Grady McCallie
@gradym.bsky.social
Environmental advocate in North Carolina. Water, flood resilience, climate, toxics, growth. Non-work: gardening, books, hiking.
This is a significant concern, and one that the data center applications we've seen simply don't discuss. www.nrdc.org/media/chemou...
Chemours and Data Centers: A Love Story
Chemours is a major manufacturer of PFAS (aka toxic “forever chemicals”), and it is betting big on data centers.
nrdc.org
Moving away from fossil fuels is an economic as well as environmental win. The current push in the other direction will fail, but will cost ratepayers, and, potentially, investors.
Power companies are still planning for climate regulation. Sort of.
Utilities are leaning into a regulatory future free of carbon restrictions. But they are mindful of a potential future about-face.
eenews.net
Bill advances sans state funding for terminal groins coastalreview.org/2026/06/bill...
Bill advances sans state funding for terminal groins | Coastal Review
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced an amended Senate Bill 1001 that excludes a previously included provision for state tax dollars to be tapped to pay for and maintain coastal terminal g...
coastalreview.org
Report on effects of hardened shorelines offers no easy fix coastalreview.org/2026/06/repo...
Report on effects of hardened shorelines offers no easy fix | Coastal Review
As bills to undo 40 years of coastal policy loom in Raleigh, the Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel last week presented its draft report on erosion-control structures and advised careful consi...
coastalreview.org
"Tests show the plant has the highest PFAS levels in finished water, which enters the county’s distribution system, out of any water treatment plant in North Carolina." ncnewsline.com/briefs/group...
Groups sue Robeson County over PFAS in county drinking water • NC Newsline
The Robeson County Landfill is infiltrating the county’s public water system with PFAS, or forever chemicals, according to the lawsuit.
ncnewsline.com
New commentary published this week: PFAS exposure is associated with reduced duration of breast-feeding among humans (and test animals). That's bad, and another reminder of why we should curb PFAS releases to air and water. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Lactation Interrupted: PFAS Impact on Capacity to Breastfeed Ignored - Current Environmental Health Reports
Purpose of Review In this commentary, we focus on the association between exposure to per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and effects on breastfeeding duration and mammary gland function. We arg...
link.springer.com
Coastal erosion presents real challenges, but seawalls and other hardened structures are a less-than-zero-sum response. On that path, everyone ultimately ends up worse off. We can do better. www.publicradioeast.org/2026-06-10/n...
Trio of NC Senate bills propose overhauling state's coastal hardened structure rules
Supporters of the bills say they are a necessary update to long-standing coastal policy. Skeptics say adding more hardened structures to the coast will simply push erosion elsewhere.
publicradioeast.org
Setting aside all the environmental issues, the second half of this bill is terrible economic policy. www.canarymedia.com/articles/fos...
North Carolina bill would prop up coal until new nuclear is approved
The Republican-backed House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, which could rein in some data center costs but extend the life of costly old coal plants.
canarymedia.com
EPA says it is protecting communities from #PFAS. Meanwhile, the EPA just announced it is rolling back regulation of these #foreverchemicals, such as GenX, in drinking water. Americans deserve stronger protections from toxic chemicals in drinking water, not weaker ones.
Last month was the 4th warmest April on record globally. It was also the 7th warmest April for global land areas and the 2nd warmest for ocean areas. Overall, about 7.4% of Earth’s surface recorded its warmest April on record. Data from NOAAGlobalTempv6.1.0. 🧪🛠️🌊
This change is bad for public health. We know that people near roads are exposed to high local concentrations of pollution from vehicles, and emissions inspections lower that exposure. www.newsobserver.com/news/local/c...
The EPA grants North Carolina’s request to end vehicle emissions testing
Annual inspections would end in 18 counties, including Wake, Durham and Johnston, but continue in Mecklenburg under state law.
newsobserver.com
Really delighted to see that the City of Raleigh has released a native plant guide to help developers choose trees and shrubs that will thrive and provide good habitat: cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/...
cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net
From the article, in a nutshell: "When you roll back these climate targets, you introduce instability for the business community that was producing some of the least cost power in the state — that happened to be clean." www.eenews.net/articles/nor...
North Carolina’s pause on solar spurred by climate rollback
The Legislature last year eliminated a 2030 deadline to cut emissions. Environmentalists say the move opened the door for the state to soft-pedal its clean
eenews.net
These are lousy rules: "...the rules do not require dischargers to achieve specific reductions in pollution. They set no numeric discharge limits, no required percentage cuts over time, and no fixed deadlines for reducing discharges into waterways..." portcitydaily.com/latest-news/...
