WILMINGTON, N.C.  A North Carolina contractor says plans for a new sea turtle hospital in Surf City are in the works.

The Star-News of Wilmington reports that Wilmington-based Baldwin Construction Services, Inc., is planning to design and build the 14,200-square-foot Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

By Alex Dombinguez

BALTIMORE The Environmental Protection Agency gave Chesapeake Bay states its "rigorous expectations" for restoring the nation's largest estuary, agency officials said Wednesday.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C.  North Carolina officials know some of the mountains of trash that are dumped daily could be useful to someone, if only interested parties could find each other.

The Daily News of Jacksonville reported today that the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources has launched a new Web site to help businesses cut costs and recycle useful items.

SUFFOLK Congress has approved more than $1 million to expand the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge and buy land for a visitors' center at the Great Dismal Swamp. Back Bay is to get $545,000, and the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is to get $500,000, Virginia Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner announced Friday.

More than $25.4 million in federal money is headed to Hampton Roads for a variety of water and development projects, and $50 million more could be coming for the Chesapeake Bay cleanup effort.

Coming soon, 67,000 big blue recycling bins. The long-awaited unveiling of the city's new recycling program will start Nov. 9, when more than 1,000 big blue bins will be delivered to homes across Chesapeake each day for more than a month, officials said. To pay the $2.9 million cost, City Manager William Harrell decided to raid a pot of cash set aside for transportation projects.

BALTIMORE The Environmental Protection Agency says it plans to hold public meetings in the six Chesapeake Bay watershed states to discuss upcoming pollution limits.

Selling and transporting a tough plant from Asia that crowds out native species is now illegal in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and the Eastern Shore. State agriculture officials on Monday announced a quarantine on beach vitex, which environmental officials discovered recently in Sandbridge and last year on Willoughby Spit in Norfolk.

NORFOLK Military veterans plan to make a stop in Norfolk today on a bus tour promoting a clean energy plan they say cuts carbon pollution.

CHARLESTON, S.C.  Environmental officials from four Southeastern states are announcing an alliance to deal with regional coastal issues during a meeting on the South Carolina coast.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is hosting officials from North Carolina, Georgia and Florida in Charleston today to announce the Governors' South Atlantic Alliance.