NC0000272_Flood Damage Recovery Chronology Report_20041022

BLUE RIDGE
PAPER PRODUCTS INC.
Flood Damage and Recovery Chronology Electronic Copy
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
Canton Mill
NPDES NC 0000272
Status as of 22 Oct 2004
Remnants of three hurricanes (Frances, Ivan and Jeanne) hit Canton,NC and the upper Pigeon
River watershed during September 2004 resulting in back-to-back floods exceeding the FEMA
100-year flood elevation. Asa result of the September floods, President Bush declared Western
North Carolina and the Town of Canton as federal disaster areas. The floodwaters from Frances
on 9/8 and from Ivan on 9/17 overtopped the protective dike at the Blue Ridge Paper Products
mill and twice flooded the mill's wastewater treatment plant and significant portions of the pulp
mill,paper machines and supporting utility areas. Mill operations were shut down for the
Frances flood and were down for several weeks through the Ivan flood. The mill's wastewater
treatment plant also treats domestic sewage from the Town of Canton.
Chronology of key events, damage and repairs—
Hurricane Frances
• 9/6 at 1600, based on flood warnings and river level,Blue Ridge Paper activated the mill
flood plan. NC DENR Dam Safety group and Haywood Co. Emergency Management were
notified of flood plan activation. Floodgates in the mill dike were set and emergency
equipment and supplies were assembled.
• 9/6 at 2200,based on rapid river rise, Blue Ridge Paper began an emergency shutdown of
pulp and paper production as a precaution against flooding.
• 9/8 at 0253, floodwaters backed up into the wastewater effluent outfall and flooded the
secondary clarifiers.
• 9/8 at 0300,power to the mill was cut to de-energize electrical substations threatened by
flood water. Wastewater plant began to flood through wastewater influent pump station.
Wastewater flow rate just before loss of power was 45 mgd. The mill -including fresh water
intake-was shut down by this time, so majority of influent flow was storm water.
• 9/8 at 0330, floodwaters overtopped the mill dike system.
• 9/8 at 0600, floodwaters crested at 21 ft,a record for Canton since 1940. Mill dike system
protects to 20 ft. Wastewater treatment plant and portions of mill flooded with 3 to 4 feet of
water. Wastewater treatment laboratory equipment was destroyed. Electrical switchgear and
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

September 2004 Flood Chronology, Blue Ridge Paper Products
22 Oct 2004, Page 2
control rooms for wastewater treatment were flooded. Influent pumps, return sludge pumps,
waste sludge pumps and secondary clarifier rake drives went under water. The main
wastewater treatment control panel was flooded. Offices, electrical rooms, and most motors
and process equipment at ground level and in basements on mill side of river were
submerged and damaged. Chemical and oil storage tanks remained secure.
• 9/8 at 0745, Blue Ridge Paper notified NC DENR that wastewater plant was flooded and mill
operations were shutdown. Town of Canton wastewater was going to river from flooded
pump stations within Town. Subsequent daily notifications were made to DENR and
Haywood Co. Emergency Management concerning flood damage, compliance samples lost
to flood and the progress of flood repairs. Legally-required public notices were also
completed.
• 9/8 to 9/11 —Mill and wastewater treatment plant were down for flood cleanup and repairs.
First priority for repairs was wastewater treatment since no mill operations could restart until
wastewater treatment plant was restored. No industrial waste generation. Town of Canton
working on repairs to sewage pump stations. Floodwaters and domestic sewage from Town
of Canton were by-passed to river from both town's pump stations and at the wastewater
treatment influent pump station. Appropriate notifications and public notices concerning
flood-related wastewater bypassing were made to DENR,Haywood Co. Emergency
Management, the Haywood Co. Public Health Department, and news outlets in both
Haywood Co,NC and Cox Co,TN including the Newport Plain Talk.
• 9/10—Town of Canton restored chlorine disinfection system at headworks to mill
wastewater treatment plant. Based on discussions between Town,Blue Ridge Paper, the
Haywood Co. Public Health Department and DENR, decision was made to pump all of
Town's wastewater through disinfection at the Blue Ridge headworks and then by-pass pump
disinfected sewage to river until wastewater treatment plant could be restored.
• 9/11 —Blue Ridge Paper completed repairs to essential wastewater treatment equipment and
resumed primary and secondary treatment of Town of Canton wastewater.
• 9/12—Daily river run and compliance monitoring resumed at Blue Ridge Paper wastewater
treatment plant. A temporary lab for pH,color, dissolved oxygen and conductivity was setup
in a corner of the existing wastewater lab. Made arrangements for contract lab analysis of
other wastewater process control and compliance samples.
• 9/12 to 9/16—Work to restore mill operations began. Damage assessment and reordering of
equipment for wastewater laboratory began. Flooded paper records and documents were
frozen for later recovery. However,majority of paper wastewater laboratory records were
destroyed and not recoverable.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

September 2004 Flood Chronology, Blue Ridge Paper Products
22 Oct 2004, Page 3
Hurricane Ivan
• 9/13 —Based on weather predictions,Blue Ridge Paper began repairs and strengthening of
mill dikes for possible second flood by Ivan. Thru Town of Canton and FEMA, Blue Ridge
Paper obtained portable engine-driven pumps to protect wastewater treatment plant from
flood of similar magnitude as Frances.
• 9/12 to 9/16 -Mill restarted raw water intake, three utility boilers and one recovery furnace
in preparation for mill restart. Based on weather forecasts, decision was made on 9/15 to
delay mill restart until after Ivan. On 9/15 &9/16, the majority of Blue Ridge Paper
resources were directed to Ivan flood preparations. Plan for Ivan was to run boilers and
generate mill power to keep wastewater pumps running. Spare motors and other equipment
repaired from the first flood were not installed, and some redundant equipment was pulled
and moved to higher ground. Electrical control rooms at the wastewater plant were sealed
against floodwater. Portable pumps were staged to pump treated wastewater over mill dike
and to bypass influent wastewater directly to river if necessary to prevent a second flood of
the wastewater treatment plant. DENR was notified of status of Ivan flood preparations and
emergency bypass pumping plan on 9/16.
• 9/16 at 2300,based on rising river level,mill shut down the recovery furnace and started
effluent bypass pumps to pump treated wastewater over the mill dike. DENR and the
Haywood Co. Public Health Department were previously notified and agreed with the
pumping system for flood protection during Ivan.
• 9/17 at 0330, river stage stabilized at 19 ft,just below top of mill dike. Influent and effluent
wastewater pumps were keeping pace with floodwaters at a flow rate of—45 mgd.
• 9/17 at 0408, Town of Canton and mill lost Progress Energy power feed. The resulting
power demand surge tripped out the mill's internal generators and power distribution system.
The mill's raw water intake and utility boilers stopped. The wastewater plant began flooding
through the wastewater influent pump station.
• 9/17 at 0440, Ivan floodwaters overtopped mill dike system. River stage crested at 23 ft by
0500, a new record for Canton since 1940. The portable pumps installed for Ivan were
overwhelmed. The wastewater treatment plant and significant portions of mill flooded with 5
to 7 feet of water. The Ivan floodwaters were deeper and more violent than Frances and did
considerably more damage to fixed structures. The dike protecting the wastewater treatment
plant broke in several places and floodwaters entered the lower aeration basins. The
wastewater laboratory and control room were flooded to the ceiling. The CO2 influent pH
neutralization system and all the mill's compliance wastewater samplers were destroyed.
Electrical rooms,pumps and other equipment that had flooded from Frances were again
submerged by Ivan. Daily wastewater compliance records saved from Frances and were
destroyed by the deeper Ivan floodwaters. Chemical and oil storage tanks at the mill
remained secure.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

September 2004 Flood Chronology,Blue Ridge Paper Products
22 Oct 2004, Page 4
• 9/17 at 0650, Blue Ridge Paper notified NC DENR that wastewater plant was flooded and
mill operations were shutdown. Town of Canton wastewater was going to river from flooded
pump stations within Town. Subsequent daily notifications were made to DENR and
Haywood Co. Emergency Management concerning flood damage, compliance samples lost
to flood and the progress of flood repairs. Legally-required public notices were also
completed.
• 9/17 to 9/21 —Mill and wastewater treatment plant were down for flood cleanup and repairs.
First priority for repairs was wastewater treatment since no mill operations could restart until
wastewater treatment plant was restored. No industrial waste generation. Town of Canton
working on repairs to sewage pump stations. Floodwaters and domestic sewage from Town
of Canton were by-passed to river from both town's pump stations and at the wastewater
treatment influent pump station. Appropriate notifications and public notices concerning
flood-related wastewater bypassing were made to DENR,Haywood Co. Emergency
Management, the Haywood Co. Public Health Department, and news outlets in both
Haywood Co,NC and Cox Co, TN including the Newport Plain Talk.
• 9/19—Town of Canton restored chorine disinfection system at headworks to mill wastewater
treatment plant. As was done after Frances,the Town's wastewater was pumped through
disinfection at the Blue Ridge headworks and then by-pass pumped to the river until
wastewater treatment plant could be restored. DENR and the Haywood Co. Public Health
Department were notified when interim disinfection treatment was restored.
• 9/21 —Blue Ridge Paper completed repairs to essential wastewater treatment equipment and
resumed primary and secondary treatment of Town of Canton wastewater.
• 9/22—Daily river run and compliance monitoring resumed at Blue Ridge Paper wastewater
treatment plant. Re-established the temporary lab for pH, color, dissolved oxygen and
conductivity. Continued the previous arrangements for contract lab analysis of other
wastewater process control and compliance samples.
• 9/22 -Work to restore mill operations began. Also completed essential repairs to damaged
sections of mill dike. Continued damage assessment and reordering of equipment for
wastewater laboratory.
• 9/23 —Blue Ridge Paper inspected oxygen injection stations on Pigeon River downstream of
mill. These were severely damaged by Ivan and not operational. DENR was notified
concerning oxygen station status.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

