Bad news for the state of our state's environment -  a House committee voted Tuesday to eliminate the state program that monitors and enforces clean air regulations at the urging of the state's major polluters.

Read the full story here.

North Carolina ranks 8th in the nation for emissions of mercury, a neurotoxin that comes from coal-burning power plants and can cause birth defects.

The federal data was released today by Environment North Carolina, a Raleigh group that's highlighting mercury emissions figures as it pushes for strict controls of the pollutant.

Mercury is classified as a hazardous air pollutant but it is not regulated at the federal level. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose a standard in March. Environment North Carolina is pushing for a 90 percent reduction in nationwide mercury emissions.

More than a few drivers have been irked by a rules change implemented this week at DMV, where car owners are being told to pay for repeat safety and emissions inspections of vehicles that were checked just a few months ago.

DMV changed the rules Monday, saying now that your inspection is good only if it came no more than 90 days before the deadline to renew your car registration. This conflicts with DMV's pledge that nobody will be forced to get two inspections within 12 months.

Henry Martin of Charlotte called a toll-free DMV number (877-421-0020). Tracy Keel, who oversees DMV inspections, had promised N&O and Charlotte Observer readers that operators would solve such problems.

No such luck, Martin said. ... [MORE]

Progress Energy today proposed shutting down 11 coal-burning power plants in the state, a move that signals the beginning of the end of the dirty coal era that has defined the state's electricity production for decades.

The Raleigh-based electric utility is moving to shutter older coal-burning plants as it becomes increasingly expensive to retrofit aging facilities to trap pollution. Additionally, power companies across the country are anticipating stringent greenhouse gas restrictions to be imposed soon by Congress that will have the effect of penalizing coal-dependent utilities like Progress.

More than half the state's electricity is produced by coal, an abundant domestic source of energy that's lost favor because it emits carbon dioxide, believed to be a major contributor to global warming. The United States has more than 200 years of coal reserves, but in recent years dozens of power companies have scrapped plans to build new coal power plants in the environmental backlash against global warming.

A bill setting a Jan. 15, 2011 deadline for draft regulations to clean and protect Falls Lake won approval by the state Senate's environment committee this morning.

The bill also provides for temporary regulations to take effect on the same date, and strengthened erosion-control measures taking effect Dec. 1 of this year.

Wake County Sen. Josh Stein said the much-revised bill, H 1099, is a "win-win" proposition, giving the state Division of Water Quality the extra time it wanted to devise a pollution-reduction plan while providing interim protection for the lake that provides 435,000 Wake County residents with drinking water.

The bill is due for a hearing by the Senate finance committee before going to the floor for a vote. While an earlier version passed the state House in May, due to subsequent revisions a final form must be settled in conference and approved by both houses.

Stein said both Durham and Raleigh had "signed off" on the version of H 1099 heard this morning. The two communities had previously favored different deadlines for the permanent rules, which were ordered by legislative action in 2005 and originally due for Environmental Management Commission review in 2008.

We're six months into a confusing transition period between the old way and the new way NC DMV handles car safety and emissions inspections.

How's it going for you and your car?

In November, DMV stopped issuing windshield stickers as proof of inspections, and switched to a new schedule that will shift everybody's inspection date to the same month they renew their car registrations.

I'd like to know how this transition is working. Please let me hear from you at 919-829-4527 or by e-mail at bruce.siceloff@newsobserver.com. Don't forget to include your name and daytime contact info. Did you get your car inspected on time, or did you blow it off? Are you clear about when your inspection is due?

After the change is phased in by November 2011, inspection and registration will be due the same month for every car. Drivers will be required to have current inspections before they get new or renewed registrations.

In the interim, some people will be allowed to go longer than a year between inspections -- some 13 months, some as much as 23 months -- until the two dates are synchronized for everybody.

North Carolinians will say good-bye to windshield inspection stickers starting Saturday.

The Division of Motor Vehicles is starting a new program to synchronize annual renewal dates for car inspections and registration.

The old program:

Most cars had one monthly deadline for emissions and safety inspections, and another deadline for renewing their registrations. . . .

The state Division of Motor Vehicles needs an extra month to prepare for the change to a new vehicle inspection system, so North Carolina drivers won’t say goodbye to windshield inspection stickers until November.

DMV’s planned new program for safety and emissions inspections  will end the use of windshield stickers that remind drivers when their next inspections are due.

The big changes are:
- You won't get a windshield sticker again,
- Your inspection and registration renewal deadlines will be synchronized so they fall in the same month, and
- You'll be reminded to get your inspection before DMV will issue a new license tag or renew your old one.

DMV had planned to start the change, and to stop putting new windshield stickers on cars, with inspections that take place after Oct. 1.  But some inspection stations have not yet installed computer equipment needed for the change, so DMV officials said today the change will be postponed to Nov. 1.

As the Road Worrier reported today ("DMV system to wipe out inspection stickers"), drivers will see changes in the safety and emissions inspection program, starting Oct. 1.

Unfortunately, today's print edition omitted lots of helpful, important details (the technical term for this is: big screw-up).

We've added the missing material as sidebars to the online story, but I'll repeat it below, too. Some readers have asked today about online registration, so I've added info about that below.

The big changes are:
- You won't get a windshield sticker again,
- Your inspection and registration renewal deadlines will be synchronized so they fall in the same month, and
- You'll have to get your inspection before DMV will issue a new license tag or renew your old one.

Keep reading below for details about how the inspection program works now -- and how it will change in the future. ...

A controversial sewage pumping station on polluted Lick Creek got sent back to the drawing board this morning by Durham's Development Review Board.

Lick Creek is in far-eastern Durham County and flows into Falls Lake, reservoir for the city of Raleigh.

City/County planning director Steve Medlin said there was no date set for a re-hearing. The earliest the pumping station plan could come back for development review is Sept. 5.