Officials with a local water quality non-profit are speaking out about the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s renewal of a permit that would allow Martin Marietta Materials to discharge up to 12 million gallons of wastewater per day from a mine in Vanceboro into the headwaters of Blounts Creek.
Sound River’s Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman said the organization appreciates that NCDEQ has acknowledged some of their concerns and made changes to the issued permit that include increased monitoring and reporting requirements.
She said that will help the state, Sound Rivers and the community track Martin Marietta’s compliance and long-term impacts of their discharge on Blounts Creek.
However, Sound Rivers maintains that this permit should not have been issued. Zimmerman said a 12-million-gallon-a-day discharge of mine wastewater will undeniably disrupt the natural conditions of Blounts Creek — changes that are not allowed under state law or the federal Clean Water Act.
The renewal of the permit ends more than a decade of effort by environmental organizations and Blounts Creek residents to protect the creek.
Related: Clean water nonprofit says the fight to save Blounts Creek is not over
In 2013, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Sound Rivers and North Carolina Coastal Federation, challenged the initial water-quality permit issued to Martin Marietta Materials, claiming it violated state law.
Between 2013 and 2023, Sound Rivers’ challenge to the water-quality permit bounced between North Carolina courts, reaching the N.C. Supreme Court twice. The permit was vacated by a Superior Court judge in 2017, only to be reinstated in 2019 when the N.C. Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling.
In 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the N.C. Court of Appeals’ decision.
Zimmerman said that when NCDEQ released a draft updated permit for Martin Marietta, more than 500 community members submitted letters of opposition during the public comment period and many more people voiced their concerns during the public hearing in November.
She added that Sound Rivers, the residents, business owners, and the people who fish there have been working to save Blounts Creek for nearly 15 years and they are not going anywhere.
Related: Wastewater From A Proposed Beaufort County Mine Could Impact Blounts Creek
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