September 2004 Flood Chronology, Blue Ridge Paper Products
22 Oct 2004, Page 5
Hurricane Jeanne
• 9/27 & 9/28—Remnants of Hurricane Jeanne passed east of Western Carolina and did not
flood the wastewater treatment plant or mill. Blue Ridge Paper rushed mill dike repairs to be
ready for Jeanne and kept potable pumps in the wastewater treatment area as a contingency
for flooding. Floodwaters from Jeanne crested at 11 ft on the morning of 9/28,below the
mill dike elevation of 20 ft. The portable effluent pumps were operated for a brief period on
the morning of 9/28, and treated wastewater effluent was pumped over the mill dike to the
river. No influent wastewater was bypassed during or after Jeanne.
Flood Recovery and Mill Restart
• 9/22 to 10/4—Blue Ridge Paper restored operation of the raw water intake followed by
boilers,paper machines, recovery furnaces and pulp manufacturing.
• October 2004—Replacement wastewater lab equipment was ordered. Work to replace
wastewater lab cabinets started on week of 10/11. Expect to have full in-house wastewater
lab capability restored during December 2004.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

State of North Carolina
Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
Asheville Regional Office A4s*
Michael F.G.
Easley, Governor NCDEN R
William G.Ross,Jr., Secretary
Alan W.Wimek,P.E.,Director NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF
Division of Water Quality ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES
SURFACE WATER PROTECTION
November 3 , 2004.
MEMORANDUM
TO: Alan Klimek
THROUGH: Forrest Westall
FROM: Keith Haynes
SUBJECT: Request for Extension of Submittal Date
Color Reduction Report
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
Canton Mill
NPDES NC 0000272
Haywood County
The following is a chronology of the flooding events in Haywood County
that affected Blue Ridge Paper, thus causing the need for their request
of an extension, until April 1, 2005, for the submittal of the December
1, 2004 color reduction technologies report :
Remnants of three hurricanes (Frances, Ivan and Jeanne) hit Canton, NC
and the upper Pigeon River watershed during September 2004 resulting in
back-to-back floods exceeding the FEMA 100-year flood elevation. The
floodwaters from Frances on 9/8 and from Ivan on 9/17 overtopped the
protective dike at the subject facility and twice flooded the mill' s
wastewater treatment plant and large portions of the pulp mill, paper
machines and supporting utility areas . Mill operations were shut down
for the Frances flood and were down for about three weeks through the
Ivan flood. The mill' s wastewater treatment plant also treats domestic
sewage from the Town of Canton.
One
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] NorthCarolina
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer
Naturally

Chronology of key events, damage and repairs -
Hurricane Frances
• 9/6 at 1600, based on flood warnings and river level, Blue Ridge
Paper activated the mill flood plan. NC DENR Dam Safety group and
Haywood Co. Emergency Management were notified of flood plan
activation. Floodgates in the mill dike were set and emergency
equipment and supplies were assembled.
• 9/6 at 2200, based on rapid river rise, Blue Ridge Paper began an
emergency shutdown of pulp and paper production as a precaution
against flooding.
• 9/8 at 0253 , floodwaters backed up into the wastewater effluent
outfall and flooded the secondary clarifiers.
• 9/8 at 0300, power to the mill was cut to de-energize electrical
substations threatened by floodwater. Wastewater plant began to
flood through wastewater influent pump station. Wastewater flow rate
just before loss of power was 45 mgd. The mill - including fresh
water intake - was shut down by this time, so majority of influent
flow was storm water.
• 9/8 at 0330, floodwaters overtopped the mill dike system.
• 9/8 at 0600, floodwaters crested at 21 ft, a record for Canton since
1940 . Mill dike system protects to 20 ft . Wastewater treatment
plant and portions of mill flooded with 3 to 4 feet of water.
Wastewater treatment laboratory equipment was destroyed. Electrical
switchgear and control rooms for wastewater treatment were flooded.
Influent pumps, return sludge pumps, waste sludge pumps and secondary
clarifier rake drives went under water. The main wastewater
treatment control panel was flooded. Offices, electrical rooms, and
most motors and process equipment at ground level and in basements on
mill side of river were submerged and damaged. Chemical and oil
storage tanks remained secure.
• 9/8 at 0745, Blue Ridge Paper notified NC DENR that wastewater plant
was flooded and mill operations were shutdown. Town of Canton
wastewater was going to river from flooded pump stations within Town.
Subsequent daily notifications were made to DENR and Haywood Co.
Emergency Management concerning flood damage, compliance samples lost
to flood and the progress of flood repairs . Legally required public
notices were also completed.
• 9/8 to 9/11 - Mill and wastewater treatment plant were down for flood
cleanup and repairs . First priority for repairs was wastewater
treatment since no mill operations could restart until wastewater
One
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] NorthCarofina
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer Awmally

treatment plant was restored. No industrial waste generation. Town
of Canton working on repairs to sewage pump stations . Floodwaters
and domestic sewage from Town of Canton were by-passed to river from
the town' s pump stations and at the wastewater treatment influent
pump station. Appropriate notifications and public notices
concerning flood-related wastewater bypassing were made to DENR,
Haywood Co. Emergency Management, the Haywood Co.Health Department,
and news outlets in both Haywood Co, NC and Cocke Co, TN.
• 9/10 - Town of Canton restored the chlorine disinfection system at
headworks to mill wastewater treatment plant . Based on discussions
between Town, Blue Ridge Paper, the Haywood Co.Health Department and
DENR, decision was made to pump all of Town' s wastewater through
disinfection at the Blue Ridge headworks and then by-pass pump
disinfected sewage to river until wastewater treatment plant could be
restored.
• 9/11 - Blue Ridge Paper completed repairs to essential wastewater
treatment equipment and resumed primary and secondary treatment of
Town of Canton wastewater.
• 9/12 - Daily river run and compliance monitoring resumed at Blue
Ridge Paper wastewater treatment plant . A temporary lab for pH,
color, dissolved oxygen and conductivity was setup in a corner of the
existing wastewater lab. Made arrangements for contract lab analysis
of other wastewater process control and compliance samples.
• 9/12 to 9/16 - Work to restore mill operations began. Damage
assessment and reordering of equipment for wastewater laboratory
began. Flooded paper records and documents were frozen for later
recovery. However, majority of paper wastewater laboratory records
were destroyed and not recoverable.
• Hurricane Ivan
• 9/13 - Based on weather predictions, Blue Ridge Paper began repairs
and strengthening of mill dikes for possible second flood by Ivan.
Thru Town of Canton and FEMA, Blue Ridge Paper obtained portable
engine-driven pumps to protect wastewater treatment plant from flood
of similar magnitude as Frances .
• 9/12 to 9/16 - Mill restarted raw water intake, three utility boilers
and one recovery furnace in preparation for mill restart . Based on
weather forecasts, decision was made on 9/15 to delay mill restart
until after Ivan. On 9/15 & 9/16, the majority of Blue Ridge Paper
resources were directed to Ivan flood preparations. Plan for Ivan
was to run boilers and generate mill power to keep wastewater pumps
running. Spare motors and other equipment repaired from the first
flood were not installed, and some redundant equipment was pulled and
moved to higher ground. Electrical control rooms at the wastewater
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] OneNorthCarolina
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer
�aturallt�

plant were sealed against floodwater. Portable pumps were staged to
pump treated wastewater over mill dike and to bypass influent
wastewater directly to river if necessary to prevent a second flood
of the wastewater treatment plant . DENR was notified of status of
Ivan flood preparations and emergency bypass pumping plan on 9/16.
• 9/16 at 2300, based on rising river level, mill shut down the
recovery furnace and started effluent bypass pumps to pump treated
wastewater over the mill dike. DENR and the Haywood Co. Health
Department were previously notified and agreed with the pumping
system for flood protection during Ivan.
• 9/17 at 0330, river stage stabilized at 19 ft, just below top of mill
dike. Influent and effluent wastewater pumps were keeping pace with
floodwaters at a flow rate of - 45 mgd.
• 9/17 at 0408, Town of Canton and mill lost Progress Energy power
feed. The resulting power demand surge tripped out the mill' s
internal generators and power distribution system. The mill' s raw
water intake and utility boilers stopped. The wastewater plant began
flooding through the wastewater influent pump station.
• 9/17 at 0440, Ivan floodwaters overtopped mill dike system. River
stage crested at 23 ft by 0500, a new record for Canton since 1940 .
The portable pumps installed for Ivan were overwhelmed. The
wastewater treatment plant and significant portions of mill flooded
with 5 to 7 feet of water. The Ivan floodwaters were deeper and more
violent than Frances and did considerably more damage to fixed
structures. The dike protecting the wastewater treatment plant broke
in several places and floodwaters entered the lower aeration basins.
The wastewater laboratory and control room were flooded to the
ceiling. The CO2 influent pH neutralization system and all the
mill' s compliance wastewater samplers were destroyed. Electrical
rooms, pumps and other equipment that had flooded from Frances were
again submerged by Ivan. Daily wastewater compliance records saved
from Frances and were destroyed by the deeper Ivan floodwaters.
Chemical and oil storage tanks at the mill remained secure.
• 9/17 at 0650, Blue Ridge Paper notified NC DENR that wastewater plant
was flooded and mill operations were shutdown. Town of Canton
wastewater was going to river from flooded pump stations within Town.
Subsequent daily notifications were made to DENR and Haywood Co.
Emergency Management concerning flood damage, compliance samples lost
to flood and the progress of flood repairs . Legally required public
notices were also completed.
• 9/17 to 9/21 - Mill and wastewater treatment plant were down for
flood cleanup and repairs. First priority for repairs was wastewater
treatment since no mill operations could restart until wastewater
treatment plant was restored. No industrial waste generation. Town
of Canton working on repairs to sewage pump stations . Floodwaters
One
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] NorthCarolina
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer
Naturally

