Protecting the environment should be port priority

(Part 8…and Last...in a Series)

More than 40 years ago, the Carteret County Land Use Plan was updated to address port development on Radio Island.

 

Reviewing that document from 1985 might be a helpful starting point for further discussion about the future of Radio Island and the North Carolina State Ports Authority.

It was noted: “A proposal in late 1981, for development of a coal storage and loading facility on Radio Island sparked opposition from interested parties” in Carteret County.

“The lack of adequate rail access and the potential environmental problems associated with coal…led to the preparation of an Area Development Plan (ADP) for Radio Island.” It was approved by a task force appointed by North Carolina Gov. James G. Martin. Participants represented local governments and appropriate departments of state government.

 

“As part of its study of the Radio Island issue, the task force also oversaw a study of rail transportation problems associated with the movement of large quantities of bulk goods through the SPA (State Ports Authority).”

 

 

“A study of the problem by the N.C. Department of Transportation concluded that the movement of in excess of 3 million tons of coal per year through Morehead City would cause serious delays and interruptions to the community that simply were not acceptable.”

The county planning commission responded by recommending that any port development on Radio Island require a “special use permit.” The SPA would, therefore, guarantee that any proposed industrial use “will not materially endanger the public health, public safety, adjacent water and air resources or environment.”

Further, the proposed use “will not substantially injure the value of adjoining or abutting property” and “will be in harmony with the area in which it is to be located.”

Additional language in the document reinforced the vital importance of prohibiting any project that could potentially “have an adverse environmental impact on water and air resources.”

 Lessons learned? 

An editorial from the Oct. 4, 2023, edition of the Carteret County News-Times reminds readers that in recent memory there have been at least three occasions when “the Ports Authority has attempted to foist expansion opportunities that were explosive, noxious and controversial, including an anhydrous ammonia facility, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage operation (2000-01) and most recently, a sulfur smelting operation (2011).”

“In each of these cases the port faced aggressive reaction from the county.” Some folks were downright “Sufur-ious” and had lime-green T-shirts printed up.

 

“In the case of the smelter facility, which was to be located right next door to the Morehead City Yacht Basin, the public outcry was so significant that Gov. Beverly Perdue conducted a press conference in one of the port warehouses to apologize for what was a surreptitious effort to build the smelter,” the editorial continued.

 

“The ports authority had intentionally avoided any public notice about the smelter facility and was only stopped once a final notice was mailed to the only contiguous property owner, which happened to be the yacht basin.”

Looking forward: Without question, the Morehead City port is a valuable asset in the state’s economic development toolbox. 

For years, Don Kirkman, the county’s former economic developer (now retired), tried his best to broker a workable deal for the best use of the port’s underutilized property on Radio Island.

 

Kirkman frequently remarked that Morehead City is the most favorable port on the East Coast when it comes to “accessibility and convenience, located only four miles from open ocean with an authorized depth of 45 feet.”

Maybe the hangup is the “industrial use” requirement tag that the Ports Authority has been clinging to all these years.

 

Port-community relations: a bit of a checkered past

Some 25 years ago, scientists at the North Carolina Coastal Federation called attention to a troubling situation regarding utilization of the Morehead City port.

A major article within the Coastal Federation’s 2001 “State of the Coast” report carried the subhead: “Surprise announcements and poor siting of industries result in heartburn for citizens and headaches for economic developers. Can citizens really be blamed for challenging projects that are designed to fail?”

 

In 2001, the Coastal Federation, under the leadership of Executive Director Todd Miller, addressed the North Carolina State Ports Authority’s propensity for sneaky behavior…and Carteret County’s need to keep a watchful eye.

 

The article said: “Local citizens have been wary of hazardous substances ever since the USNS Potomac exploded on Sept. 26, 1961.” 

The 640-foot tanker, carrying 101,000 gallons of aviation gasoline and JP-5 jet fuel, caught fire while discharging its load to storage tanks on Radio Island. A news account said: “Black smoke and flames boiled more than 1,000 feet into the air.”

 

The Coastal Federation advanced the calendar to the spring of 1978 when “Gov. Jim Hunt flew to the coast to make a surprise announcement that a Texas firm planned to build the second largest liquid propane gas (LPG) facility in the nation on Radio Island.” The news was received with community outrage.

 

“There had been no public discussion of the question before Hunt’s announcement here. At least one local mayor had no idea why Hunt was in town before he joined the governor on the podium.”

