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OCRACOKE – The N.C. Department of Transportation has awarded an emergency $1.7 million contract to repair damage to N.C. 12 that occurred on Ocracoke Island during a weeklong period of high tides and ocean overwash in September.
The contract was awarded to Barnhill Contracting of Rocky Mount and includes placing sandbags on the ocean side of the highway, rebuilding the protective dune line, and repairing pavement damage. The damage all occurred between Sept. 18 to 24 due to severe ocean overwash caused by a combination of seasonal high tides, strong northeast winds and long-form waves from Hurricane Teddy.
Construction is expected to begin within the next two weeks and last through March. Motorists can expect periodic lane closures during the construction process.
To catch up on Ocracoke news and much more, click here
Monday, Oct. 5: The Hyde County Board of Commissioners meet virtually tonight in the Hyde County Government Center, Multi-Use Room, Swan Quarter.
Prior to this regular monthly meeting, the commissioners will hold a workshop to discuss the County’s Solar Energy Facilities Ordinance starting at 3:30 p.m.
Public viewing of the hearing and meeting will be available via livestreaming on the Hyde County Public Information Facebook page.
The live stream will begin when the meeting is called to order. You do not need to be a Facebook member to view the live stream. You can access Hyde County’s Facebook page by going to the following website https://www.facebook.com/HydeCountyNC.
We are accepting public comments for all meetings and hearings via a web submission at https://forms.gle/qWzxU8EXfaQDahWp6, by sending an email to dshumate@hydecountync.gov, or by leaving a voicemail at 252-926-5288. Submissions must be received at least one hour prior to the start of the meeting.
The agenda is below.
Tuesday, Oct. 6:The Hyde County Board of Education will hold a special meeting via Zoom at 2 p.m., with the purpose of the board reviewing and discussing re-opening the schools to students due to the amount of information necessary to consider. There will be no public comment segment, votes or actions taken at this meeting. Those agenda items will take place during the regular meeting which begins at 5 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 9, is voter registration deadline. You can register to vote online, by mail, postmarked by Oct. 9, or in person at the Board of Elections Office in the Public Safety Center in Swan Quarter.
After this regular voter registration deadline, you can register and vote in person at one-stop sites during the early voting period, which runs from Thursday, Oct. 15, to Saturday, Oct. 31.
This process is known as same-day registration. Same-day registrants must attest to their eligibility and provide proof of residence.
Within two business days, the county board of elections will review the registration and the registrant’s address. Your vote will be counted unless the county board of elections determines that you are not qualified to vote.
For more details about voting in the upcoming general election, click here.
Joebell flowers in Community Square. Photo: C. Leinbach
By Pat Garber
One of the first things I remember from my early years at Ocracoke was the presence of joebells, lovely red and yellow flowers that grew wild on the island. I loved the story folks here told about a love-sick, heartbroken man named Joe Bell who lived at Ocracoke in the early part of the 20th century.
The legend said that he had brought the seeds to the island and scattered them in his yard and across the village in honor of his love, hoping to win her back. Sadly, she did not return to her lover, but the flowers flourished and spread. They still grow here.
After I bought my home Marsh Haven in 1995, I knew that I wanted to grow joebells in my yard. I had since learned that they are actually a strain of Gaillardia, known in other parts of the country as Indian blanket flower.
I have since planted joebells in my gardens numerous times, either transplanting flowers that I found elsewhere or sowing Gaillardia seeds. I have never had any success, so I finally gave up.
After Hurricane Dorian wreaked havoc on my house and destroyed my yard and gardens, including flowers and shrubs that I had planted just the spring before, I vowed never to try to garden here again. Several friends offered to share some of their plants, but I shook my head adamantly.
Months passed as I tried to find ways to get my house repaired, but I did nothing in my yard. Then one day last week, my house still in ruins, I went into my backyard to find a piece of wood.
I stopped abruptly. I stared in shock and amazement. There, blooming luxuriantly between my house and my fence, grew a whole array of joebells–an extravaganza of brilliant red and yellow.
Hurricane Dorian had planted joebells for me, a token of apology, perhaps for all the damage. Maybe even a token of love.