‘No limits, no accountability’: Area residents rebuke state’s proposed PFAS, 1,4 dioxane rules | Port City Daily
WILMINGTON — State regulators faced sharp opposition this week during a public hearing on proposed PFAS and 1,4-dioxane rules, as residents raised concerns about the lack of enforceable limits…
portcitydaily.com
Global warming is making the strongest hurricanes stronger yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/04/glob...
Global warming is making the strongest hurricanes stronger » Yale Climate Connections
Recent studies link human-caused warming to more powerful, more destructive storms worldwide.
yaleclimateconnections.org
Bad news - we'll soon blow through the carbon budget for stabilizing global temperature at 1.5C Good news - progress on clean energy suggests it is possible to stabilize by 2C www.nature.com/articles/s41... What does the science say? Neither is a magic threshold. Every bit of warming matters.
Global carbon emissions and decarbonization in 2025 - Nature Reviews Earth & Environment
Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes increased by +0.7% within 2025. However, large-scale deployment of clean electricity sources during the year avoided 10.3 Gt o...
nature.com
Raleigh ties the all time record high for this date: 92 degrees: 20 degrees above the 'normal' high.
Not only was March 2026 Colorado’s hottest March on record, it was Colorado’s hottest month compared to average on record (since 1895). Colorado’s statewide temp of 46.8° last month was 13.1° above average, the biggest monthly temp anomaly on record. By far. Unreal. #COwx
What if Duke Energy shared the burden of fuel costs with its customers? ncnewsline.com/2026/04/06/w...
What if Duke Energy shared the burden of fuel costs with its customers? • NC Newsline
Advocates want North Carolina to join the handful of other states that require electric utilities to absorb a fraction of fossil fuel prices — rather than saddling customers with all of them, as the c...
ncnewsline.com
Many weather stations across the southern two thirds of the U.S. are already logging a record number of 80°F (and even 85°F+) days this year. This really highlights to me the extreme nature of the warmth in March, with many areas already seeing summer-like heat. Graphic from: sercc.com
Arctic winter sea ice matches record low for the second year in a row, say scientists phys.org/news/2026-03...
Arctic winter sea ice matches record low for the second year in a row, say scientists
For the second consecutive year, winter sea ice in the Arctic reached a level that matches the lowest peak observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979. On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached...
phys.org
The World Meteorological Organization report on the State of the Global Climate 2025 was released today: "Earth's energy imbalance has been growing since the 1960s, reaching a record high in 2025." "Extreme weather impacts millions and costs billions." Press release: wmo.int/news/media-c...
Once again, scientists turn out to be right about climate change. Being able to say, "Told you so," still feels like an unsatisfactory result, of course. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/22/c...
The Balance That Keeps Climate Stable Is Out of Whack, U.N. Report Finds
nytimes.com
Have you heard about the mega-heat over the western half of the Lower 48 over the last week? Would you believe that the nationwide March departure from normal prior to the previous week was nearly as warm (+7.6F vs +6.8F)?
It is hard to say it any simpler than this report does: wmo.int/news/media-c...
Earth’s climate swings increasingly out of balance
Geneva, Switzerland (WMO) – The Earth’s climate is more out of balance than at any time in observed history, as greenhouse gas concentrations drive continued warming of the atmosphere and ocean and me...
wmo.int
Though it may surprise East Coasters, the story of this winter was not record cold but record heat
No U.S. states had a record cold winter. Nine had a record hot one
Though it may surprise East Coasters, the story of this winter was not record cold but record heat
scientificamerican.com
Yikes! Good news for North Carolina, if I'm reading the graphic correctly - our baseline estimates didn't suffer much from this error. (The ocean is however rising rapidly along our coast).
The New York Times@nytimes.com · 6mo agoBreaking News: Scientists have been using methods that underestimated how high sea levels already are, a new study found. One result is that hundreds of millions more people are already living dangerously close to the rising ocean than Western scientists had previously estimated.
This lays out the argument for targeted buyouts really well. coastalreview.org/2026/03/opin...
Opinion: After 31 houses fall into the ocean, a viable way out | Coastal Review
Guest commentary: As the Atlantic claims more than 30 homes since 2020, it's past time to shift from the cycle of federal subsidies and reactive cleanups toward insurance reforms and proactive retreat...
coastalreview.org
NC objects to unwise harbor deepening project, in a "powerful reminder of what responsible stewardship looks like." insideclimatenews.org/news/2502202...
North Carolina Regulators Nix $1.2 Billion Federal Proposal to Dredge Wilmington Harbor - Inside Climate News
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to explain how it would mitigate environmental harms, including PFAS contamination.
insideclimatenews.org
Key point: “As mold’s ideal conditions grow more prevalent, it remains a big gray area in public knowledge, and both state and federal policy.” Sounds like better protections for renters would be a good start.
Grist@grist.org · 6mo agoA hotter, wetter South is becoming a breeding ground for mold