John Costlow, who was director of the Duke Marine Laboratory at the time, uncovered research data contained within a 1978 U.S. General Accounting Office report: 

“Liquefied energy gas storage tanks, ships, trucks and railroad cars were dangerously vulnerable to catastrophic fires and explosions that could result from accident or sabotage. Large storage facilities for LPG and liquefied natural gas (LNG) should be built away from populated areas.”

 

The Coastal Federation article commented: “That fall, Costlow hosted a public forum that drew more than 300 concerned citizens to the Duke Marine Lab auditorium to discuss the hazards of LPG. Shortly thereafter, Gov. Hunt withdrew his support for the project, and it was never built.”

 

The Coastal Federation said: “Citizens are generally left out of economic development decisions. While state law provides citizens with access to public records…the law draws the line at industrial development projects that are considered to be confidential. Until the surprise announcement is made that a new industry is coming to town, citizens are kept in the dark.”

“When kept out of a process that affects their community, citizens often become agitated. Environmental issues and community concerns are often glossed over in the site selection process.”

The Coastal Federation sent forth this message in 2001: 

“Attracting industry to an ecologically sensitive region like eastern North Carolina requires extra care. The environmental suitability of an industrial site must be evaluated in advance, not after the surprise announcement has been made.”

“And citizens need to be involved every step of the way when major industrial projects are being planned for their hometowns. It would make the process go smoother for citizens and economic developers alike.”

Is anyone at the Ports Authority listening? They should be.

Ports Authority needs a Radio Island ‘time out’

 (Part 7 in a Series)

Not all of Radio Island in Morehead City is owned by the North Carolina State Ports Authority. The whole island consists of about 253 acres. The Ports Authority holds the deed to some 200 acres.

About 154 acres of Ports Authority property on Radio Island property remains undeveloped but reserved for future expansion of Morehead City port operations.

Looking south toward the Atlantic Ocean, Radio Island is at the extreme left in this photograph, separated from the main port at Morehead City.

 

The grand plan advanced by the Ports Authority in 2024 calls for using Radio Island to attract business within the offshore wind energy and the automotive industries. Details of the project are outlined in the official state Record of Decision (ROD) for a “Multi-Use Terminal.”

Planned improvements to benefit the offshore wind industry include a 300,000-square-foot fabrication/assembly building with about 65 parking spaces and a 60-acre gravel pad for storage/laydown to accommodate wind turbine components.

 

 

Planned improvements to benefit the automotive industry include a 40-acre asphalt parking lot with about 4,000 parking spaces for storage of finished vehicles arriving at the port via roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels.

 

New rail spurs and sidings for car carriers accessing the lot from Radio Island Road are part of the plan, as well as a 100,000-square-foot warehouse/office building.

What consideration is given to “compatibility” with people who have dwellings on Radio Island and the existing business enterprises located there?

The ROD mentions briefly that a Local Officials Informational Meeting was held on Aug. 11, 2023, at the Morehead City town hall. “Attendees included staff from the State Ports Authority, Morehead City, Beaufort and Carteret County. No formal issues of concern were identified during the meeting.”

Also, a Public Information Meeting was conducted on Sept. 26, 2023, at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. “Approximately 22 people attended – residential owners, business owners and others. The comment period for the public meeting was 15 days. Three comments were received prior to the meeting and three were received during the meeting.”

It was pointed out afterward that the public meeting was publicized only once in a Sept. 10 legal notice in the Carteret County News-Times.

That may have satisfied the minimum legal requirement for the State Ports Authority, but it’s a paltry and pitiful effort on the part of the Ports Authority’s leadership team to engage community members and its neighbors on Radio Island.

 

“The Radio Island Beach Access is a convenient destination for locals as well as visitors. Renowned for its calm waters and sandy shorelines, this stretch of slightly inland shoreline, which is managed by Carteret County Parks and Recreation, has ample parking.” 

“Located just barely off the beaten path, this local beach is a hidden gem that beach-goers adore.” – CoastalGuide.com

 

There are 102 units in the seven-story Olde Towne Yacht Club condominium complex, which opened on Radio Island in 2002. 

More recently, 61 townhomes have been built within the Inlet Cove development on Radio Island. (Both properties are shown in the photo below.)

 

Successful businesses with a long history on Radio Island include Radio Island Marina and Snug Harbor Cottages. The latter is described as a “traditional Coastal Carolina fish camp,” offering eight cabins with boat slips.

 

(Combined, these homeowners and business owners are hefty taxpayers. They deserve a voice in what happens at the port in Morehead City…as does everyone who lives, works and plays in Carteret County. We are all stakeholders.