On Sept. 8, President Donald J. Trump signed an order prohibiting offshore leasing for energy exploration, development or production off the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Trump said Sept. 25 during an event he would add North Carolina and Virginia to the moratorium.
“The withdrawal includes all energy leasing, including conventional and renewable energy, beginning on July 1, 2022,” Stephen Boutwell, BOEM spokesperson, told Coastal Review Online Wednesday. “No new leases will be issued offshore North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, for a 10-year period beginning July 1, 2022.”
Trump signed the memorandum Sept. 25 that states, “I hereby withdraw from disposition by leasing for 10 years, beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032: The portion of the area designated by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management as the Mid Atlantic Planning Area that lies south of the northern administrative boundary of North Carolina,” as that administrative boundary depicted on the Atlantic NAD 83 Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Administrative Boundaries map. The memorandum does not appear to include Virginia.
The memorandum also states, “This withdrawal prevents consideration of this area for any leasing for purposes of exploration, development, or production during the 10-year period beginning on July 1, 2022, and ending on June 30, 2032.”
The move to prohibit renewable energy is counter to a June 2017 proclamation from the White House. “Today, our offshore areas remain underutilized and often unexplored. We have yet to fully leverage new technologies and unleash the forces of economic innovation to more fully develop and explore our ocean economy. In the field of energy, we have just begun to tap the potential of our oceans’ oil and gas, wind, wave, and tidal resources to power the Nation,” according to the proclamation.
The president announced Sept. 8 in Jupiter, Florida, the order to extend an earlier moratorium on offshore drilling on Florida’s Gulf Coast and expand it to Florida’s Atlantic Coast, as well as the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina. North Carolina and Virginia were not included.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced Sept. 21 that he had spoken with Trump who agreed North Carolina would be included in the presidential memorandum withdrawing new leasing for offshore oil and gas developments. Trump did not immediately confirm Tillis’ announcement.
National Ocean Industries Association, or NOIA, President Erik Milito told Coastal Review Online Wednesday that the interest and optimism in Atlantic offshore wind projects cannot be understated, and this includes opportunities offshore of the Carolinas.
“BOEM previously identified three proposed wind areas, not to mention one active lease offshore North Carolina, and four call areas offshore South Carolina. Wood Mackenzie published a report last month on the impact of expected near-term offshore wind leases, and a lease block offshore the Carolinas was included. That lease sale was predicted to support 37,000 jobs annually and $44.9 billion in total capital investment. The market is ready, it is just a matter of access,” he said.
Andrew Hutson, Audubon North Carolina executive director and National Audubon Society vice president, said in a statement Tuesday that “Banning offshore wind despite growing demand makes no sense and will be devastating for North Carolina’s clean energy economy, businesses, and workers. It’s bad news for birds too. When properly sited, wind power not only coexists with birds — it makes wildlife populations and local communities more resilient by cutting down on harmful carbon pollution.”
Sharon Martin, spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Quality, told Coastal Review Online Wednesday that North Carolina will continue to implement and remains committed to Executive Order 80 and transitioning the state to a clean energy economy, which includes achieving a 70% reduction in power sector GHG emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.
“The NC Clean Energy Plan is a roadmap of actions to help NC achieve those goals,” she said. “The state continues to implement the NC Clean Energy Plan, NC Zero-Emission Vehicle Plan, and other aspects of EO 80 and we will continue working to take advantage of the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy, while protecting coastal communities from the threat of offshore drilling.”
According to the Sept. 25 memorandum, “nothing in this withdrawal affects the rights under existing leases in the withdrawn areas,” which would include Avangrid Renewables’ Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind project that will be developed more than 27 miles from the Outer Banks.
Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind is a proposed offshore wind energy project to be built in the Kitty Hawk Wind Energy Area, designated by BOEM. The commercial lease for the 122,405-acre area was awarded to Avangrid Renewables by BOEM in 2017. The company, which has been studying the area since, launched in July an advanced meteorological buoy, according to the clean energy company headquartered in Portland, Oregon.
Once complete, Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind is projected to have a generation capacity of up to 2,500 megawatts, or enough to power about 700,000 homes.
