310854_Plan of Action_20200117

Strickland, Bev
From:
Coburn, Chad
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2020 4:28 PM
To: Zimmerman, Jay; Tharrington, Tom
Cc: King, Morella s; Lawson, Christine; Perry, John M
Subject: FW: [External] Eddie Brice #4 Farm Written Report and Press Release
Attachments: Brice #4 Written Report_011720.pdf
FYI, just received this a little while ago.
From: Weston, Kevin <[e-mail]>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2020 4:02 PM
To: Coburn, Chad <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
Subject: [External] Eddie Brice #4 Farm Written Report and Press Release
C; External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless you verify. Send all suspicious email as an attachment to
[e-mail]
Chad,
I am emailing this to you on behalf of James E. Brice. I tried to fax it to you, but I don't think it went through.
Kevin
P•�
Kevin Weston
Environmental Resource Specialist
p: [phone] x55363 c: [phone]
e: [e-mail]
2822 Hwy 24 W
Warsaw, North Carolina 28398
smithfieldfoods.com
This communication (including any attachments) is confidential and is intended to be privileged pursuant to applicable law. If you are not the intended
recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, then you are hereby notified that the dissemination, distribution
or copying of this communication is prohibited. If you received this communication in error, please notify Smithfield Foods, Inc. immediately by telephone
([phone]) and then delete this communication and destroy all copies thereof.

NCDEQ, DWR January 17, 2020
Wilmington Regional Office
127 Cardinal Drive Ext.
Wilmington, NC 28405
Attn.: Chad Coburn, Environmental Specialist 11
Subject: Written Report of Discharge at
Eddie Brice #4 Farm, Permit No. AWS310854
Duplin County
Dear Mr. Coburn,
This letter is the written report for the discharge that occurred at the Eddie Brice #4 Farm reported to you on January
13, 2020. The following is a description of the sequence of events regarding this incident.
• On January 13, 2020,1 discovered the discharge from the animal houses and immediately called S&S Farms and
Cleaning Services of Beulaville to come and help with stopping and containing the discharge. I then called and
notified you of the situation. S&S started bringing equipment in and created dams in the ditch to contain the
discharge.
• On January 14, 2020, cleanup of the discharged material started. Pumps were used to pump water from the
ditch back to the lagoon and a pump truck was used to try and clean the stopped -up discharge pipe coming
from the houses to the lagoon. S&S noticed the elevation of the discharge pipe inside the lagoon was partly
underwater and suggested checking the lagoon marker. The marker was checked and that's when we discovered
that the marker was reading incorrectly, the freeboard level was actually 13" instead of 20".
• On January 15, 2020, pumping from the ditch back into the lagoon continued and we started hauling wastewater
from the lagoon to another permitted facility that had storage volume available.
• On January 16, 2020, the animals were removed from the houses and cleanup continued. A 30 Day PoA was
submitted to the Wilmington Regional Office.
• On January 17, 2020, cleanup and wastewater hauling continues. A press release was taken to the news media
in Duplin County and a copy will be included with this report.
• Cleanup will continue in coordination with S&S and DEQ recommendations and supervision.
• To prevent future discharges of this type, the discharge pipe from the houses to the lagoon will be totally
replaced and upgraded from 8" to 12" to better handle the volume of wastewater. Also, all pipes and cleanouts
will be inspected daily and repaired and cleaned as needed.
If you have further questions or need additional information regarding this matter, please contact me.
Sincerely,
jr—
James E. Brice

Notification of Wastewater Spill in Duplin County
On January 13, 2020, approximately 200,000 gallons of untreated animal
wastewater was discharged to a ditch that leads to an unnamed tributary that leads to
Stephens Swamp from the Eddie Brice #4 Farm, located at 342 Fountaintown Road,
Beulaville, NC. The spilled wastewater occurred over a period of three weeks and
originated from broken discharge pipes that carries wastewater from the animal barns to
the treatment lagoon. The ditch was plugged to stop the flow and contain the wastewater
and remediation efforts started.
The Division of Water Resources was notified of the event on January 13, 2020
and is reviewing the matter. For more information, contact Eddie Brice at (910) 284-
9418.