The Southern Environmental Law Center has released its 5th annual list of Top 10 Endangered Places in the Southeast, and three places in North Carolina are on the list — Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Cape Fear Basin and Courthouse Creek.

Three environmental groups whose lawsuit led to restrictions on beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore criticized legislation Friday that would roll back beach access restrictions aimed at protecting the nests of rare turtles and shore birds.

U.S. Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr of North Carolina are sponsoring a bill similar to legislation filed earlier by Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina, to restore vehicle and pedestrian access that has been curtailed along miles of Outer Banks beaches. In a House subcommittee hearing Friday morning, Jones said the National Park Service beach access restrictions have hurt the Outer Banks tourism eonomy.

The National Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife and the Southern Environmental Law Center filed comments on Jones' bill with the House National Parks Subcommittee (attached to this blog post, below) and issued this statement on the Burr-Hagan Senate bill: ... [MORE]

The Southern Environmental Law Center released its Top 10 Most Endangered Places today, and three are in North Carolina — Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, Snowbird Mountains, and the Cape Fear Basin.

The Southern Environmental Law Center hasn't decided what to do next about its twice-denied petition on the Jordan Lake watershed, SELC attorney Kay Bond said today.

 During Monday's meeting of the Durham County commissioners, County Attorney Lowell Siler said he expected a lawsuit to come over the City/County Planning Department's ruling that the petition is invalid.

"We have not given any indication to Mr. Siler that we would do that," Bond said.

The Haw River Assembly isn't giving up its fight against changing a watershed boundary line for Jordan Lake.

The Assembly and the Southern Environmental Law Center claim that the Durham City-County Planning Department erred in ruling its protest petition invalid. They want the county to acknowledge the change did not win county commissioners' approval by a 3-2 vote Oct. 12.