BOEM since 2009 has been responsible for offshore renewable energy development in federal waters. The program began when the Department of the Interior, or DOI, announced the final regulations for the Outer Continental Shelf Renewable Energy Program authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These regulations provide a framework for all of the activities needed to support production and transmission of energy from sources other than oil and natural gas, according to BOEM. These include offshore wind energy, ocean wave energy, ocean current energy and offshore solar.
This isn’t the first roadblock for offshore wind energy production.
In August 2019, the Department of the Interior formally decided to delay Vineyard Wind, the first large-scale offshore wind energy project in the U.S. planned for 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, to conduct a supplemental study.
The decision contrasts with bipartisan support for offshore wind from federal and state officials, according to the American Wind Energy Association.
“The Department of the Interior’s regrettable decision to further delay the review of the Vineyard Wind project undermines the Trump administration’s American energy dominance agenda and a major U.S. economic growth opportunity. Offshore wind development is expected to result in a $70 billion investment into the American energy supply chain,” said Tom Kiernan, AWEA CEO, in a statement at the time.
In February of this year, the Trump administration provided a revised Vineyard Wind Offshore Wind Facility permitting timeline. The permits will be issued by the EPA in March of 2021, pushing completion well past the intended 2022 date.
Trump has made false statements about wind turbines in the past, particularly about those on land, stating that if the wind stops blowing, your power will turn off. He has said that turbines kill birds including Bald Eagles and that production of the turbines in China and Germany creates “tremendous fumes.” He said few are made in the United States.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, wind energy is fed into the U.S. power grid via transmission lines that connect a variety of energy sources. “Grid operators use the interconnected power system to access other forms of generation when contingencies occur and continually turn generators on and off when needed to meet the overall grid demand.”
The EPA also states that birds and bats are only occasionally killed in collisions with wind turbines and that bird kills are limited to less than 0.02% of the total populations of songbird species, “and orders of magnitude less than other causes.”
Also, most components of wind turbines installed in the United States are manufactured in the county, according to the EPA.
The Department of Energy did not respond to Coastal Review Online’s request for comment for this report.
The American Wind Energy Association declined to comment.
Jennifer Allen
Jennifer Allen of Swansboro has been a member of the CRO staff since 2017.
This shot of the debris mountain in the NPS parking lot following Hurricane Dorian destruction is one of several of Ann Ehringhaus’s photos on view in the Photoville Pecha Kucha outdoor exhibit in Durham Oct. 6 to Nov. 15.
Ocracoke’s Ann Ehringhaus is one of eight regional artists who will be featured in the nationwide outdoor Photoville Pecha Kucha Event exhibit in Durham Oct. 6 to Nov. 15.
The artwork is on a vinyl banner in the green space between Main Street and Chapel Hill Street adjacent to City Hall and the historic Black Wall Street district.
Photoville FENCE is a year-round public photography project exhibited in major parks and downtowns throughout the United States and Canada.
It spotlights a wide range of photographic and lens-based stories that elevates the understanding of the world-at-large and issues close to home by exploring the universal themes of people, streets, play, creatures, home, food and nature.
Durham’s participation is part of the Click! Photography Festival in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.
“My images are in the category of Home and show many empty or unusual spaces on Ocracoke after Dorian,” Ehringhaus said. “No people are shown. I was and am deeply affected by the empty spaces and all the memories they hold.”
Ehringhaus will participate in an artist webinar about their work at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17. To participate and learn more about the exhibition, visit online https://clickphotofest.org.
FENCE was conceived and produced by Photoville in partnership with Photo District News and the first edition was exhibited in Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2012.
The project has grown since then through strategic partnerships with civic and cultural organizations across North America.
Other cities exhibiting this fall are Atlanta, Denver, Houston and Seattle.
The Hyde County Sheriff’s office reports that Ocracoke continues to enjoy a relatively calm fall.
Although a more party crowd showed up on the island in August bringing some loud carrying-on, said Captain Jason Daniels. That resulted in drunk and disruptive charges levied on two folks in the period from Aug. 16 to Sept. 15.
Daniels also reported the following infractions:
One minor vehicle crash; one dog bite after which the dog was quarantined. Daniels said the dog’s rabies shots were up to date.
There was one simple possession of marijuana; three larcenies; and one DWI.
