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Home My WebLink About20150998 Ver 1_HOReport_SuttonIWP_FINAL_20160922September 22, 2016 MEMORANDUM F do IIIM.II,� DONALD R. VAN DER VAART se vrw y To: S. Jay Zimmerman, P.G. Director, Division of Water Resources Digitally signed by From: Jason M. Watkins, Field Operations Branch Head , Jason M. Watkins Division of Waste Management, Solid Waste Section Date: 2016.09.22 11:27:23 -04'00' Subject: Hearing Officer's Report and Recommendations Duke Energy Progress — L.V. Sutton Steam Station On-site Landfill Individual Isolated Wetlands Permit New Hanover County I served as the Hearing Officer for the Subject Public Hearing held at the Cape Fear Community College's Union Station Auditorium in Wilmington, NC on March 15, 2016. The public hearing was held under the authority of the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014 and Title 15A NCAC 02H .1300. This was a combined public hearing to receive comments for the Division of Water Resources' draft isolated wetlands permit and the Division of Waste Management's draft structural fill permit needed by Duke Energy Progress (Duke) in order to construct a coal combustion residual landfill at L.V. Sutton Steam Station in New Hanover County. There were no oral comments at the public hearing. Two written comments were received by the Division of Water Resources on the draft isolated wetlands permit. The report has been prepared using the following outline: I. Background II. Public Hearing Summary III. Comments IV. Recommendations V. Attachments SI dl r r of Nov Y Y i (-o ro I i no I 1:¢'wirnvvw^irarIOui Ry t¢,U'I M.r i I I,e rvi< v Co nter RaIrge I,NaPII tm011nn2 ('99'1601 Page 2 I. Background Duke owns and operates the L.V. Sutton Energy Complex (Facility), electrical power generating facility, located at 801 Sutton Steam Plant Road in Wilmington, North Carolina and includes a total area of approximately 2,245 acres. Industrial Landfill Permit Industrial landfill Permit Number 6512 -INDUS -2016 is a new landfill permit that once completed will receive industrial solid wastes from Duke's L.V. Sutton Energy Complex, including coal combustion residuals (CCRs) (including fly and bottom ash, pyrites and coal mill rejects, and boiler slag); wastewater treatment sludge (WWTS); petroleum -contaminated site soils; plant decommissioning -related materials, including construction and demolition (C&D) waste and land clearing and inert debris (LCID); and vacuum truck waste. The industrial landfill covers approximately 101 acres and will be permitted to include three (3) phases made up of eleven (11) cells with a total disposal capacity of approximately 8.7 million cubic yards. Duke submitted a new permit application on August 7, 2015. The application requested a permit to construct for Phases 1 through 3 and permit to operate for Phases 1 through 3, as each unit is completed and approved by the Solid Waste Section of the Division of Waste Management. Isolated Wetland Permit Duke submitted an application for an Individual Isolated Wetland Permit on December 22, 2015. The proposed landfill will result in unavoidable loss of 6.57 acres of isolated wetlands. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers verified the delineation of the site on October 30, 2015, determining that these wetlands were isolated. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concurred with this delineation on January 21, 2016. Under the authority of CAMA14, the Mining Act of 1971 and Title 15A NCAC 02H .1300, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held a public comment period from February 11, 2016 until April 15, 2016 to accept public input on the draft permits. The public comment period included one public hearing held in New Hanover County, where the proposed project is located. Notice of the public hearing and availability of the draft Isolated Wetland Permit (Attachment A) was posted to the DEQ website on February 11, 2016 (Attachment B), the first day of the public comment period. Additionally, notice was published in Wilmington Star News on February 11, 2016 (Attachment C). The public comment period ended on April 15, 2016. II. Public Hearing A public hearing was held March 15, 2016 at 6 p.m. at Cape Fear Community College's Union Station Auditorium in Wilmington, NC. The public hearing was held under the authority of the Coal Ash Management Act of 2014 and Title 15A NCAC 02H .1300. This was a combined public hearing to receive comments for the Division of Water Resources' draft isolated wetlands permit and the Division of Waste Management's draft structural fill permit needed by Duke Page 3 Energy Progress (Duke) in order to construct a coal combustion residual landfill at L.V. Sutton Steam Station in New Hanover County. 