A News-Times editorial on Oct. 4, 2023, shed more light on Radio Island, commenting: “The possible use of the facility as a staging area for off-loading vehicles and subsequently transporting them to inland facilities via rail or truck would put an unreasonable burden on the infrastructure of the surrounding towns.”

Simply, Morehead City and Beaufort “would be unable to handle the increased truck traffic that this distribution would create, and a long train of vehicles passing through the middle of Morehead City would create a nightmarish traffic jam.”

 

During the past two years, enthusiasm for offshore wind has waned considerably.

Future investment in offshore wind infrastructure in the United States may be too risky to appeal to state governmental leaders, given the current swirling political environment. “Hesitancy” appears to be the watchword.

Looking within North Carolina, we reflect on a state budget request made in 2022 by Gov. Roy Cooper. 

He urged the General Assembly to insert $20 million in the state budget for the North Carolina Ports Authority to “develop wind energy-related projects on Radio Island” in Morehead City. That didn’t happen.

At the time, Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Arapahoe, who represents Carteret County, told the News-Times that Gov. Cooper’s vision “to turn a big portion of Radio Island into a staging area for wind-energy construction and component shipping,” might be putting the cart before the horse.

 

Sen. Sanderson questioned whether the community was “ready for a massive influx of heavy traffic to and from the port” on U.S. 70/Arendell Street.

He said that narrow stretch of land to Radio Island is challenged to accommodate the railroad, the highway and a bridge. 

It’s one of the things that has held back major development at the port’s Radio Island site all these years, Sen. Sanderson pointed out.

To help lobby for wind energy funding, Gov. Cooper established the North Carolina Task Force for Offshore Wind Economic Resource Strategies (NC TOWERS).

The task force recommended upping the ante considerably in 2024, requesting the state legislature “appropriate up to $50 million for improvements to Radio Island to support offshore wind.” 

It was labeled as a “strategic investment in waterside infrastructure to facilitate offshore wind economic development opportunities.” That didn’t happen, either.

This seems to be a good time to hit the “pause button” and revisit potential development of Radio Island.

Is offshore wind energy policy ‘blowin’ in the wind?’

(Part 6 in a Series)

U.S. offshore wind energy projects had the wind knocked out of their sails with President Donald Trump’s attempts to pull the plug on the construction of offshore wind farms.

Ray Gronberg of Business North Carolina magazine reported on March 23, 2026, about the most recent “development.”

 

He wrote that TotalEnergies, based in Paris, France, “agreed with the Trump administration to give up its offshore wind lease off the North Carolina coast, along with a larger project near New York (at New York Bight).”

 

“The company says its studies showed ‘that offshore wind developments in the United States, unlike those in Europe, are costly and might have a negative impact on power affordability for U.S. consumers,’” Gronberg wrote. “Total is among the world’s largest energy companies.”

Gronberg said the settlement involves payment by the U.S. government of $928 million to compensate TotalEnergies for giving up rights to the Carolina Long Bay lease and another off the coast of New York state.

 

The Carolina Long Bay site, containing about 110,000 acres, lies roughly 22 miles offshore, south of Bald Head Island in Brunswick County. It was slated to produce enough energy to fuel about 300,000 homes.

 

Gronberg said “The New York Times reported that Total will get $133 million for giving up the North Carolina lease, with the New York project accounting for the balance.”

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters at a recent oil-and-gas industry conference in Houston: “The era of taxpayers subsidizing unreliable, unaffordable and unsecured energy is officially over.”

 

“Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, environmentally disruptive and subsidy-dependent schemes ever forced on American ratepayers and taxpayers,” Burgum asserted.

Gronberg noted: “President Donald Trump has shown repeated disdain for offshore wind.”

 

“The Chapel Hill-based Southeastern Wind Coalition criticized the settlement. Offshore wind is ‘a hedge against more volatile fuels like natural gas. Now is the time to be expanding our options, not taking them away,” said Katharine Kollins, the group’s president.

 

“U.S. Department of the Interior officials said the deal hinges on TotalEnergies putting the $928 million into a liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in Texas, offshore oil development nearby and into shale-gas production,” Gronberg added.

After those investments are made, the United States “will terminate the leases and reimburse the company,” they said.

Federal officials said the French company “has pledged not to develop any new offshore wind projects in the United States.”

Liz McLaughlin of WRAL News in Raleigh said the decision to cancel Carolina Long Bay drew “sharp reactions” from energy analysts.

