NC0089168_Website Notice Permit Approval_20130724

Pat McCrory, Governor ���n John E. Skvarla, III, Secretary
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NCDENR
NORTN CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOUROES
N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Release: Immediate Contact: Susan Massengale
Date: July 24, 2013 Phone: [phone]
State Water Quality Officials Approve Vanceboro Quarry Discharge Permit
RALEIGH—The N.C. Division of Water Quality issued permission for Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. to
discharge up to 12 million gallons per day of comingled stormwater and groundwater from a proposed mine near
Vanceboro into tributaries of Blounts Creek in Beaufort County.
Martin Marietta is also seeking a water withdrawal permit from the N.C. Division of Water Resources. A public
hearing on the Division of Water Resources' permit is scheduled for 6 p.m. July 30 at Beaufort County
Community College in Washington.
The quarry operation is to be located on 1,664 acres within a 90,000 acre tract owned by Weyerhaeuser
Company, and is anticipated to include a 649-acre open pit aggregate mine when fully developed. The mine will
extract crushed limestone for use in the construction industry.
The N.C. Division of Water Quality held a public hearing on the proposed National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System, or NPDES, permit in March. As a result of comments gathered at that hearing and during
the comment period, several changes were made to the draft NPDES permit before it was finalized. The changes
included:
• Adding a monthly average effluent limit for iron of 1.0 milligram per liter. The limit is based on the state
action level for the protection of aquatic life.
• Adding a requirement that within the first year of discharge, the company must submit a site-specific
analysis of the effluent following requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency.
• Adding monthly effluent nutrient and temperature monitoring.
• Adding monthly in-stream monitoring for pH, salinity, temperature and turbidity(silt and soils suspended
in the water column) at two downstream locations.
• Modifying the flow limits from a monthly average of 4.5 million gallons per day to a daily maximum of 6
million gallons per day at each of two discharge outfalls.
• Modifying the requirement to submit a plan for monitoring aquatic insect life so it must be approved by
the Division of Water Quality before sampling begins.
• Reducing of the effluent pH limit range from 6.0-9.0 to 5.5-8.5.
A copy of the NPDES final permit#NC0089168, fact sheet and hearing officer's report can be found on the N.C.
Division of Water Quality's website,www.ncwaterquality.org,under Hot Topics.
Jamie Kritzer,Public Information Officer Jamie.Kritzerkncdenr.gov
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