Cape Fear Won't Be Green After All

By Laurin Penland

Wilmington, NC – Plans have been scrapped to dye the Cape Fear River green Saturday for this year's St. Patrick's day celebration, but environmentalists are still concerned that the plan got as far as it did.

Other cities celebrate St. Patrick's day by dumping a non-toxic green powder into the water and churning it up. Cape Fear River Keeper Doug Springer says he's surprised that the North Carolina Department of the Environment and Natural Resources essentially approved the plan.

"Dilution is the solution to pollution. That's the old mind set. That's basically what DENR's response was to these citizens that were asking for help and for guidance. So, I was pretty disappointed, and I've expressed that to DENR."

The initial idea of dying the river came from Chris Andrews, a member of the Downtown Business Alliance. He says he was merely looking into the possibility of dying the river the lucky Irish color to bring more people to downtown Wilmington to celebrate.

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