 

She talked to Kollins as well. “I think folks are trying to figure out how to reconcile this with the fact that we do need more electrons on the grid,” Kollins commented. “Every state right now is looking at how we can develop more energy, not how we should be taking options off the table.”

“Using nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money to remove an option for North Carolina and then require that company to invest in LNG just doesn’t feel right,” Kollins added.

McLaughlin said that North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein criticized the Trump administration for “spending nearly $1 billion in taxpayer money to pay off a company to stop investments in the clean energy we need,” calling it “a terrible deal for the people of North Carolina and our country.”

“The debate reflects a broader divide over how to meet growing electricity demand while keeping costs down,” McLaughlin wrote. “The federal government and industry leaders backing the deal say natural gas offers a more dependable source of power, especially as the grid faces increasing strain.”

“Part of that shift now points to LNG, which is traded on a global market,” she said. “That means prices can rise or fall based on international demand, geopolitical tensions and export levels – dynamics that do not affect wind energy.”

“The cancellation also highlights uncertainty around offshore wind development in North Carolina,” McLaughlin said. “Duke Energy, the state’s largest utility, holds a neighboring lease in the same area as Carolina Long Bay but paused development last year as it reevaluated costs and policy conditions.”

To sum up, Kollins said: “When we limit our choices, we limit our ability to control costs.”

 

Trista Talton (shown above) of the Carolina Review, published by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which is based in Carteret County, interviewed Karly Brownfield (shown below), who is senior program manager with the Southeastern Wind Coalition.  

 

Brownfield said that the agreement “feels really counterproductive” at a time when people are closely watching their energy costs at home and at the gas pump.

“It’s also completely unprecedented to take a lease payment and then refund it in exchange for investment in the natural gas industry. That has never happened before,” Brownfield said.

Katie Harris, vice president of federal affairs with the BlueGreen Alliance based in Washington, D.C., was quoted in Talton’s article, saying: “Donald Trump truly can’t leave a good thing alone. His never-ending vendetta against offshore wind shows that he either doesn’t understand the affordable energy crisis or that he just doesn’t care….”

 

Déjà vu. This whole political scenario spins us back to 1963 when legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan released his magical song “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

 

Philosophers suggested at the time that the tune was an expression of “frustration over humankind’s inability to achieve lasting harmony and stability.”

The Trump administration argues that offshore wind structures pose national security threats as their turbines could interfere with radar signals,” reported Rachel Frazin of TheHill.com, a unit of Nexstar Media Group.

 

Frazin said President Trump has voiced a longstanding disdain for wind power, saying repeatedly that “he does not want to see new wind energy projects built during his tenure.”

Clearly, Trump’s actions, including the cancellation of future leases for offshore wind farms, have significantly hampered the industry, wrote Gareth McGrath of the Wilmington Star-News.

 

 

Delays, uncertainties and political maneuvering could seriously destabilize the entire industry, especially here in North Carolina, according to some energy experts.

Building offshore wind farms is incredibly capital intensive, so investors are nervous and are likely to sit tight on the sidelines until the turbulence subsides.

 

 

The North Carolina State Ports Authority has been looking to get into the wind turbine business. In 2024, it “floated a plan to build a multi-use terminal that would support the state’s offshore wind and automotive industries at its Morehead City port,” McGrath added.

“According to an economic study, a large-scale offshore wind project could generate nearly $3.7 billion in net economic impact for North Carolina,” he said.

“With federal support for renewable energy sources looking shaky at best, it isn’t known what that might mean for states that had planned on integrating lots of offshore wind into their future energy grids as a way of increasing their clean energy footprint and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions,” McGrath wrote.

Jake Bittle of Grist, an independent media organization in Seattle, Wash., said the Trump policies related to offshore wind have had a dizzying effect on major renewable energy developers.

 

“At the same time, developers encountered a wave of opposition from fishermen’s groups…and shoreline residents concerned about their ocean views,” Bittle wrote.

It’s like the offshore wind industry was frozen in-place during 2025. “There are no large-scale projects in the pipeline,” Bittle wrote.

He shared an interesting tidbit from an energy consultant who advises offshore wind developers: “In order for someone to get a commercial gleam in their eye, you need alignment with the federal government, the state government and the market. That’s gone, and it makes projects literally impossible.”

“Industry insiders say global firms like Ørsted (of Denmark) and Equinor (of Norway) have little desire to make further investments in the U.S. market, though they’re still holding on to their federal leases in windy sections of the ocean,” Bittle wrote.