The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has released a revised wastewater discharge permit for Martin Marietta Materials’ Vanceboro Quarry for public comment.
The permit was previously approved in February but that permit was rescinded based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s San Francisco v. EPA decision, in which the Court ruled that permits must specify the actual steps a permittee must take, rather than issuing ambiguous instructions, to simply avoid violating water quality standards.
Officials with the Division of water Quality said permit has since been revised. The permit is proposed to regulate 12 million gallons per day of mine dewatering and stormwater from two outfalls to unnamed tributaries of Blounts Creek.
The revised permit requires an assessment of biological integrity once every two years through sampling for benthos, or small aquatic organisms that live in water, with the first sampling event to occur between February and March, after the discharge begins. It also requires monthly monitoring for pH, total suspended solids and turbidity in the discharge from the mine.
Comments will be accepted on the revised permit until Oct. 29.
Public comments may be submitted by email to: publiccomments@deq.nc.gov. The subject line should read “NC0089168 Vanceboro Quarry."
In addition, comments may be submitted by mail to:
Wastewater Permitting (NC0089168)
1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1617.
