20061203 Ver 1_Public Notice Comments_20060706

June 27, 2006
Mr. Dan Blaisdell, P.E.
Assistant Chief, Engineering Branch
Construction Grants and Loans Section
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
1633 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1633
Ms. Cyndi Karoly
North Carolina Division of Water Quality
1650 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1650
Mr. Monte Matthews p ~ ~ ~5
Raleigh Regulatory Field Office
6508 Falls of Neuse Road, Suite 120 J U L 0 6 2006
Raleigh, NC 27615
UENR - CATER QUALITY
Dear Messrs. Blaisdell & Matthews, 1~IETLANDSAND STORMWATER BRANCH
Ms. Karoly:
This letter is in response to the Western Wake Partners draft EIS to construct a sewage plant
in New Hill.
Instead of treating their own waste and sending effluent, The Western Wake Partners want to
force their waste to New Hill This plan is not necessary, it is not sustainable, and it places
the environment and the citizens around the pipeline, pump stations, and facility at great risk.
I would willingly cede an extra easement to make room for an effluent line through my front
yard, but the high-pressure sewage that is aimed at my land threatens my farm and my home
and my family. Development in western Wake County is unsustainable, so they are trying to
reach out and dump on somebody else. Please do not let them put their outhouse on our front
porch!
In the last week, the Town of Cary's sewage has spewed into Lake Crabtree to the North, and
Swift Creek and Lake Wheeler to the South. They are asking you to approve the extension of
this defective system into a very vulnerable community. If a small storm like Alberto caused
such serious pollution of our water, another storm like Katrina will ruin our environment, and
our natural resources.
The June 15 spill into Lake Crabtree was 792,000 gallons, but Cary staff would not enter the
lake at night to stop it, for fear of snakes. The Swift Creek spill is flowing as I write, 200,000
gallons per hour. Lake Wheeler and the City of Raleigh's park there are closed.. Holly
Springs Road, a major artery, is closed. The news headline from WRAL today is "Sewage
Overflow Costs Cary Thousands Of Dollars Each Hour". The Town of Cary has a
sophisticated messaging system, which spins stories away from the damage to our soil and
water, and the other environmental costs. Led by the able Susan Moran, their team has done a
tremendous job of turning the truth to their favor.

Another example, of many: The News & Observer`s regular column on tracking financial
waste ran a questionable story, reporting that the Town of Cary saved its citizens $7 million
by placing the plant in New Hill. The information that our Association has provided shows
otherwise.
But the key issue here is not financial, or about the media. It's our environment, and our
natural resources.
We are not protected by their Secondary and Cumulative Impacts Master Mitigation Plans
(SCIMMP), which only seem, to this non-lawyer, to cover their own jurisdictions. Even
there, their SCIMMPs are very skimpy on prescribing devices to control erosion and other
pollution. The present pattern of scraping large areas and leaving tiny patches of native tree
canopy and topsoil guarantees more of the same runoff that we had before Alberto. They
scrape and they sprawl and they don't manage the trees that are left and the trees
that are replanted, so they die too. When they remove green infrastructure, they put mud in
my streams, and I am not happy.
Many members of the New Hill Community Association, Inc. (NHCA) appeared at the
SCIMMP's state hearing. DENR sponsored it, but staff did not attend. You all didn't miss
much-the NHCA were just about the only citizens at this sparsely advertised event. The
hearing was introduced by someone who encouraged us to consider not only the negative
environmental effects of concrete infrastructure, but the opportunities it brings, like the
chance to choose between a Big Mac and a Whopper.
But the real issue here is not commercial. It's about DENR responsibly managing our
environment, to protect our natural resources.
As soon as I learned about the Western Wake Partners' Plan, I visited my neighbors on Garris
Road, which abuts the former Seymour Farm. I told them about the plan. Their reaction was
the same as mine-shock, and concern for the health of our families. Our skin color is
different, but our feelings are the same. New Hill is at rainbow community, intact and
sustainable. We draw water from our own land and it recycles back to our own land.
We turn animal waste into compost into new plants, and so the cycle goes. There is no hill
like New Hill. I've been inside the two churches closest to the Seymour Farm. The people
are shocked at the prospect of odors and the very legitimate concern about spills ruining their
services and their activities and their community. Would you want your house of worship
overshadowed by a sewage plant?
But the big issue here is not cultural, or religious. It's our environment, and our natural
resources.
The Partners condemn private land without mercy, straining the limits of the law, as Progress
Energy did before the construction of the nuclear plant. I knew Mr. Al Seymour. I worked on
his trees for him. I saw his hayfield under production. I saw him and his family tend the
flowerbeds near their weekend home, and sit on their porch under that tree, and enjoy life.

Mr. Seymour took pride in working his land, especially after retiring from the Town of Apex
Police Department. As an owner of equestrian property, I was glad that he grew hay.
At the first informational meeting, June 14, 2006, I walked by a television interview. The
reporter asked "So it's not a working farm then?" "No", said Ms. Moran. The cameras
clicked off just as I told them that it was a working farm, and asked if she had ever been on
the property. The loss of his farm is a loss to the whole community. Can you imagine the
pain of being uprooted from your land?
But the main issue here is not social, or personal. It's our environment, and our natural
resources.
Al Seymour's years of service, risking his life for Apex, got him little gratitude from the town
in the end. The Mayor of Apex signed a letter speaking for all Apex citizens, approving the
plant and the site. The problem was, the Town Council wasn't in on the deal. The elected
officials were totally bypassed. Apex citizens, many with ties to New Hill, were blindsided,
just like New Hill was blindsided.
Wake County Commissioners passed a resolution asking fora 30-day delay to inform affected
landowners, per the law, but Cary knocked that aside. Cary's council was pressured, and
passed it 4-3. Later, one member said, after seeing the effect on New Hill citizens,that she'd
vote differently.
Holly Springs fought a dump in their own town tooth and nail, but washed their hands of our
predicament, pointing out that they were only sending effluent. (Today we are seeing how
added stormwater breaks down Cary's sewage system.) When Holly Springs lost that fight,
they learned a little about how New Hill feels.
We have not heard from the Soil & Water Conservation District at all. Don't they have a role
when sewage pollutes our waterways?
Please help us, state officials. You are our last hope.
The important issue here is not democracy or politics. It's our environment, and our natural
resources.
Sincerely Yours,
~~~
~,,
Guy Meilleur, Consulting Arborist
Better Tree Care Associates
2020 New Hill-Olive Chapel Road,
New Hill, NC 27562
Member, New Hill Community Association