leaking their foul contents onto a public beach. It sounds even worse that it’s within a national seashore on the Outer Banks renowned for its beautiful, clean beaches.

Last month North Carolina doled out nearly $20 million in grants to help coastal communities better fortify and rebuild beach infrastructure battered by recent hurricanes, tropical storms, and nor'easters.

Last month North Carolina doled out nearly $20 million in grants to help coastal communities better fortify and rebuild beach infrastructure battered by recent hurricanes, tropical storms, and nor'easters.

RICHMOND — Dominion Energy and groups advocating for ratepayers announced a settlement agreement Friday on who will bear responsibility for any increased costs associated with the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project.

A NASA team is training and verifying machine learning algorithms that will be used to identify areas of poor water quality in satellite images—starting with the Chesapeake Bay.

As state commission prepares to set water clarity standard, a look at what it means and why it’s important

Efforts to protect the last undeveloped barrier island in Horry County at the eastern tip of South Carolina took a huge leap forward with two $500,000 donations to a new fund to protect land.

EMERALD ISLE — The Carteret County Beach Commission, which advises the county shore protection office, received a briefing Monday on Kitty Hawk Wind, a major wind energy project that could impact the county in the future, in ways both positive and unknown.

Twelve grants represent the inaugural slate of awards from the new Chesapeake Watershed Investments in Landscape Defense (WILD) program

The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) has been awarded a $7.5 million grant from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to lead an innovative US Harmful Algal Bloom Control Technology Incubator (US HAB-CTI) to advance innovative ways to control harmful algal blooms that are impacting the health of people and marine ecosystems, as well as regional economies.