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Home My WebLink About20120285 Ver _Information Letter_20111004J��tEO Sr,�T�s _� A y� � � W n � o P 0 y��r9< vao��°� 2 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACENCY REGION 4 ATLANTA FEDERAL CENTER 61 FORSYTH STREET ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303-8960 October 4, 2011 Ms. Kiersten Bass North Carolina Turnpike Authority 1 South Wilmington Street 1578 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1578 SUBJECT: Draft Water Quality Analysis: Gaston East-West Toll Facility (`Garden Parkway'); Supplemental Information to the Federal Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), Gaston and Mecklenburg Counties, North Carolina; TIl' Project No.: U-3321; FHW-E40827-NC; CEQ No.: 20110011 Dear Ms. Bass: The North Carolina Turnpike Authority (NCTA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which are proposing to construct a 22-mile toll facility (the Project) from I-85 west of the Town of Gastonia to I-485 by the Charlotte Douglas Airport in Gaston and Mecklenburg Counties, have requested comments on the draft Indirect and Cumulative Effects (ICE) Water Quality Analysis (WQA) for this project. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 4(EPA) has reviewed the WQA for the Project dated August of 2011 and is providing comments in accordance with Section 309 of the Clean Air Act, Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Sections 401 and 404 of the Clean Water Act. Our general comments are provided below with the detailed comments in the Attachment. EPA has been involved with this Project as part of the NC Merger Interagency Team. In its review of the Project's DEIS (07/2009) and FEIS (02/2011), EPA identified environmental concerns due to the substantial direct impacts on water quality from the proposed Project. Based on the review of the WQA, the indirect and cumulative effects from the 2035 Preferred Alternative (Build scenario) will result in further degradation to water quality throughout most of the project study area. Per the WQA, five (5) of the hydrologic units (HUs) are on the 2010 NC 303(d) list of impaired water� and are expected to be further impaired by indirect and cumulative effects from the proposed project. The project alignment intersects all five impaired HUs. Interchanges are also planned for all five (5) impaired HUs. Therefore, the proposed mitigation plan should be strengthened to ensure that it addresses all the substantial impacts to waters of the U.S. from the proposed project. Intemet Address (URL) • http://www.epa,gov Recycled/Recyclablo . PdMed wkh Vegetable OA Based Inks on Recyded Paper (Minrnum 30°k Postconsumer) EPA recommends that the NCTA identify project specific Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) for direct and indirect impacts that are based upon predicted development patterns and land use changes. The NCTA should coordinate this effort with NC Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ) and work closely with local agencies to implement and enforce these specific BMPs. NCTA should also be aware that all land disturbing activities greater than one acre are subject to coverage under the North Carolina National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System construction general permit to address stormwater discharges related to construction activities. This permit requires the development of a stormwater pollution prevention plan that will ensure that the adequate levels of BMPs necessary to control the discharges of pollutants from these sites are implemented. EPA believes that the overall direct impacts, indirect and cumulative effects of the proposed Project may jeopardize compliance with the Clean Water Act. Therefore, EPA recommends that mitigation for these substantial direct impacts, indirect and cumulative effects of this proposed Project be considered in the context of the Council on Environmental Quality regulations at 40 C.F.R. Section 1500.1(c): "The NEPA process is intended to help public officials make decisions that are based on understanding of environmental consequences and take actions that protect, restore and enhance the environment". EPA requests a copy of the final WQA report when it becomes available. Mr. Christopher A. Militscher of my staff will continue to be available to work with you on these outstanding issues. Please feel free to contact him at 919-856-4206. Since^ly, ~.��11�� F � � Heinz J. Mueller, Chief NEPA Program Office Attachment A cc: G. Hoops, FHWA, w/attachment S. Hair, USACE w/attachment P. Lespinasse, NCDWQ w/attachment ATTACHMENT A Detailed Technical Comments Draft Water Quality Analysis (WQA) Gaston East-West Toll Facility TIP No.: U-3321 Specific Comments We recommend that the environmental issues identified below should be further evaluated and addressed in a final WQA report. Per this draft report, the indirect and cumulative effects from the 2035 Preferred Alternative (Build scenario), will result in further degradation to water quality throughout most of the project study area. 1- The draft WQA report does not identify the rationale for using the year 2006 as the Baseline Condition (Page i). The North Carolina Division of Water Quality (NCDWQ) updated the 2008 Impaired Waters List and received EPA approval on March 10, 2010. The draft report failed to use the most recent approved stream classification data of impaired waters as the baseline condition within the project study area. 2- Under Section 2.2.1 of the draft WQA report, existing water conditions such as 303(d) impaired waters are shown from the year 2000 to 2010. Under Section 2.2 of the draft report, the headwaters of 26 streams (out of 36 total named streams) occur within the study area. Under Table 5; it should be noted that 14 of 17 stream and stream segments in North Carolina are listed as impaired under the 2010 Section 303(d) impaired list. Under the year 2000 Section 303(d) impaired list, only 12 of 17 stream and stream segments in North Carolina are listed as impaired. _ 3- Under Section 4.2, page 27, the 2035 No-build condition is generally described as, "Development is predicted to increase throughout the Study Area". The socio- economic factors that contribute to the anticipated development in the Study Area are not quantified in this draft report. Under Section 4.3 for the 2035 Preferred Alternative (i.e., Build Scenario), the ICE predicted that there would be approximately 1,100 additional acres of residential development and 100 fewer acres of commerciaUindustriaUoffice development compared to the 2035 No-build Scenario. The increase in development is expected to produce 3,300 additional households. There will also be approximately 1,500 acres (2.3 square miles) of direct impacts resulting from the proposed Gaston East-West Connector. 4- Five (5) of the 9 Study Area HUs add impervious surface cover in the 2035 Preferred Alternative (PA) build scenario. There will be increases in Annual Runoff, Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP•), and Annual Total Suspended Solids (TSS) predicted in the 2035 PA build scenario versus the 2035 No-build scenario in numerous HUs. Some of these increase stormwater and pollutant loads are significant, including 8.73% of Annual Runoff in the Beaverdam Creek-Catawba River HLT, 5.3% of TN in the Lake Wylie-Catawba River HU and the Catawba Creek HU, 7.0% of TP in the Catawba Creek HU, and 2.4% of TSS in the Catawba Creek HU. Analyzing Tables 17 to 20 in the draft report further comparing the 2035 No-Build vs. Build, 8 out of 9 HUs indicate an increase in Annual Runoff, 7 out of 9 HUs indicate an increase in TN, 7 out of 9 HLJs indicate an increase in TP, and 6 out of 9 HUs indicate an increase in TSS. From Section 5.0, no site-specific BMPs, such as bio-retention stormwater ponds, grass swales are recommended in the draft report due to a lack of information regarding future development. The report also does not identify specific and appropriate BMPs for water quality protection from the project's significant and direct impacts to impaired waters.