and domestic sewage from Town of Canton were by-passed to river from
the town' s pump stations and at the wastewater treatment influent
pump station. Appropriate notifications and public notices
concerning flood-related wastewater bypassing were made to DENR,
Haywood Co. Emergency Management, the Haywood Co. Public Health
Department, and news outlets in both Haywood Co, NC and Cocke Co, TN
including the Newport Plain Talk.
• 9/19 - Town of Canton restored the chlorine disinfection system at
headworks to mill wastewater treatment plant . As was done after
Frances, the Town' s wastewater was pumped through disinfection at the
Blue Ridge headworks and then by-pass pumped to the river until
wastewater treatment plant could be restored. DENR and the Haywood
Co. Public Health Department were notified when interim disinfection
treatment was restored.
• 9/21 - Blue Ridge Paper completed repairs to essential wastewater
treatment equipment and resumed primary and secondary treatment of
Town of Canton wastewater.
• 9/22 - Daily river run and compliance monitoring resumed at Blue
Ridge Paper wastewater treatment plant . Re-established the temporary
lab for pH, color, dissolved oxygen and conductivity. Continued the
previous arrangements for contract lab analysis of other wastewater
process control and compliance samples .
• 9/22 - Work to restore mill operations began. Also completed
essential repairs to damaged sections of mill dike. Continued damage
assessment and reordering of equipment for wastewater laboratory.
• 9/23 - Blue Ridge Paper inspected oxygen injection stations on Pigeon
River downstream of mill . These were severely damaged by Ivan and
not operational . DENR was notified concerning oxygen station status .
Hurricane Jeanne
• 9/27 & 9/28 - Remnants of Hurricane Jeanne passed east of Western
Carolina and did not flood the wastewater treatment plant or mill .
Blue Ridge Paper rushed mill dike repairs to be ready for Jeanne and
kept potable pumps in the wastewater treatment area as a contingency
for flooding. Floodwaters from Jeanne crested at 11 ft on the
morning of 9/28, below the mill dike elevation of 20 ft . The
portable effluent pumps were operated for a brief period on the
morning of 9/28 , and treated wastewater effluent was pumped over the
mill dike to the river. No influent wastewater was bypassed during
or after Jeanne .
Flood Recovery and Mill Restart
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] One
Nort
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer natturallyrala
l y

• 9/22 to 10/4 - Blue Ridge Paper restored operation of the raw water
intake followed by boilers, paper machines, recovery furnaces and
pulp manufacturing.
October 2004 - Replacement wastewater lab equipment was ordered. Work to
replace wastewater lab cabinets started on week of 10/11 . Expect to
have full in-house wastewater lab capability restored during December
2004 .
The mill is currently close to normal operating conditions both for
production and treatment, but is still missing some critical in mill
monitoring stations . In the estimation of the ARO staff, the Company and
its staff have worked diligently in trying to meet all permit
requirements, but as you can determine from the chronology, the mill
experienced extensive downtime due to the two storms .
The requested extension of the December 1, 2004 date for the results of
color treatment on the Chloride Removal Process (part of BFR) is
completely understandable considering the physical realities of the
floods of September. In addition, this date only affects DWQ' s report to
the EMC and not any of the other compliance dates remaining in the NPDES
Permit, which expires the end of 2006 . As a result, the Asheville
Regional Office recommends that you grant their request for an extension.
We have attached a suggested letter for your signature stating the
Division' s decision on the matter.
If you have any questions or if you need additional information on the
subject, please contact either Keith Haynes or Forrest Westall .
xc: Dave Goodrich
Forrest Westall/Keith Haynes
Don Anderson, EPA, Chair of TRW (Technology Review Workgroup)
One
2090 U.S.Highway 70,Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778 Telephone [phone] FAX [phone] NorthCaroha
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer
Alahlrally

0�0� W Arl 90 Michael F.Easley,Governor
William G.Ross Jr.,Secretary
[ North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
01
Alan W.Klimek,P.E.Director
Division of Water Quality
WATER QUALITY SECTION
, 2004
Mr. Paul Dickens,Manager
Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products
PO Box 4000
Canton,North Carolina 28778
Subject: CRP Color Report
Extension Request
Blue Ridge Paper—Canton Mill
NPDES Permit No.NC0000272
Haywood County
Dear Mr. Dickens:
The Division of Water Quality staff have reviewed your request for an extension of the Part I, Condition
A.(8).9 stipulation of the subject NPDES permit. This condition requires that Blue Ridge Paper Products
evaluate color reduction technologies associated with the Chloride Removal Process waste stream with a report
of the findings submitted to the Division of Water Quality by December 1, 2004. This stipulation also requires
that the DWQ's recommendation on the report be submitted to the NPDES Committee by February 1,2005.
Due to the back-to-back flooding events occurring at the mill in September 2004, the Division is willing
to extend the due date of the subject report until April 1,2005. It should be noted that this date extension does
not change any other compliance date requirements of the Permit.
If you have any questions concerning this matter,please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Forrest Westall or
Mr.Keith Haynes of our Asheville Regional Office at 828-296-4500.
Sincerely,
Alan Klimek
xc: Dave Goodrich
` RO N"o��`tnlrCarolina
Don Anderson waturally
North Carolina Division of Water Quality 1617 Mail Service Center Raleigh,NC 27699-1617 Phone[phone] Customer Service
Internet h2o.encstate.nc.us 512 N.Salisbury St. Raleigh,NC 27604 FAX [phone] 1-877-623-6748
An Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer—50%Recyded/10°%Post Consumer Paper

itchell County (SPRUCE PINE) on 10/21/2004 08:48:22 AM Page 1 of 1
NC Division of Emergency Management
Emergency Report Form (Rev 2.0)
Taken by: C Tent IDate Reported: 10/21/2004 Time Reported: 08:44 AM
Date Occurred: 10/21/200 ITime Occurred: 08:00 AM
Reported by: NRC Flash Fax Agenc : NRC Phone:
County: Mitchell Ci : SPRUCE PINE EM Area:W 14
EVENT TYPE
Weather Event: HazMat Event: Oil/Petroleum Spill
Wx Event Name: --]HazMat Class: Petroleum
HazMat Mode: Other
FNF Event: Non-FNF Event: SAR Event:
FNF Type:
FNF Class:
Fire Event: Complaint:
OTHER EVENT:
Event Description: Caller Stated that the river is green due to unknown source
MI 171
Attachments: NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER.doc
Deaths: Injuries: Evac: Radius:
Responsible Party: IRP Phone:
Point Of Contact: =IPOC Phone:
Event Location: On the Old Road near the Town Bridge
Latitude (decimal degrees ) (NC inland range is 33.840 -36.588 degrees. Values outside these parameters may
be used.)
Longitude (decimal degrees) (NC inland range is 75.460-84.322 degrees. Values outside these parameters
may be used.)
USFS Block-Square-Point System: Block= S uare= Point--
RRT Request: No RRT Mission No. : JJRRT Team Number:
COUNTY AGENCIES
LEMC: SO: PD: LFD: CHealth: Sewer: PWRK:
Other Local Agencies: /Of z Z�v
STATE AGEN(��6""`�
A/C: SHP/SWP: Env. Mgt: Water: DRF CNW T^P
Other State or Federal Agencies: may-{ '
Stv
Notes:
r
EM Hours: SAR Hours: .
A 1� t� - *t
http:H149.168.212.17/EM_live/ENMeport.NSF/b66533df2a86c4Ob852566e 1007f74l d/8... 10/21/2004

NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER - FLASH FAX
***GOVERNMENT USE ONLY***GOVERNMENT USE ONLY***
DO NOT RELEASE this information to the public without
permission from the NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER 1-800-424-8802
Incident Report # 738992
INCIDENT DESCRIPTION
*Report taken by: CIV RAWLS at 08:23 on 21-OCT-04
Incident Type: UNKNOWN SHEEN
Incident Cause: UNKNOWN
Affected Area: TOW RIVER
The incident was discovered on 21-OCT-04 at 08:00 local time.
Affected Medium: WATER TOW RIVER
REPORTING PARTY
Name: ANONYMOUS
XX
PRIMARY Phone: (0)
Type of Organization: OTHER
SUSPECTED RESPONSIBLE PARTY
Name: UNKNOWN
XX
Type of Organization: UNKNOWN
INCIDENT LOCATION
County: MITCHELL
City: SPRUCE PINE State: NC
ON THE OLD ROAD NEAR THE TOWN BRIDGE
RELEASED MATERIAL(S)
CHRIS Code: OUN Official Material Name: UNKNOWN OIL
Also Known As:
Qty Released: 0 UNKNOWN AMOUNT Qty in Water: 0 UNKNOWN AMOUNT
DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT
CALLER STATED THAT THE RIVER IS GREEN DUE TO UNKNOWN SOURCE.
INCIDENT DETAILS
Platform Rig Name:
Platform Letter:
Location Area ID:
Location Block ID:
OCSG Number:

OCSP Number:
State Lease Number:
Pier Dock Number:
Berth Slip Number:
---SHEEN INFORMATION---
Sheen Color: OTHER
Sheen Odor Description:
Sheen Travel Direction:
Sheen Size Length:
Sheen Size Width:
---WATER INFORMATION---
Body of Water: TOW RIVER
Tributary of: NOLACHUCKIE RIVER
Nearest River Mile Marker:
Water Supply Contaminated: NO
DAMAGES
Fire Involved: NO Fire Extinguished: UNKNOWN
INJURIES: Hospitalized: Empl/Crew: Passenger:
FATALITIES: Empl/Crew: Passenger: Occupant:
EVACUATIONS: Who Evacuated: Radius/Area:
Damages:
Hours Direction of
Closure Type Description of Closure Closed Closure
Air: N
Road: N Major N
Artery:
Waterway: N
Track: N
Media Interest: NONE Community Impact due to Material: NO
REMEDIAL ACTIONS
NONE
Release Secured: UNKNOWN
Release Rate:
Estimated Release Duration:
WEATHER
Weather: OVERCAST, 55°F
ADDITIONAL AGENCIES NOTIFIED
Federal:
State/Local:
State/Local On Scene:
State Agency Number:
NOTIFICATIONS BY NRC

ATSDR NC
21-OCT-04 08:.27 (919)7153591
U.S. EPA IV
(404) 6504955
NC DEPT OF EMERGENCY MGMT
21-OCT-04 08:27 (800) 8580368
NOAA 1ST CLASS BB RPTS FOR NC
21-OCT-04 08:27 (206) 5266344
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DENR
21-OCT-04 08:27 (919) 7335083
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
NONE
*** END INCIDENT REPORT 738992 ***
Report any problems or Fax number changes by calling 1-800-424-8802
PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT http://www.nrc.uscg.mil