25 people attended the public hearing, including 11 staff members from DEQ. A total of 25 individuals signed the attendance sign -in sheets at the registration table (Attachment D). The hearing officer provided opening remarks before opening the hearing for public comment. There were no speakers at the public hearing. The public hearing transcript is attached to this report (Attachment Q. DWR received two written comments during the public comment period. Both comments are in Section III below and neither were specific to the permit application under review. III. Comments The following two comments were received by DWR during the public comment period: Comment from Karen Belter on April 11, 2016: "DearJennifer, It is important that 1 write to you to ask that you not allow additional dumping of poison into the area of the Cape Fear River, Brunswick County and New Hanover County. We do not want another Dan River accident here. These counties have been used as dumping grounds for years and there are already areas of ground and water contamination we are trying to clean up from past misuse. Please save our children and water supplies from future harm by the permitted dumping of any further coal ash and contaminants. Thank you, Karen Belter Sent from my iPad" Comment from James Belter, April 11, 2016: "Please accept this email as notice that 1 am thoroughly opposed to the usage of local landfill for the storage of coal ash residue by Duke Energy. Sincerely, James L. Belter" Page 4 IV. Recommendations Based on the review of public comments, their applicability to the permit application under review, and discussions with Division staff, the following comments and recommendations on the criteria for issuance of an Isolated Wetlands Permit pursuant to 15A NCAC 02H .1305 are put forth for your consideration. (1) Has no practical alternative under the criteria outlined in Paragraph (e) of this Rule. Paragraph (e) states: "A lack of practical alternatives may be shown by demonstrating that, considering the potential for a reduction in size, configuration or density of the proposed project and all alternative designs that the basic project purpose cannot be practically accomplished in an economically viable manner which would avoid or result in less adverse impact to isolated classified surface waters or isolated wetlands." The proposed project is to dispose of coal ash in a suitable manner and in an environmentally sound location to facilitate the closing of coal ash basins across North Carolina as required by CAMA14. Five alternatives were evaluated, including beneficial reuse, closure in-place, off-site landfill, on-site landfill and no action, with the on-site landfill being the applicant's preferred alternative. According to the applicant, no other location could offer an environmentally preferred alternative to the proposed on-site landfill location, comply with siting requirements and allow for the contiguous land area needed for the landfill footprint. Recommendation: None. The applicant has sufficiently demonstrated that there is no practical alternative that can accomplish the project's basic purpose with less adverse impact to surface water or wetlands. (2) Will minimize adverse impacts to the isolated wetlands under Paragraph (f) of this Rule on consideration of existing topography, vegetation, fish and wildlife resources, and hydrological conditions. Paragraph (f) states: "Minimization of discharges may be demonstrated by showing that any remaining isolated classified surface waters or wetlands are able to continue to support the existing uses after project completion, or that the discharges are required due to: (1) The spatial and dimensional requirements of the project; or (2) The location of any existing structural or natural features that may dictate the placement or configuration of the proposed project; or (3) The purpose of the project and how the purpose relates to placement, configuration or density." The applicant believes that impacts to surface waters and wetlands have been minimized to the greatest extent practical. Due to the size of landfill needed and the location of other Page 5 wetlands and streams onsite, the footprint of the landfill could not be reconfigured to further minimize impacts. Recommendation: None. The applicant has sufficiently demonstrated that impacts to surface waters and wetlands are required due to spatial considerations, natural features and the purpose of the project. (3) Does not result in the violation of groundwater