South Atlantic Archives - Waterkeeper

South Atlantic

Waterkeeper Alliance Responds to EPA’s Denial of Petition to Better Regulate Pollution From Animal Factories


The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week denied a petition from Waterkeeper Alliance and dozens of environmental and community...

Catawba College and Waterkeeper Alliance Partner on Advocacy Boot Camp


A Profound Learning Experience in Environmental Advocacy Recently, six Catawba College undergraduate students traveled to New Bern, NC to participate in...

What’s Up With WOTUS?


What’s Up With WOTUS? In recent weeks, you may have seen news stories about “WOTUS” or “Waters of the United States.” The argument over what...

Waterkeepers Meet in Alabama for Regional Summit

  • By: Patience Burke
  • News

Last month, Waterkeeper groups from more than a dozen different states descended upon the Magic City – Birmingham, Alabama – to attend the Gulf and...

Waterkeeper Alliance Fly -In

Waterkeeper Alliance Holds “Fly-Over” in North Carolina to Get Better Look at CAFO Crisis


Recently, Waterkeeper Alliance held a “Fly-Over” in North Carolina. With the help of South Wings, and accompanied by a half dozen other local...

Hogs in a CAFO by the Federal District Court for Eastern NC.

Op-Ed: We Must Shut Down Factory Farms to Protect Clean Water and Environmental Justice


by Gloria Reuben For years, Americans have been served an image of an idyllic family farmer who is responsible for the food that makes its way to our homes....

Who Is Waterkeeper: Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper

  • By: Thomas Hynes
  • News

Emily Sutton didn’t know what being a Waterkeeper entailed until she started working as one. Suffice to say, it was an immediate fit. After graduating...

Who Is Waterkeeper: Damon Mullis, Ogeechee Riverkeeper

  • By: Thomas Hynes
  • News

Damon Mullis is the Ogeechee Riverkeeper in Georgia. He grew up spending a lot of time hunting, fishing, and recreating outdoors. At Georgia Southern University,...

Who Is Waterkeeper: Jen Lomberk, Matanzas Riverkeeper

  • By: Thomas Hynes
  • News

Jen Lomberk grew up in Florida, a state known for the many out-of-state people who relocate there. She describes herself as a child of the state’s waterways,...

Beating Back the Tide of Nurdle Pollution with Charleston Waterkeeper


A pernicious and increasingly common form of plastic pollution comes by way of the innocuously named nurdles, the lentil-sized “pre-production pellets”...

Marc Yaggi quote reading "Waterkeepers have scientific and technical expertise, as well as unique perspectives and knowledge about regional water issues and associated impacts to their communities and ecosystems, that make them an invaluable resource for EPA."

Waterkeeper Alliance Works to Align Local Waterkeepers with Regional EPA Administrators


As the U.S. celebrates the 49th anniversary of the landmark Clean Water Act (CWA) legislation, Waterkeeper Alliance—a global movement that connects and...

Jeff Currie the Lumber Riverkeeper is pointing his finger. He is wearing a red shirt and there are green trees behind him.

Who is Waterkeeper: Jefferson Currie II, Lumber Riverkeeper

  • By: Thomas Hynes
  • News

Jeff Currie had only been on the job as Lumber Riverkeeper for a few weeks in 2018 when Hurricane Florence came barreling through North Carolina. The devastating...

Restoring Eroded Farmland through Creative Partnerships

  • By: Haw Riverkeeper
  • News

By Emily Sutton, the Haw Riverkeeper with Haw River Assembly. Reposted with permission from Haw River Assembly.  Controlling Erosion with Mushrooms Saxapahaw,...

EPA Petitioned to Protect Communities, Environment From Radioactive Phosphogypsum Stacks, Wastewater


Conservation and public-health groups petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency today to improve federal oversight of the radioactive waste produced...

Protestors in DC holding signs that read "Misuse of state funds" and TIREd of the lies"

Local Clean Water Wins from the November 2020 Election


Clean water was *literally* on the ballot on November 3 for many counties and states across the United States. Local and state ballot initiatives asked...

Florescent lab samples under UV light. There are rows and rows of bright green dots surround by shades of blue and purple.

It’s time for NC to make a simple, scientific, change to improve its water quality standards


North Carolina is behind Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi in water quality standards By Brandon Jones, Catawba Riverkeeper Gov. Roy...

A pig on a farm looks at the camera, with two more pigs behind it.

This Holiday Season, Buy Locally from Sustainable Farmers


By David Caldwell, Broad Riverkeeper with MountainTrue. Originally published by MountainTrue. Photos by Colfax Creek Farm. As we approach the holiday season,...

Two large piles of brown poultry litter behind two poultry barns at an industrial poultry operation.

It’s long past time NC takes action on pollution from poultry


By Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper The unregulated poultry industry in North Carolina is burgeoning, with the number of chickens and turkeys increasing 17...

Pipelines for Hog Waste Gas are Dirty Energy


By Jill Howell, Pamlico Tar Riverkeeper, Sound Rivers Our nation is moving away from dangerous pipelines — and it’s a move for the better.  In July,...

Feature image: Aerial shot of an industrial animal operation during Hurricane Matthew.

Protecting, Preserving, and Restoring the Floodplain


By Matthew Starr, Upper Neuse Riverkeeper. Originally published by Sound Rivers. We still have more than a month left in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season,...

Show your appreciation for environmentally conscious farmers


A lot of folks in North Carolina produce meat. The state ranks second nationally in pork production and is among the nation’s leaders in poultry production....

Georgia Waterkeepers Ask Citizens to “Vote Yes on Amendment 1”


By Julia Widmann, Waterkeeper Alliance Organizer, Gulf and South Atlantic Regions Photos by Joe Cook Waterkeepers in Georgia are asking Georgia citizens...

Weaving Together a Community Through Sustainable Farming


By Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper The way Isaiah Allen tells the story, the man at The Eddy’s bar had a deep farmer’s tan, sweat dried around his collar,...

Two Inches Of Rain Was All It Took


Two inches of rain was all it took to send three million gallons of hog feces and urine coursing from Sampson County’s B&L Farms to Starlins Swamp,...

Yadkin Riverkeeper on the Clean-Water Reasons to Support Sustainable Farms


By Edgar Miller, Executive Director of Yadkin Riverkeeper The early days of the pandemic brought disturbing, hard-to reconcile, news:  On the one hand,...

Hog and Poultry Waste Threat in N.C. Has Gotten Worse Since Hurricane Florence


North Carolina’s industrial meat operations pose a greater environmental threat today than they did when Hurricane Florence hit the state in 2018. And...

A Chilling Message: Keep Away from Water’s Edge


By Brian Fannon, Yadkin Riverkeeper The message from local officials about a pond near Lake Norman last summer was chilling: “Keep away from the water’s...

EWG and Waterkeeper Alliance: Poultry Factory Farms Disproportionately Threaten Black, Native American, and Latino People in North Carolina


113 Million Chickens and Turkeys in Three Eastern Counties Alone The predominantly Black, Native American, and Latino residents of three eastern North...

UPDATE: Exposing Fields of Filth: Factory Farms Disproportionately Threaten Black, Latino, and Native American North Carolinians


By Sarah Graddy, EWG Communications Director; Ellen Simon, Waterkeeper Alliance Advocacy Writer; and Soren Rundquist, EWG Director of Spatial Analysis1...

What’s in your water: check before you swim


By Will Hendrick, Waterkeeper Alliance senior attorney and manager, and Gray Jernigan, Green Riverkeeper. Photos by MountainTrue. What’s in the water...