Process and Wastewater Treatment Upset-Blue Ridge Paper
Subject: Process and Wastewater Treatment Upset-Blue Ridge Paper
Date:Sun, 3 Oct 2004 14:02:11 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]
3 Oct 2004
Subject: NPDES NC 0000272
Process and Wastewater Treatment Upset
29 and 30 Sep 2004
Blue Ridge Paper Products
Canton, Mill
Keith Haynes, NC DENRARO DWQ'-
The back-to-back floods impacting Blue Ridge Paper Products in September 2004 are unprecedented. With heroic
effort we repaired flood damage and restarted wastewater treatment and mill process operations. The pulp mill
restart after the unplanned 3-week cold outage is proving to be a challenge. Because flood waters rose quickly, we
were not able to execute a normal mill shutdown. The cold pulp and fiber left in digesters for 3 weeks are well
beyond the operating experience of any pulp mill. The quantity of dissolved color materials is much greater than
during normal mill operations. We have had great difficulty processing fiber and pulp left in tanks from before the
floods and have lost an abnormal amount of color to the mill sewers. The mill restart after Frances and Ivan is
absolutely not a normal operating situation and does not reflect the normal color performance of the mill.
This note provides written notice required under the NPDES permit that we experienced a process and wastewater
treatment upset following restart our pine pulping process on the night of 9129 and morning of 9/30. We previously
notified you about the pH excursion on the morning of 9/30 and monthly average color results for September 2004.
We confirmed on 10/1 that the 9/30 pH excursion also caused a partial kill of our activated sludge plant. The
secondary effluent (SE)color on 10/1 was also high. As a result, Blue Ridge Paper will likely not meet the monthly
color discharge limit for October 2004 and may not meet the annual average color limit for 2004.
Color data summary for last 5 days is as follows:
Date Flow PI PE SE River at Fiberville Bridge
9/28 28.7 mgd 150 ppm 456 ppm 121 ppm no color sample,
35,904#/day 109,147#/day 28,962#/day not a river color sample day
9/29 27.3 mgd 731 ppm 1448 ppm 1034 ppm 25 ppm,flow 1015 mgd
166,436#/day 329,683#/day 235,423#/day
9/30 26.6 mgd 901 ppm 2452 ppm 1409 ppm 44 ppm, flow 782 mgd
199,881 #/day 543,961 #/day 312,578#/day
10/1 28.6 mgd 267 ppm 1101 ppm 2266 ppm 92 ppm,flow 590 mgd
63,686#/day 262,615#/day 540,945#/day
I of 2 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Process and Wastewater Treatment Upset-Blue Ridge Paper
10/2 28.30 mgd 296 ppm 553 ppm 622 ppm 53 ppm at 0919,flow 428 mgd
69,862#/day 130,520#/day 146,806#/day 25 ppm at 1450,flow 492 mgd
The daily river run checks DO conditions at Fiberville and at Clyde. The river run on 9/29 and 9/30 included HEPCO
and Waterville. Downstream DO levels for the process and wastewater upset period are well above minimum levels.
DO readings for the activated sludge plant indicate that treatment continued throughout the upset period and that our
bugs are recovering. We will report 5-day BODs for the upset period when PACE Labs has completed these
analyses.
The mill's average secondary effluent color performance for the period January through August 2004 was 39,737
Ibs/day. We have demonstrated the ability to meet the annual average color limit of 42,000 Ibs/day under normal mill
operating conditions. Blue Ridge Paper is working hard to complete the mill restart and return as quickly as possible
to pre-flood color performance.
Bob Williams-the Blue Ridge Director of Regulator Affairs-will contact Forrest Westall this week to discuss the
effect of the floods and unplanned cold mill outage on our monthly and annual average effluent color limits.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Wastewater Excursions-Blue Ridge Paper Products
Subject: Wastewater Excursions -Blue Ridge Paper Products
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 19:10:31 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]
1 Oct 2004
Subject: Permit Excursions
30 Sep 2004 aE" secondary effluent pH
September 2004-monthly average color
NPDES NC 0000272
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ aE"
This written report follows our telephone notifications for the permit excursions reported on 9/30 and
10/1/2004.
As you aware, the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill is restarting process operations after 3-weeks of
unscheduled cold outage caused by Hurricanes Frances and Ivan. During the last three days,we restarted
pulp mill operations and have experienced a number of process problems related to the flood outage.
Specifically,when the mill executed the emergency shutdown for the Frances flood on the night of 9/7,we
did not have time to purge the pulping process and empty digesters and other tanks. On restart this week,
we had soft pulp and fiber that washed poorly in brown stock and bleaching stages of the mill. We tried as
best we could to process and recover the fiber and pulping chemicals left in tanks from before the floods.
However,we lost an abnormal amount of pulping materials resulting in a high pH and high color load to
our wastewater treatment plant.
We had anticipated the high pH load to wastewater treatment and scheduled round-the clock deliveries of
acid for pH neutralization. On the night of 9/29, an acid delivery scheduled for 6 pm did not arrive on
time. We began to run low on acid for neutralization at the same time that the pulp mill experienced
several process upsets related to the flood. We slowed down the pulp mill restart and began adding acid to
the mill sewer from inside the mill to help control pH at our wastewater treatment plant. At 12 midnight,
the wastewater plant ran out of acid. We continued to add acid to the mill sewer to control wastewater
plant pH. The acid delivery to wastewater treatment originally scheduled for 6 pm on 9/29 finally arrived
at 2:40 am on the morning of 9/30. We resumed acid addition for pH control at wastewater treatment by 4
am. Additional loads of acid were received on schedule during the morning of 9/30.
Wastewater pH based on grab samples for the period above is as follows:
Date and time PI PE SE
9/29 7 pm 11.4 10.7 8.2
9/29 11 pm 11.5 10.8 9.0
1 of 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Wastewater Excursions-Blue Ridge Paper Products
9/30 3 am 2.9 10.4 9.5
9/20 7 am 2.8 7.8 9.2
9/20 8:30 am 8.7
For the period between 11 pm on 9/29 until about 8:30 am on 9130, we had secondary effluent(SE)pH
greater than 9.0. Our permit specifies a discharge pH limit of 6.0 to 9.0. Wastewater flow during the pH
excursion period was—27 mgd. The river flow on 9/29 was 1015 mgd and on 9/30 was 782 mgd. Our
effluent during the pH excursion period was less than 5 percent of stream flow. Our river run and visual
inspection of the river downstream on the morning of 9/30 found no evidence of fish kill or other
environmental harm.
As you are also aware, the back-to-back floods in Canton during September 2004 caused a total of 9 days
of wastewater plant outage and 3 weeks of pulp mill outage. We only operated secondary treatment and
monitored our wastewater discharge for 21 of the 30 days in September. Wastewater plant operations were
restored before we attempted restart of paper and pulp production. Secondary effluent color on 9/29 and
9/30 was high and took our monthly average color based on wastewater operating days above the permit
limit of 52,000 lbs/day. Specifically, based on 21 operating days our monthly average secondary effluent
true color discharge was 58,097 lbs/day. Based on 30 days in the month of September, the monthly
average true color discharge was 40,688 lbs/day, below both the annual average and monthly max color
limits in the permit. Our effluent was less than 5 percent of river flow on the high color days during
September. Based on river run samples, the true color at the Fiberville bridge on 9/29 was 25 ppm and on
9/30 was 44 ppm.
A preliminary summary of our September 2004 wastewater flow and color discharge monitoring results is
attached for your evaluation. The formal and QC-verified data will be submitted with our September
DMR.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
Name: sep04wpt.xls
[EW04w t-x1s Type: Microsoft Excel Worksheet(application/vnd.ms-excel)
Encoding: base64
Download Status: Not downloaded with message
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Jeanne Update-Blue Ridge Paper Products
Subject: Jeanne Update-Blue Ridge Paper Products
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2004 07:53:35 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]
28 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ
Tropical depression Jeanne came and went without.problems. The Pigeon River in Canton crested at 11 ft at about
0500 this morning and is receeding. The Blue Ridge wastewater plant remained dry. There appears to be only
minor flooding in the Canton area. The River stayed within its banks and normal flood plain.
We did activate the full mill flood plan including stop logs in the railroad penetrations thru the mill dikes and
temporary pumps on the wastewater influent and effluent plus on Mingus Branch. We ran the Mingus Branch and
effluent bypass pumps last night to test our revised flood protection plan and as a contingency against additional river
rise. We did not run the influent bypass pumps. Treated secondary effluent was pumped around the mill dike into
the river from 0245 until 0700 today. As a result,we have no wastewater flow record for this period. Wastewater
flow just prior to pumping was 35 mgd, and the flow when pumping stopped was running 28 mgd. We will use the
average of these flows, or 31.5 mgd for the 3 am 4-hr round flow. As you recall,we are currently using 4-hr round
manual flow readings to determine a daily flow. This will continue until we can restore flood-damaged wastewater
flow totalizing thru our distributed controls and mill information system.
I sent flood pictures from Frances to you yesterday by e-mail. Let me know if these did not come through.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge-Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Wastewater Update and September Reporting 9/27
Subject: Wastewater Update and September Reporting 9/27
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:19:44 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]
27 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENRARO DWQ-
This follows our telephone conversation today concerning Blue Ridge Paper wastewater operations following the
Frances and Ivan floods. We have pictures of the Frances flood available in electronic format. I will send a few to
you by separate e-mail. Later we can get some of the insurance adjustor pictures if you wish.
We are preparing today for Jeanne and have activated the mill's flood protection plan. Emergency pumps are being
installed at the wastewater treatment plant. If necessary to prevent flood damage to the wastewater treatment plant,
we will bypass pump both influent and effluent wastewater to the river. This step will only be taken if we lose mill
power or are in imminent danger of flooding thru the influent pump station. Mill operations will cease if river stage
readings and predictions indicate that severe flooding is about to occur.
This morning, the mill's emergency response team worked with the Town of Canton Fire Department to pull a
submerged pickup truck and other flood debris from the Pigeon River upstream of the low head dam between the mill
and wastewater treatment plant. There was a spill of gasoline and an oil sheen on the river from the fuel tank of this
truck when it was lifted by crane. The truck was pulled out and onto the river bank at about 1130. The oil sheen
extended from the mill's wastewater plant to the Fiberville bridge and dissipated once the truck was out of the water.
There was no practical method to determine if there was fuel in the truck or to empty the fuel tank before pulling the
truck out of the river. The estimated spill volume is 10 gallons. The truck had active tags, and the Canton Police will
try to determine the owner. The truck cab was empty, thank goodness. The side windows were still intact.
As you recall, there was also a tote of soap in the river at the low head dam. Last week the mill had tied off this tote
to prevent it from washing downstream. The tote was from the upstream laundry in Canton that flooded during Ivan.
While we had the crane, the mill also pulled the tote of soap out of the river.
There are still a lot of debris including a refrigerator and what appears to be a pickup truck bed submerged in the
river along the mill property. These will require a lower water level to safety access and remove.
As you know, Blue Ridge is operating under interim wastewater process control and compliance sampling
procedures until we can restore our wastewater lab and replace automatic samplers lost to the 9/8 and 9/17 floods.
We resumed compliance monitoring after the Ivan wastewater outage at 11 pm on the night of 9/21. Our first 24-hr
composite samples were pulled at 11 pm on the night of 9/22. 1 learned on the morning of 9/24 that the wastewater
operators had failed to run color on the secondary effluent composite samples for 9/22 and 9/23. 1 alerted John
Pryately and Lori Cooper who investigated and corrected this oversight. There are a couple of contributing causes to
missing the 9/22 and 9/23 effluent color samples:
1. The 24-hr color is usually run on the secondary effluent composite collected in the AOX sampler. After Ivan,
Blue Ridge was able to salvage 2 working automatic samplers from the 5 that were damaged by the flood.
We set up the 2 working samples up on the secondary effluent for time composite sampling. The former
AOX sampler was working, but the sampler temperature controller was apparently not working. The 9/22
sample in the AOX sampler froze, and the wastewater operators had already discarded the separate
composite sample left over from the sample pour-ups for analysis by Pace Lab. The operators have been
told that frozen samples cannot be used for compliance, so they did not attempt to thaw the frozen sample
and run color.
1 of 2 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Wastewater Update and September Reporting 9/27
The night operators adjusted the AOX sampler temperature control thinking that this would eliminate the
freezing problem. However, the AOX sample for 9/23 also froze, and the separate composite sample for
PACE Lab had been poured up and discarded. One again a color sample was not run since the operators
believed that a thawed sample would be invalid. In hindsight, they should have run color on a thawed sample
and noted a QC exception in the operator's log. The night operators did communicate the AOX sampler
problem to the on-coming shift on 9/24. The damaged AOX sampler was pulled on'9/24 and taken the
refrigerant repair shop.
2. The wastewater crew working the nights of 9/22 and 9/23 had not worked during the period between Frances
and Ivan when we introduced the interim sampling procedures. The interim sampling information was
communicated verbally between shifts and with written procedures, but the crew on the night of 9/22 and 9/23
did not fully understand the interim routine,which calls for running color on the 24-hr composite samples
collected for PACE Lab. They had followed the old routine of running color on the AOX composite sample
which froze.
We will follow your guidance concerning the September discharge monitoring report and samples lost to the
back-to-back Frances and Ivan floods:
• We will indicate the samples and data lost to floods on the DMR and send a separate letter to you with
particulars.
• The letter will outline the interim compliance monitoring and sampling procedures that we are using until we
can restore flood-damaged instrumentation and composite samplers that fully meet permit conditions.
• The letter will document the missed color samples on 9/22 and 9/23 and the circumstances related to this
operator mistake.
• The letter will document loss of the September toxicity sample and agreement with you to move the toxicity
test to October after normal mill operations are restored. At this time, we do not have a third working effluent
sampler to collect water for the toxicity test. Replacement samplers have been ordered with approximate 3
week delivery.
• The September monthly averages in the DMR should be based on the days that we had an operating
wastewater plant and collected compliance samples. The days that the treatment plant was down due to
floods should be omitted.
Keith, thanks so much with your help and guidance concerning the Frances and Ivan floods. Hopefully,the passing
of Jeanne will be milder, and we will not have another major flood.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:03 AM

