Blowing Off Balloons

Kristin Martin of Kill Devil Hills was fed up when she spotted several Mylar “happy birthday” balloons wrapped around a powerline by her next-door neighbor’s house this spring.

“It’s arcing when it hits the live line, these things are conduits for electricity, we’re in a dry spell and the lot behind is completely wooded,” Martin wrote in the caption of a video she posted on Facebook. “For the love of ALL that is sacred PLEASE STOP RELEASING BALLOONS.”

Martin didn’t know where the balloons originated. Both Kill Devil Hills and Dare County have banned people from intentionally releasing them. She’s part of a group advocating for the state to do the same, arguing that in addition to posing a fire hazard, balloons threaten coastal wildlife.

Other East Coast states, including Virginia and Florida, have already enacted such laws. Louisiana also passed a ban that takes effect next month.

But in North Carolina, legislation has sunk in committee in both the state House and Senate.

“It’s such a commonsense, easily solvable issue,” said Debbie Swick, a resident of Southern Shores who is advocating for a statewide ban and runs a related Facebook group. “The low-hanging fruit—pick it off, get it done and move on.” 

Releasing big, floating bouquets as part of wedding, graduation, or funeral ceremonies may appeal to a certain Instagram aesthetic, but balloons have been documented traveling hundreds of miles. Balloons that an Iowa family released as part of a birthday celebration in 2023 were found in New York the next day, 932 miles away. A science project in 2016 documented a balloon traveling 972 miles, from Texas to Ohio.

In December 2023, Swick found a balloon on the beach near Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head that had traveled more than 700 miles from a large real estate company in Birmingham, Alabama, she previously told Outer Banks Insider. She figured out its origin from the company logo printed above the words “happy holidays.” 

Swick called their office, wasn’t satisfied with the response, and then called the CEO directly. “He vowed to not provide balloons for his realtors anymore in Alabama,” she said. 

In Emerald Isle in 2023, a Gervais’ beaked whale calf died after ingesting a Mylar balloon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service have publicized information about the deadly dangers the debris pose to wildlife that ingest it or become entangled.

State Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Currituck County Republican, introduced a bill with two Democratic co-sponsors named Prohibiting Certain Mass Balloon Releases in January 2025, which would set a statewide fine of $250 for unleashing inflatables. It was referred to the Senate’s Committee on Rules and Operations the next day, but it hasn’t moved since.

“We’re allowing litter,” Hanig told The Assembly. “What comes up, comes down, you know. It kills all types of species of animals, whether they’re in the water or on the land. It’s just common sense.”

Floating Regulations

Topsail Beach and Surf City passed balloon ban ordinances in 2023, and similar restrictions were already in place in Jacksonville, Swansboro, and Wrightsville Beach. 

Because of Swick’s advocacy, Currituck and Dare counties and all six municipalities in Dare County adopted bans on intentional outdoor releases between April 2024 and February 2025. Fines range from $25 to $250. 

State Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Guilford County Democrat, said she attended a plastics symposium in Eastern North Carolina in fall 2023, where the local efforts inspired her to propose her own statewide legislation the following year. She noted how balloons released inland can blow to the coast and can affect waterways closer to home in the Piedmont.

“People just need to understand how dangerous it is and problematic for wildlife,” Harrison said. “It’s just really heartbreaking to see it killing whales and dolphins.”

Her Marine Life Protection Act called for warnings for first-time offenders, a fine of no more than $200 on a second offense, then no more than a $500 fine for subsequent offenses. It also included a $100,000 appropriation to the Department of Environmental Quality for “educational activities related to the prohibition imposed by this act.” It was referred to the Committee on Appropriations, where nothing has happened.

Harrison says her bill faced two strong headwinds—politics and timing. Only one Republican—Rep. Bill Ward of Pasquotank County—joined the 17 Democratic co-sponsors. “It’s hard for a mostly Democratic-sponsored bill to get a hearing,” Harrison said, and she didn’t have much time in the short session to recruit more support. 

Ward said in a phone call that he worked as a police officer on the Outer Banks for nine years. He recalled seeing balloons miles from land when he fished offshore. 

“I saw remnants of balloons … actually close to the Gulf Stream, where they would, you know, deflate and land, and then the tides would carry them,” Ward said.

House Speaker Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the four senior chairs of the appropriations committee.

Mecklenburg County Democratic state Rep. Mary Belk, a co-sponsor of Harrison’s bill, believes a perceived effect on tourism might have helped stall it.

“I think it may have a problem similar to the coastal county plastic bag ban that was eliminated some years ago,” Belk wrote in an email. “If something is perceived as working against the tourism industry, it is viewed with extreme skepticism by the current NCGA leadership (which I find ironic, because who wants to get wrapped up in a balloon string on the beach?).”

Scott Peacock, a spokesman for the state tourism board, declined to comment, saying the group doesn’t weigh in on policy issues. Outer Banks Visitors Bureau Executive Director Lee Nettles said he doesn’t believe his board has taken any formal action related to either local or proposed state balloon release bans, but “our board’s supportive of any action that keeps litter out of the ocean.”

Won’t Let it Blow Over

Hanig, meanwhile, said he’s unaware of any opposition to the bill he filed in the state Senate last year. 

“The difficulty is that nobody opposes it,” Hanig said. “Nobody. From the manufacturers to the retailers to the distributors, nobody opposes the bill at all.”

He said he believes Sen. Bill Rabon, a Brunswick County Republican who chairs the rules panel, has prevented it from moving out of his committee—though Hanig didn’t know why.

“He’s been the holdup on it,” Hanig told The Assembly in June. “I can’t get an explanation.”

Rabon declined to comment when a reporter asked him about it in the legislature. He referred the reporter to Senate leader Phil Berger’s communications director, Lauren Horsch, who did not respond to emailed questions.

Swick, the Southern Shores resident, said it doesn’t make sense to her that Rabon, a veterinarian by trade, would not be enthusiastic about a bill to protect animals. She said he has not responded to her repeated efforts to contact him by phone or email. 

“I would think a veterinarian would have been like pushing his way to the front of the line and going, ‘I hate balloons,’” Swick said. 

Hanig said he would keep advocating for a ban, though he’ll have to do it from outside the legislature after this year. He didn’t seek reelection to the state Senate but instead ran for a U.S. House seat and lost in the primary. Ward and Harrison also said they would keep pushing.

“I’m thinking we’re gonna bring it back,” Ward said.

“More and more communities are passing these bans in North Carolina, so I think the momentum is growing,” Harrison said. “So I think we’ll be able to maybe make more progress next year.” 

Bryan Anderson contributed to this article.