The deputies have issued a number of traffic violations, particularly underage drivers at the wheel of golf carts and some speeding tickets.
Daniels noted that the electronic speed detection signs around the village are helping.
“If that sign can slow you down and keep us from writing you a ticket, that’s great,” he said.
The Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department reported the following calls in the same period:
The Hyde County Sheriff’s office reports that Ocracoke continues to enjoy a relatively calm fall.
Although a more party crowd showed up on the island in August bringing some loud carrying-on, said Captain Jason Daniels. That resulted in drunk and disruptive charges levied on two folks in the period from Aug. 16 to Sept. 15.
Daniels also reported the following infractions:
One minor vehicle crash; one dog bite after which the dog was quarantined. Daniels said the dog’s rabies shots were up to date.
There was one simple possession of marijuana; three larcenies; and one DWI.
The deputies have issued a number of traffic violations, particularly underage drivers at the wheel of golf carts and some speeding tickets.
Daniels noted that the electronic speed detection signs around the village are helping.
“If that sign can slow you down and keep us from writing you a ticket, that’s great,” he said.
The Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department reported the following calls in the same period:
A chicken dinner fundraiser starting at 5 p.m. Friday (Oct. 2) will benefit the rebuilding of the Ocracoke United Methodist Church. Photo: C. Leinbach
The barbecue chicken dinner fundraiser to benefit the building fund of the United Methodist Church will be held today starting at 5 p.m. outside the church.
The church has been raised up and now needs money to finish the job. Proceeds of the dinner will go toward the fund.
Raleigh–Citing stable numbers of COVID-19 cases, Gov. Roy Cooper today announced that North Carolina would go to Phase 3 at 5 p.m. Friday.
The state will cautiously ease some restrictions for three weeks, from Oct. 2 through Oct. 23, while continuing safety measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 as the state’s metrics remained stable.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of Health & Human Services, reported that while COVID-like cases still show a slight increase, the state’s lab confirmations, testing and hospitalization rates have been level.
The trajectory in percent of tests returning positive is level.
“I believe that North Carolina can do this safely. But so I am clear, every gathering carries the risk of spreading this disease. Being safe means being smart and making sure others around you are doing the same,” Cooper said. “If you’re still at high-risk, you’re still safer at home. If you’re going out, do what works — wear a mask, keep social distancing, wash your hands often and don’t patronize or go to places where people aren’t doing that.”
Cooper said his top priority is getting children back to in-person learning.
“This month marks a major shift for many families now and in the coming months as schools open their doors, some for the first time since the pandemic,” Cooper said. “The virus continues to spread, so we must take the next steps methodically, and responsibly.”
Phase three allows for the following:
Large outdoor venues with seating greater than 10,000 may operate with 7% occupancy for spectators.
Smaller outdoor entertainment venues, like arenas or amphitheaters, may operate outdoors at 30% of outdoor capacity, or 100 guests, whichever is less.
Movie theaters and conference centers may open indoor spaces to 30% of capacity, or 100 guests, whichever is less.
Bars may operate outdoors at 30% of outdoor capacity, or 100 guests, whichever is less.
Amusement parks may open at 30% occupancy, outdoor attractions only.
The limits on mass gatherings will remain at 25 people indoors and 50 people outdoors.
The 11 p.m. curfew on alcohol sales for in-person consumption in locations such as restaurants and outdoor bars will be extended to Oct. 23.
State and public health officials will continue watching the key COVID-19 trends over the next several weeks to determine if any further restrictions can be eased when the current Executive Order expires Oct. 23.
The Ocracoke Health Center flu shot clinic will begin on Thursday and not on Wednesday as previously reported.
The Health Center had a problem getting the correct shots, Amanda Cochran, R.N., said Tuesday in an email. The flu shots destined for the Ocracoke Health Center were delayed by the recent inclement weather, Cochran said in a Sept. 25 email.
Today, she reported that although the health center received flu shots on Monday, they were not usable and were re-ordered, but not in time to be distributed tomorrow (Wednesday).
“We will still do Thursday and Friday as scheduled,1:30 to 4:30 p.m. barring any (other) unforeseen circumstances,” she said.