Blue Ridge Paper Wastewater Update 9/23
Subject: Blue Ridge Paper Wastewater Update 9/23
Date: Thu,23 Sep 2004 07:53:20 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]
23 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
Thank you for your site visit yesterday to confirm restart of our wastewater treatment plant after Ivan flood damage on
9/17104. Wastewater treatment operations resumed on the afternoon of 9/21 and continue to run today. We are
rebuilding biosolids inventory and supplemented our bugs with several tanker loads of return sludge from
Waynesville. Our activiated sludge is running thin, and the effluent this morning continued to be muddy. We are
still washing floodwaters out of the secondary treatment system. The No.4 clarifier sweep developed torque
problems overnight, and we are running on the No. 5 secondary clarifier. No. 5 can easily handle current wastewater
flow. The primary clarifiers and sludge presses are running well. We are tuning the rebuilt sludge polymer system.
We are pH adjusting with sulfuric acid both on auto and manual control. The temporary CO2 system to replace
flood-damaged influent pH adjustment will not be delivered until next week. The first 24-hr compliance samples after
Ivan should go to PACE Labs this morning.
We finally had time to look at flood damage to the downstream oxygen injection stations on the Pigeon River-Station
D in Fiberville 0.9 miles DS and Station E in West Canton 2.1 miles DS towards Clyde. These oxygen injection
stations are specified in Part I.A.10 of our NPDES permit. The stations were fully flooded and are not functional at
this time. We will get a full damage and repair estimate during the next couple of weeks, but the flood damage is
considerable.
We have not operated the D station for a number of years and have only operated the E station for limited periods
during low flow. We have not needed any instream oxygen injection during the past 2 years. We will investigate the
need to restore both stations and discuss the results with you prior to repermitting in 2005. Because of high stream
flow,we do not anticipate needing the downstream oxygen injection stations for water quality compliance during the
coming fall and winter. The oxygen post aeration system at the wastewater plant is fully functional and is operating.
As you know,we lost both compliance samples and records in the back-to-back Frances and Ivan floods. Samples
and data lost for September 2004 are as follows:
• BOD5 data for 5 days prior to 9/8
• September dioxin samples for pine and hardwood bleach plant effluents
• September toxicity test(collected only 1 day, not able to complete test)
Weekly fecal, COD and chloroform samples for week of 9/20
There was no operation and no river run from 9/8 until 9/11 when we resumed treatment after Frances flood damage.
Compliance samples and the river run resumed on 9/12.
We lost the compliance samples for 9/16 to the Ivan flood. There was no operation and no river run from 9/17 until
9/21 when we resumed treatment after Ivan flood damage. Compliance samples and the river run resumed on 9/22.
As you know,we have not been able to restore all of the instrumentation and automatic samplers required by our
permit. We will rely on data from 4-hr rounds and grab sample composites for compliance monitoring until we can
restore our previous instrumentation and sampling capablity. The focus for the next several days will be on restoring
secondary treatment efficiency and ordering equipment to replace the wastewater lab. Pace Labs will run our daily
I of 2 10/22/2004 7:04 AM

Blue Ridge Paper Wastewater Update 9/23
compliance and process control samples until we get our lab restored. We only have lab capability for pH, DO,
conductivity, color and temperature at this time.
Finally, as dicussed with you yesterday, the fecal coliform results for 9/7-the day that rain from Frances began-are
screwy. The reported results and duplicate from PACE do not agree. At first look we appear to have an excursion.
We need to discuss the results with PACE to understand why the results are out-of-line with normal operations.
There could be some storm flow effect because the upstream river fecal results were also high and out-of-line with
normal.
This note will end daily updates related to the floods. Yesterday,we sent you electronic copies of the wastewater
outage and SSO reports for Ivan. The signed originals will go out in the mail today.
Once again Keith, thanks for all your help with recovery from the Frances and Ivan floods.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:04 AM