standards, or wetland standards in the remaining wetlands. The landfill will be constructed with a double -lined system consisting of (from top to bottom): 2 -ft thick protective soil layer, double -sided geocomposite lateral drainage layer (leachate collection), 60 -mil thick HDPE textured geomembrane layer (primary liner), double -sided geocomposite lateral drainage layer (leak detection), 60 -mil thick HDPE textured geomembrane layer (secondary liner) and a geosynthetic clay liner (GCL). The liner system will be underlain by a 12 -inch think low permeability compacted soil layer. The final cover system on the landfill top slopes will consist of (from top to bottom) 0.5 ft thick vegetative layer, 1.5 ft thick protective soil layer, 40 -mil thick textured HDPE geomembrane and 0.5 ft thick bedding layer/intermediate cover. The final cover system on the 3H:1V side slopes will consist of (from top to bottom) 0.5 ft thick vegetative layer, 1.5 ft thick protective soil layer, double -sided geocomposite lateral drainage layer, 40 -mil thick textured HDPE geomembrane and 0.5 ft thick bedding layer/intermediate cover. Recommendation: The project is not expected to violate water quality standards if the conditions in the Isolated Wetland Permit are fully implemented by the applicant (or its successor). The Isolated Wetland Permit should be conditioned to require full compliance with the following permits: • Permit No. 6512 -INDUS -2016, issued by DWM • NPDES Permit No. NC0001422, issued by DWR The Isolated Wetland Permit should also include a condition to allow for DWR to reevaluate and modify the permit in accordance with 15A NCAC 02H .1304(c) if DWR determines that state water quality standards are not being met. (4) Does not result in cumulative impacts which are described in Subparagraph (c)(4) of this Rule and that cause or will cause a violation of downstream water quality standards. Subparagraph (c)(4) states: "[D]oes not result in cumulative impacts which are environmental impacts resulting from incremental effects of an activity when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future activities regardless of what entities undertake such other actions..." The proposed landfill is located on Duke's existing Sutton Steam Plant facility and will be located adjacent and parallel to the existing, on-site coal combustion residual basins. Ash Page 6 basin and lay of land area excavation and closures may occur in future phases of this project, which will necessitate modification of the Isolated Wetland Permit and potentially a 404 permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and 401 Water Quality Certification from DWR. Recommendation: The project is not expected to result in cumulative impacts that violate water quality standards, if the conditions in the Isolated Wetlands Permit are fully implemented by the applicant (or its successor). The Isolated Wetlands Permit should be conditioned to require full compliance with the monitoring requirements in the Structural Fill Permits. In addition, the Isolated Wetland Permit should include a condition requiring modification of the permit if any additional impacts to surface waters are proposed in future phases. (5) Provides for protection of downstream water quality standards through the use of on- site stormwater control measures. During construction and subsequent landfill operations, surface water will be routed by berms and swales away from the landfilling operations into storm water ponds. Once each portion of the landfill has reached final grade and receive the final cover system, surface water runoff will be directed to the same ponds as described above. Recommendation: The Isolated Wetland Permit should be conditioned to require full compliance with NPDES Permit No. NC0001422, NCG010000 NPDES Stormwater General Permit and any State Stormwater Permit that may be required pursuant to 15A NCAC 02H .0100. (6) Provides for replacement of existing uses through wetland mitigation. The applicant proposed to pursue mitigation through purchasing 5.57 credits from Town Creek Headwaters Mitigation Bank. This is in compliance with 15A NCAC 02H.1300, SL 2014-120 and SL 2015-286. Recommendation: The Isolated Wetland Permit should be conditioned to require payment be made to Town Creek Headwaters Mitigation Bank for 5.57 acres of wetland prior to any impacts to surface waters. V. Attachments A. Draft Isolated Wetland Permit B. Notice of Public Comment period on February 11, 2016 C. Notice of Public Hearing— Wilmington Star News, February 11, 2016 D. Sign -in sheets from March 15, 2016 Public Hearing E. March 15, 2016 Public Hearing transcript