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Economic Development

EMC sends PFAS-testing rule out for comment

State regulators have the green light to begin taking public comment on a rules package that would force some industrial businesses and sewer-plant operators to test for the three best-known types of PFAS. The proposed rules package also would require affected businesses that find the compounds in their samples to...

By Ray Gronberg

January 9, 2026

Moore “looks forward” to Trump housing proposal

Folks around the capitol will remember that back in 2023, the late Mecklenburg County state Rep. Kelly Alexander proposed a bill to counter the rise of Wall Street ownership of single-family homes. This quickly got pigeonholed by then-House Speaker Tim Moore, who told reporters the 100-home limit Alexander proposed was...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2026

Regulators seek to resurrect livestock-farm rules

Division of Water Resources officials are going to try resurrecting a trio of restrictions on hog, chicken and cattle growers that state appellate judges struck down because they hadn’t gone through a formal rulemaking process. This time around, they’ll try to convince the Environmental Management Commission — and perhaps the...

By Ray Gronberg

January 8, 2026

Near-record number of new business in 2025

The year just past saw the second-highest number of new-business creations on record for North Carolina, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall says. In 2025, Marshall’s office registered 171,244 new incorporations, which the state bettered only in 2021, she said. The numbers continue a post-pandemic spike in new-business filings that’s bemused...

By Ray Gronberg

January 7, 2026

Congress may refine Trump’s supersonic push

Congress may not let the Trump administration have the last word on the legalization of supersonic flight over U.S. soil. Before the holidays, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reported out H.R. 3410, the “Supersonic Aviation Modernization Act.” Its co-sponsors include several members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation —...

By Ray Gronberg

December 31, 2025

Duke seeks NRC approval to base reactors at Belews Creek

Duke Energy has asked federal regulators to approve the idea of using part of its Belews Creek property in Stokes County as the site for a set of small nuclear reactors. The utility on Tuesday applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an “early site permit,” which entails reviewing...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2025

Dominion, Trump aides battle over wind project

A federal judge has delayed until mid-January a hearing on Dominion Energy’s request that he block a Trump administration stop-work order targeting the utility’s $11.2 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. U.S. District Court Judge Jamar Walker’s ruling came at the administration’s urging, and he’s already rejected Dominion’s request that...

By Ray Gronberg

December 30, 2025

Feds bar imports of new-model drones

Here in the Triangle, we’ve been watching DJI-made drones disappear from the shelves of Best Buy and other consumer-electronics stores amid rumors of an upcoming federal ban. Store managers replaced them with variously-branded knockoffs, which like DJI’s are likely made in China or other Asian countries. But even that strategy...

By Ray Gronberg

December 24, 2025

US suspends active offshore wind leases; Dominion warns of threat to jobs

The Trump administration has ordered a suspension of work on five offshore wind energy projects, including Dominion Energy’s $11.2 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind development. U.S. Department of the Interior officials announced Monday morning that they’d “paused” federal leases for the projects. They cited as the reason “emerging national security...

By Ray Gronberg

December 23, 2025

Solar or nukes? Duke critics question priorities

Duke Energy’s long-range development plans are underselling solar power and overselling the prospects of building more nuclear reactors, critics of the utility say. The argument comes from Sam Grote and Jim Warren, who lead the N.C. Business Impact Forum and NC WARN, respectively. Grote contends that Duke’s proposed Carolinas Resource Plan...

By Ray Gronberg

December 19, 2025

Infrastructure help on way for Chimney Rock, other mountain towns

Chimney Rock is getting nearly $11.9 million in aid for water and sewer infrastructure as it continues to recover from Hurricane Helene, Gov. Josh Stein’s office says. The awards — federal disaster relief money channeled through the state government — are part of a broader package totaling about $280 million....

By Ray Gronberg

December 12, 2025

No right to repair in defense bill

Multiple reports indicate that Congress has dropped the idea of adopting subjecting military contractors to a “right to repair” law via an upcoming defense-spending bill. Star & Stripes, the Federal News Network, Wired and The Intercept all reported that language implementing the concept got stripped from the National Defense Authorization...

By Ray Gronberg

December 12, 2025

Fiscal Research sees a cloudy economic picture

Legislative staffers are expecting pretty much all the state’s key economic indicators to slow in fiscal 2026-27 — just in time for next year’s mid-term elections. Their reckoning, based on numbers obtained from Moody’s Analytics, is that the average unemployment rate in North Carolina for the upcoming fiscal year will increase...

By Ray Gronberg

December 10, 2025

Boom finds AI customer for its engine tech

The jet engines Boom Supersonic’s designing for the airliners it wants to build in Greensboro may wind up powering data centers first. Boom announced Tuesday that it’s gotten an order from San Francisco-based Crusoe Inc. for 29 “Superpower” turbines for use in AI data centers. Crusoe has projects in store...

By Ray Gronberg

December 10, 2025

Tillis: Highlight the business case for renewables

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, of course, was on hand for Monday’s Clean Energy Champions luncheon not so much to talk about his future but to discuss the uncertain times facing renewable energy technology. He counseled pragmatism and a strong, business-oriented focus. Doing the “right thing” in the sector, by itself,...

By Ray Gronberg

December 9, 2025