BLUE RIDGE
PAPER PRODUCTS INC.
CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
7099 3220 0007 0371 5313
22 September 2004
Mr. Forrest Westall
Water Quality Supervisor
North Carolina Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
Asheville Regional Office
Division of Water Quality
2090 US Hwy 70
Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778
Subject: NPDES NC0000272
Ivan -Flood Event of 17 September 2004
Unanticipated Bypass of Treatment
Sanitary Sewer Overflow
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
Town of Canton,North Carolina
Dear Forrest—
This is the written report required under the subject permit documenting flood damage
and loss of wastewater treatment associated with Hurricane Ivan on the morning of 17
September 2004. The wastewater treatment plant operated by Blue Ridge Paper Products
also treats sewage from the Town of Canton. This report is submitted for both Blue
Ridge Paper Products and the Town of Canton.
The Ivan flood came 9 days after flooding and damage from Hurricane Frances. These
back-to-back floods are unprecedented. Both floods set records for river stage in Canton,
NC at 21 feet and 23 feet respectively. The dike system protecting our wastewater
treatment plant was designed to withstand floods of—20 feet river stage,which is above
the historic flood level for Canton. Both floods overtopped our dike. Floodwaters from
Ivan were deeper and more violent than Frances.
We notified DENR by telephone at 0650 on the morning of 17 September 2004 that our
wastewater plant was flooded and shut down. Mill operations were still curtailed as a
result of Frances. We subsequently provided daily updates on progress towards restoring
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
22 Sep 2004, Page 2
wastewater treatment for the town's wastewater. Wastewater treatment was restored on
the aftemoon of 21 September 2004. During the period that wastewater treatment was
down, untreated sewage from the town entered the Pigeon River,both from the mill's
influent lift station and from the town's sewage pump stations that were submerged and
damaged by floodwater. Since mill operations were already down before Ivan and
remained down, there was no release of untreated industrial wastewater. Chemicals and
oil storage on the Blue Ridge site remained secure.
Flood Event
The remnants of Hurricane Ivan passed through Western North Carolina on 16 and 17
September 2004. The mill revised its flood protection plan based on experience with the
Frances flood and began aggressive preparations for Ivan on 11 September 2004. These
advance preparations included installation of large diesel pumps to keep the wastewater
plant and mill dry during a storm event similar in magnitude to Frances.
Blue Ridge Paper began a formal flood watch on the morning of 16 September and
completed installation of floodgates and dike reinforcements protecting the mill and
wastewater treatment plant. The plan for Ivan was to run power boilers and generate mill
power to keep wastewater influent pumps running and the wastewater plant dry. If the
river stage rose to the point of flooding our secondary clarifiers, we would cut off the
effluent discharge and bypass pump over the dike into the river using the diesel pumps.
Between midnight and 0400 on the morning of 17 September, floodwaters backed up into
the wastewater treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers. During this
period, the diesel bypass pumps were able to keep up with both influent and floodwater
flow. The river stage stabilized at— 19 feet from 0330 until 0400, and we felt that we
might succeed in surviving Ivan. In hindsight, the pause in river stage rise was the result
of flooding into the Town of Canton upstream of the mill. When the town filled with
floodwaters,the river stage quickly jumped to 21 feet, then peaked at 23 feet - a new
record for Canton.
At 0408, the mill lost CP&L power. We were generating mill power at that time and
keeping pace with floodwater infiltration,but the surge from loss of external power
tripped out the mill's internal power distribution system. Our influent wastewater pumps
stopped, and the wastewater plant began flooding at the influent lift station. At about
0440, the river overtopped the dike protecting the wastewater plant. Floodwaters rushed
in. By 0500, there was 7 to 8 feet of water in the wastewater treatment area, 3 to 4 feet
higher than the Frances flood. This water flooded the influent lift station, sludge pump
room, secondary clarifiers and switchgear rooms as well as the wastewater control room,
lab and offices. The lower aeration basins also flooded. Only the primary clarifiers and
upper aeration basins remained above flood level. Floodwaters running through the
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
22 Sep 2004, Page 3
wastewater plant cut a temporary channel along the river side of the aeration basins and
washed out a section of dike between the aeration basins and river.
Downtown Canton was severely flooded, and the town's sewage pump stations along the
Pigeon River were submerged. The town's disinfection pretreatment system located at
the headworks of the Blue Ridge wastewater plant was also submerged.
Recovery
Flood waters started to recede on the afternoon of 17 September 2004. By the morning
of 18 September, Blue Ridge was able to drain and pump remaining floodwater from the
wastewater area and start work to restore wastewater treatment. The Town of Canton
also began work to repair and restore sewage pump stations damaged by the flood.
To drain remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment plant and from the mill,
diesel pumps were installed at the influent low lift pumps to the mill's wastewater
treatment system. These pumps discharged to the river.
On the evening of 18 September 2004, the Town of Canton began pumping sewage back
to the mill's wastewater headworks. These waters were then bypass pumped into the
river. On the afternoon of 19 September, the Town of Canton was able to restore the
disinfection pretreatment system. The disinfected wastewater was then pumped into the
river. These interim sewage handling and treatment arrangements had been discussed
with DENR staff and were agreed to be the best measures for public health protection
until full wastewater treatment could be restored.
Work by Blue Ridge personnel to restore wastewater treatment continued non-stop after
floodwaters were drained from the wastewater area. This was truly a heroic effort by our
electricians, mechanics, wastewater operators and contractors. Blue Ridge was able to
restart wastewater treatment operations on the afternoon of 21 September 2004.
Discharge of untreated and partially treated sewage from the Town of Canton through
diesel pumps at the mill's wastewater headworks stopped at 1145 on 21 September 2004.
Blue Ridge resumed compliance monitoring of the wastewater plant effluent that night.
Sanitary Sewer Overflows
The Blue Ridge wastewater treatment facilities were down from 0408 on 17 September
2004 until the afternoon of 21 September 2004. During this period,untreated sewage
from the Town of Canton was discharged to the Pigeon River, both from overflows at
damaged pump stations owned by the town and from the influent of the mill's wastewater
treatment system. Floodwaters and cleaning water from the mill and town were also
discharged to the river.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
22 Sep 2004, Page 4
The quantity of sewer system overflow is difficult to estimate, but is greater than 15,000
gallons. The majority of the overflow was floodwater and'cleaning water necessary to
restore sewage pump stations and wastewater treatment. The mill locked restrooms and
installed portable toilets during the wastewater treatment outage to avoid discharge of
domestic sewage to the river from the mill.
A SSO reporting form is enclosed for the period of wastewater treatment outage.
Summary
The Ivan flood was worse than Frances,which was the worst flood event in Canton,NC
for at least 60 years. These back-to-back floods were truly severe acts of nature and
overwhelmed the flood protection structures at the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill. Mill
operations prior to Ivan were still curtailed from Frances. We took aggressive additional
flood protection measures to prepare for Ivan,but the Pigeon River ultimately rose higher
than these extra measures could protect. The Ivan flood and second loss of wastewater
treatment resulted in overflow of untreated sewage from the Town of Canton into the
Pigeon River. We will learn from both floods and prepare a strategy to strengthen flood
protection at the mill.
Blue Ridge Paper Products and the Town of Canton worked diligently and non-stop to
restore treatment of the town's wastewater following the Ivan flood. We were able to
restore essential wastewater services within 4.25 days of the flood event. The Town
restored wastewater disinfection within2.5 days of the flood event. We greatly
appreciate DENR's assistance and understanding with the emergency recovery efforts. In
particular, we appreciate the multiple site visits by Keith Haynes of your staff to assess
flood damage and recovery efforts for wastewater treatment.
Sincerely—
Paul S. Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
828-646-6141
[e-mail]
Enclosure: SSO Form for Ivan flood event
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Blue Ridge Paper Wastewater Update 9/21
Subject: Blue Ridge Paper Wastewater Update 9/21
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 07:53:20 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail]
21 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
We did not restart the wastewater plant last night as hoped. Main power to the wastewater plant was restored
yesterday afternoon. We then starting finding more electrical control and instrument damage from Ivan than we
expected based experience with the Frances flood. The Ivan floodwaters were deeper and more violent.
The bypass pumps to the river continue in operation with disinfected Town of Canton wastewater and flood-related
washwater from the mill. We have installed sufficient diesel pump capacity to keep the mill dry in the event of a
moderate storm. Mill operations remain down, and there is no industrial wastewater generation.
Our resources and priority remain on restart of wastewater treatment. Mill operations cannot restart until the
wastewater plant is restored.
Because flood waters entered our aeration basins,we made arrangements to get several loads of return activated
sludge from Waynesville when we restart treatment. If all goes well on the electrical controls and instrument side,
we hope to restart treatment within the next 24 to 36 hours. We did start aerators last night and are mixing our
secondary basins. The sludge does not look good. We also pumped down our final clarifiers. We found flood
debris in the bottom of the clarifiers that must be removed before restart. We will bump the influent pumps this
morning to verify they are operational, but we cannot start pumping to the primaries until sludge pumps, pH controls
and secondary clarifiers are fully restored. Our biggest problem at this point is control wiring. A number of switches
on the main control panel are shorted and not functional. We may have to rig temporary controls out of the MCC
rooms.
If you agree, I would like to wait until we restart treatment before submitting the unanticipated bypass and SSO
reports required by permit and law. Let me know if waiting on these reports is ok.
As soon as we can restore wastewater treatment,we will start several coal boilers and begin heating up the steam
distribution system and recovery furnaces.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Flood Update 9/18
Subject: Blue Ridge Flood Update 9/18
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 15:22:51 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail]
18 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENRARO DWQ-
This follows our telephone discussion this morning concerning 9/17 flood damage to the Blue Ridge Paper
wastewater treatment plant from Ivan.
Yesterday, the mill got floodwaters drained from wastewater treatment and from areas inside the mill. The focus
today is cleaning and drying switchgear for wastewater treatment. We are also removing mud and laying new stone
to dry out the wastewater plant area. We will start checking and replacing flooded motors tonight and tomorrow.
Power to all wastewater treatment equipment remains down today.
The Ivan flood was worse than Frances. The water level inside the wastewater plant was 3 feet higher, so the
wastewater control building and lab went completely underwater. The lower aeration basins were also overtopped.
We had been able to salvage 4 of our 5 refrigerated wastewater samplers after Frances. We lost the four salvaged
units to Ivan and so have no samplers available for restart. If we cannot get replacement samplers in time for restart,
we will collect grabs at 4-hr intervals for compositing. PACE labs will continue to run our daily process control and
compliance wastewater samples until we can restore our former wastewater lab capability.
As discussed this morning, Blue Ridge will install and operate engine driven pumps at our low lift influent pump
station to drain remaining floodwaters and wash water from the mill. The temporary pumps will discharge directly to
the river. These pumps should start by the end of today. We are removing as much flood related mud as we can
with loaders and will only wash to the mill sewer what we cannot shovel up with heavy equipment. This is the mill
cleanup procedure established following Frances.
As soon as the Town of Canton can restore their sewage pump stations and wastewater disinfection system,we will
take the town's sewage into our influent then bypass pump the disinfected sewage to the river. This interim
disinfection treatment will continue until we can restart the full secondary treatment plant. The mill remains down,
and no industrial wastewaters will be discharged until the treatment plant is restored.
Since the Ivan flood got into our aeration basins,we do not expect the secondary treatment system to restart as well
as it did after Frances. It may take several weeks to restore our bugs and re-establish effective secondary
treatment. We will evaluate the health of our bugs as we get closer to restart and arrange for seed from Waynesville
or MSD as required.
We sent out the required public notice today for the wastewater treatment outage in Canton related to Ivan. A copy is
attached for your files.
As with Frances, I will update you each day on our progress towards restarting the wastewater treatment plant. Mill
operations will not resume until we have restored the wastewater treatment plant.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
1 of 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Flood Update 9/18
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
Name: Press Release Untreated Waste
DischargeIvan.doc
��Press Release Untreated Waste DischargeIvan.doc Type: WINWORD File
(application/msword)
Encoding: base64
Download Status: Not downloaded with message
2 of 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Paper Update 9/20 AM
Subject: Blue Ridge Paper Update 9/20 AM
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 07:29:19 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]
20 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
As discussed with you yesterday afternoon,the Town of Canton restarted their disinfection (chlorination)system at
1500 on Sunday 9/19. This system treats the Town's sewage prior to the headworks of the Blue Ridge Paper
wastewater treatment plant. The interim treatment system for the Town's sewage is in place. It is disinfected then
bypass pumped to the Pigeon River from our headworks. According to Richard Hodge of the Canton Public Works
Dept, all the Town's sewage pump stations except for Fiberville and the Laundry are restored. The Laundry pump
station will be repaired today. There are no power and few people in Fiberville due to the floods, so that station may
remain down for awhile.
The Blue Ridge Paper wastewater plant remains down. We are bypass pumping to the river from our headworks.
The bypassed water is flood cleanup washwater from the mill and disinfected sewage from the Town. The mill
remains down. There is no industrial wastewater being generated. Mill operations will not resume until the
wastewater plant is restored.
The restoration of the Blue Ridge wastewater plant is going well. Our strategy of pulling spares and not installing
new spares before Ivan paid off. We were able to save some critical motors and equipment from the second flood.
We hope to restart aerators this morning and restart the influent pumps and treatment before end of today or
tomorrow morning at the latest. The critical path at this point is restoring our sludge pumps and dewatering. We
can't start the primary clarifiers until we get the sludge pumps and presses operational.
As also discussed, Ivan flooded our lower aeration basins. We don't expect the secondary treatment system to
recover as quickly as it did after Frances. We will monitor the health of our bugs and bring in seed as required.
We will once again set up an interim lab with pH, DO, conductivity and temperature capability and use PACE for our
daily compliance and process control samples. The new interim lab equipment that we received last week was put
up on the second floor, so we are in better shape on pH, DO, etc than after Frances. Unfortunately,we lost the last
of our working wastewater samplers to Ivan, so our initial composite samples will be 4-hr grabs that we manually
composite. We will be rush ordering replacement samplers from ISCO this week.
The river run will resume this week on or before Wednesday 9/22.
We lost the 9/16 compliance samples to IVAN, so we will only have wastewater compliance records for 9/12 thru
9/15, plus pH and color for 9/16. We have no compliance records from 9/7 thru 9/11 due to Frances. We will have
no compliance records from 9/16 thru 9/21(?)for Frances. Between the two floods,we lost most of our original
compliance records for the past 5-years for wastewater treatment. We have dry copies of DMRs that were saved
and the electronic wastewater data files are kept on our network server, but original strip charts, analytical reports
and log books are gone. Most of our lab QA records were also lost.
The power transfer switch at wastewater treatment is functional in manual mode. This means that we have two
sources of power to wastewater treatment, but the transfer is not automatic. The automatic transfer system in the
event of power distribution failure remains down and will take some time to restore. We will restart wastewater
operations on CP&L power with mill power as a manual backup. We will keep the diesel bypass pumps in position to
prevent flooding the wastewater plant and mill until we get automatic power transfer restored.
I of 2 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Paper Update.9/20 AM
As soon as we get wastewater treatment restored,we will turn attention to restarting boilers and power generation.
The target for restart of steam production is Tuesday afternoon 9/21. We will have the appropriate CEM rooms
powered up and going for these boiler starts. These will be cold starts with wet coal so they may be smoky until we
get the boilers to operating temperature and can start ESP controls.
After the boiler restarts, we will restore paper machines and pulp mill equipment and operations as quickly as
possible.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
2 of2 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Paper Status after Ivan
Subject: Blue Ridge Paper Status after Ivan
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2004 22:11:36 -0400
From: "Paul Dickens" <[e-mail]>
To: <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
CC: <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>
17 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes and Brendan Davey, NC DENR ARO -
I am sending this status report from home tonight since we don't have connectivity restored at Blue Ridge Paper after
Ivan. I stayed last night and helped coordinate the final flood preparations and response. Unfortunately, Ivan won.
Our revised flood plan and the temporary pumps provided by FEMA were keeping the mill and critical wastewater
facilities dry until 0408 this morning when we lost CP&L power to the site. We were generating at the time, but when
the CP&L power feed went down, the surge also tripped our mill power distribution system. At-0440 the Pigeon
River topped the mill's dike system and flooded both wastewater treatment and the west end of the mill site. The
river crested -0500 at 23 feet, 2 feet higher than the record flood stage set on 9/8 from Frances. Nothing we could
have done would have stopped flooding at this river stage level.
Based on rising river level,we shut down the recovery process starting at about 1100. We stopped the boiler
condensers and continued generating power and venting steam. Paper machines and the pulp mill were still down
from Frances. Our plan for Ivan was to continue to generate power to the last possible moment so we could keep
our wastewater pumps running. When we lost mill power distribution at 0408, the boilers crashed and our
wastewater pumps stopped. Our CEMS monitoring equipment for air emissions also went down at that time.
The mill is down, and so no industrial wastewaters are being generated. All air emission sources are down.
Chemicals and oil stored on.site remain secure. I notified DENR this morning via the 24-hr emergency number that
our wastewater plant had flooded again and was down and that boilers and other air emission sources were also
down. Activities today and tonight involve draining floodwaters from the mill into the river. We will start damage
assessment and recovery on Saturday 9/18.
As you are aware, the Blue Ridge Paper Products wastewater treatment plant also treats sewage from the Town of
Canton. With our wastewater plant down, raw sewage from Canton is being discharged to the Pigeon River from the
Town's pump stations that also flooded. This situation will continue until the Town can restore its sewage pumps
stations and Blue Ridge can restore the wastewater treatment plant. The Town's wastewater disinfection system is
also flooded and down. The flood from Ivan resulted in an "unanticipated bypass of treatment"as a result of severe
property damage under the mill's NPDES permit.
We anticipated that Ivan might be worse than Frances and did not install all spare pump motors and other critical
wastewater equipment damaged on 9/8 by Frances. We moved these spares to high ground to protect them. This
should help expedite recovery. However, our electrical and mechanical crews and contractors are exhausted after
their heroic work to restore wastewater treatment operations following Frances. They need a rest to continue to work
safely. Some have suffered loss of their homes and personal property and are not available to work. We are not
going to be able to mobilize the same level of resources that we did after Frances.
As we did last week after Frances, Blue Ridge Paper and the Town of Canton will work diligently and non-stop to
restore wastewater treatment services. However,we may be limited in our efforts by availability of parts and crews
since Ivan did considerable damage to the Southeastern US and our emergency supply chains are stretched.
I will keep you updated by telephone and by e-mail on progress of efforts to restore wastewater treatment service for
the Town of Canton and to restart operations at the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill. This is an truly an emergency
situation, and we request DENR's understanding and help. I remember that at-0300 this morning while standing on
the wastewater treatment dike watching the river that Steve Single-the Blue Ridge Recovery and Utilities Manager-
told me we had done all we could to protect the wastewater plant and mill and what the river did now was up to God.
The river topped our dike at-0440. Ivan won.
The link below is the USGS gauging station for the Pigeon River at Canton. The river crested at 23 feet, a new
record.
I of 2 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Midge Paper Status after Ivan
http://nwis.waterdata.usps.goy/nwis/uv?site no=03456991
I appreciate DENR's concern and help with the recovery from Frances. We all need to work together to recover
from Ivan, save living wage jobs at the mill in Canton, and continue the mill's demonstrated progress on
environmental issues.
There are a few people in our community who would like for the mill to not restart, but they don't understand what this
economic impact would be to Haywood County and Western North Carolina. I truly appreciate your balanced
approach to regulating our site and look forward to meeting your expectations for performance in the future.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products.
sent from:
Paul Dickens
Home Office
828-279-3941 (cell w/voice mail)
psd ickens(a)charter.n et
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Update-Follow-up Press Release&Power Feed
Subject: Blue Ridge Update-Follow-up Press Release&Power Feed
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 08:28:13 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail]
16 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
Thanks for your telephone call this morning.
A copy of the follow-up press release regarding the 9/8 flood is attached.
Our preparations for Ivan are being completed today. The last of the big pumps from FEMA arrived last night, and
we are completing flood preparations today. We believe we can get thru another flood of the magnitude of Frances
without damage to the wastewater plant and mill. The outcome of Ivan depends on how much rain we get and the
rainfall intensity.
The flood of 9/8 damaged the controls on the emergency power transfer switch for our wastewater treatment plant.
Our electricians have been working on this problem for the last two days and have isolated the problem as a controls
circuit short inside the high voltage part of the switch. The switch cannot be safely repaired without a complete power
outage at wastewater treatment. It will take awhile to plan a temporary power feed and execute repair.
At this time,we do not have redundant power feeds on the wastewater treatment side of the river. We are feeding
power to wastewater treatment from the mill. We have both mill generated and CP&L power on the mill side. We
plan to generate mill power thru the expected Ivan flood to keep the wastewater pumps running as long as possible.
Hopefully,we will not lose these pumps.
Keith, once again thank you for all of DENR's assistance with recovery from the 9/8 flood in Canton.
Regards - Paul Dickens
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
Name: Press Release WWTP Restored.doc
Press Release WWTP Restored.doc Type: WINWORD File(application/msword)
Encoding: base64
Download Status: Not downloaded with message
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

Blue Ridge Flood Outage Letter and Status Update
Subject: Blue Ridge Flood Outage Letter and Status Update
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 19:32:42 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail]
14 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
An electronic copy of our flood outage letter is attached. I will also fax a copy with the enclosure tonight. We sent
this out by certified mail this morning, and tonight I found one typo on the last page. We were able to restore full
treatment of the town of Canton wastewater within 3.5 days or 82 hours of the time that we lost wastewater treatment
to floodwaters. This is corrected on the electronic copy and fax.
Blue Ridge Paper Products greatly appreciates your help and assistance with restoring wastewater treatment after
the flood. Your visits on 8 September and today were great. Thanks also for your guidance on replacing our flood
damaged strip chart recorders with more modern data trend loggers. I think this is the way we will go.
As you are aware, Blue Ridge contracted with PACE Labs to run our daily process and compliance wastewater
samples. This will continue until we are able to restore our former wastewater lab capability. We have restored
on-site capability for pH, DO, conductivity, temperature and color monitoring. Compliance sampling and the daily
river run resumed on 12 September, or within 4 days of the flood.
Yesterday,we restored our wastewater flow totalizer. We continue to take 4-hr manual flow readings as well as pH
and DOs to check that our instrumentation is reading correctly. We do not yet have continuous flow or pH recording
although the instruments are working and providing readouts locally or in our control room. Automatic data recording
capability will take a while to restore.
We will have a gap in our wastewater compliance monitoring from 7 September thru 11 September 2004 due to the
flood. I previously sent you an e-mail documenting the samples in our refrigerator that were lost to the flood. I also
sent you information on our flood protection plan for Ivan expected this Friday.
Keith, once again, thank you so much for DENITs help and assistance with the flood.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
Name: floodletter09O4.doc
Mfloodletter0904.doc Type: WINWORD File (application/msword)
Encoding: base64
Download Status: Not downloaded with message
I of 1 10/22/2004 7:05 AM

BLUE RIDGE
PAPER PRODUCTS INC.
CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
7099 3220 0007 0371 5306
14 September 2004
Mr.Forrest Westall
Water Quality Supervisor
North Carolina Department of Environment
and Natural Resources
Asheville Regional Office
Division of Water Quality
2090 US Hwy 70
Swannanoa,North Carolina 28778
Subject: NPDES NC0000272
Flood Event of 8 September 2004
Unanticipated Bypass of Treatment
Sanitary Sewer Overflow
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
Town of Canton,North Carolina
Dear Forrest—
This is the written report required under the subject permit documenting flood damage
and loss of wastewater treatment associated with hurricane Frances on the morning of 8
September 2004. The wastewater treatment plant operated by Blue Ridge Paper Products
also treats sewage from the Town of Canton. This report is submitted for both Blue
Ridge Paper Products and the Town of Canton.
We notified DENR by telephone at 0745 on the morning of 8 September that the mill was
shut down and that our wastewater plant was flooded. We subsequently provided daily
updates on progress towards restoring wastewater treatment for the town's wastewater.
Wastewater treatment was restored on the aftemoon of 11 September 2004. During the
period that wastewater treatment was down, untreated sewage from the town entered the
Pigeon River,both from the mill's influent lift station and from the town's sewage pump
stations that were submerged and damaged by floodwater. Since mill operations were
curtailed in advance of the flood and remained down,there was no release of untreated
industrial wastewater. Chemicals and oil storage on the Blue Ridge site remained secure.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
14 Sep 2004, Page 2
Flood Event
The remnants of hurricane Frances passed through Western North Carolina on,7 and 8
September 2004. The mill began a flood watch early on the morning of 7 September.
Based on water levels in Pigeon River, the mill activated its flood protection plan at 1600
on 7 September and installed floodgates in the dikes protecting the mill and wastewater
treatment plant. At— 1900 the mill began a controlled shutdown of the backend of the
mill—recovery and pulp production—as a precaution against flooding. At—2200 based
on rapid river rise,we began a controlled shutdown of paper production as a precaution
against flooding. We also started a controlled shutdown of power boilers.
At 0253 on the morning of 8 September, floodwaters backed up into the wastewater
treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers. At that time, the low lift pumps
to wastewater treatment were stopped. This started an unanticipated bypass of treatment
necessary to prevent severe property damage. At this time all mill operations were down,
and chemical and oil tanks were secure. Aerators in the aeration basins were turned off
to settle and store activated sludge.
At 0330 on 8 September,power to the mill site including wastewater treatment was
turned off to prevent damage to electrical substations and switch gear from flood water.
The mill went cold at that time, and all industrial wastewater generation stopped.
At—0600 on 8 September,the Pigeon River crested at 21 feet, a record for Canton. The
mill's protective dike system was overtopped. There was 4 to 5 feet of water in the
wastewater area. This water flooded the influent lift station, secondary clarifiers and
switch gear rooms as well as the wastewater control room, lab and offices. The aeration
basins and primary clarifiers remained above flood level.
Downtown Canton was severely flooded, and the town's sewage pump stations along the
Pigeon River were submerged. The town's disinfection pretreatment system located at
the headworks of the Blue Ridge wastewater plant was also submerged.
Recovery
Flood waters started to recede on the afternoon of 8 September. By the morning of 9
September,Blue Ridge was able to drain and pump remaining floodwater from the
wastewater area and start work to restore wastewater treatment. The Town of Canton
also began work to repair and restore sewage pump stations damaged by the flood.
To drain remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment plant and from the mill,
portable diesel pumps were installed at the influent low lift pumps to the mill's
wastewater treatment system. These pumps discharged to the river.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
14 Sep 2004, Page 3
On the morning of 10 September 2004, the Town of Canton was able to restore the
disinfection pretreatment system. At that time, the town began pumping sewage back to
the mill's wastewater headworks. The disinfected wastewater was then pumped into the
river. This interim treatment had been discussed with DENR staff and was agreed as the
best measure for public health protection until full treatment could be restored.
Work by Blue Ridge personnel to restore wastewater treatment continued non-stop after
floodwaters were drained from the wastewater area. Blue Ridge was able restart
wastewater treatment operations on the afternoon of 11 September 2004. Discharge of
untreated and partially treated sewage from the Town of Canton through diesel pumps at
the mill's wastewater headworks stopped at--- 1250 on 11 September. Blue Ridge
resumed compliance monitoring of the wastewater plant effluent that night.
Sanitary Sewer Overflows
The Blue Ridge wastewater treatment facilities were down from 0300 on 8 September
2004 until the aftemoon on 11 September 2004. During this period,untreated sewage
from the Town of Canton was discharged to the Pigeon River,both from overflows at
damaged pump stations owned by the town and from the influent of the mill's wastewater
treatment system. Floodwaters and cleaning water from the mill and town were also
discharged to the river.
The quantity of sewer system overflow is difficult to estimate, but is greater than 15,000
gallons. The majority of the overflow was floodwater and cleaning water necessary to
restore sewage pump stations and wastewater treatment. The mill locked restrooms and
installed portable toilets during the wastewater treatment outage to avoid discharge of
domestic sewage to the river from the mill.
An SSO reporting form is enclosed for the period of wastewater treatment outage.
Summary
This event was truly a severe act of nature and overwhelmed the flood protection
structures at the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill in Canton,North Carolina. We executed
a controlled shutdown of the mill in advance of the flood and prevented release of
untreated industrial wastewater, chemicals or oil. The flood and loss of wastewater
treatment did result in overflow of untreated sewage from the Town of Canton into the
Pigeon River. We will learn from this event and make revisions to the mill's flood
protection plan.
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716 • 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Forrest Westall, NC DENR ARO DWQ
14 Sep 2004, Page 4
President Bush declared Western North Carolina as a Federal disaster area as a result of
the hurricane Frances flood. Blue Ridge Paper Products and the Town of Canton worked
diligently and non-stop to restore treatment of the town's wastewater following the flood.
We were able to restore essential wastewater services within 3.5 days of the flood event.
We greatly appreciate DENR's assistance and understanding with the emergency
recovery efforts. In particular,we appreciate the site visit by Keith Haynes and Roy
Davis of your staff on 8 September to assess flood damage to our wastewater plant.
Sincerely—
Paul S. Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
828-646-6141
[e-mail]
Enclosure: SSO Form for flood event
Environmental Group
175 Main Street • PO Box 4000
Canton, North Carolina 28716. 828-646-2000
Raising Your Expectations

Plan for Flood No.2-Blue Ridge
Subject: Plan for Flood No. 2 -Blue Ridge
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 2004 17:13:46 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail]
13 Sep 2004.
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO DWQ-
Blue Ridge Paper Products is making contingency plans for Ivan which is forecast to pass thru the Western
Carolinas between Thursday and Saturday.
Thru FEMA, we are getting large diesel pumps to protect the wastewater treatment plant and mill should the dike
system be overtopped again. As you recall, our wastewater treatment plant receives both mill and Town of Canton
wastewater.
Pumps with 25 mgd capacity will be staged at our low lift pump station, and the other pumps with 65 mgd capacity
will be placed at our effluent flume and outfall. The low lift pump pit and the effluent flume are the low points in the
wastewater plant for flood protection.
Our flood strategy is as follows:
• Execute the mill flood protection plan based on river stage including stop logs in the dike and shutdown of mill
operations.
• Run all low lifts as necessary to keep up with influent flow. This is about 60 mgd of pump capacity.
• When flood water backs up into the effluent discharge flume,we will activate the effluent diesel pumps to
discharge flow over the dike into the river.
• If flood water exceeds the capacity of our low lift pumps, we will activate the diesel pumps at this location and
bypass excess water over the dike into the river. We will only bypass pump if our influent pumps cannot keep
up with flood flow.
• To keep from washing out our bugs,we may turn off aeration and let the bugs settle in the activated sludge
basins during the period of high flow.
If we have another flood of the magnitude of Frances and do not take these actions, our wastewater plant will be fully
inundated and we will lose ability to treat Town of Canton wastewater. It will be difficult to restore treatment services
as quickly as we did after Frances if we are flooded again.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Blue Ridge Wastewater Plant Restored on 9/11
Subject: Blue Ridge Wastewater Plant Restored on 9111
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 07:29:30 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]
12 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR ARO-
Blue Ridge Paper Products restored wastewater treatment operations on the afternoon of Saturday 9/11. We
resumed compliance sampling last night. All of the Town of Canton wastewater flow pumped to the mill's wastewater
plant is being treated. This information was communicated to Haywood County Emergency Services last night.
The daily river run (Canton, Fiberville and Clyde)will resume today.
For an interim period,we will have to take time-composite rather than flow-composite samples on secondary effluent
as specified in our permit. We are also manually recording flow. We will be using PACE Labs for our daily process
control and compliance samples. We have set up an interim bare-bones lab to record pH, DOs, conductivity and
color. Color and conductivity monitoring under the BMP plan is down. However, mill operations remain down, so
we have time to get this monitoring program restored. Most of our in-mill wastewater samplers and flow meters
flooded. With focus on restoring the wastewater plant,we have not yet had time to assess the status of in-mill color
and conductivity monitoring.
All chemicals and oil storage tanks remain secure. We will begin washdown of mud and silt from mill areas tributary
to the wastewater plant today. We held off on in-mill cleaning of flood-related mud and silt until the wastewater plant
was restored.
Keith, once again thank you for DENR's help and understanding with our efforts to recover from flood damage.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Washvater Samples Lost to Flood
Subject: Wastwater Samples Lost to Flood
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 11:43:18 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail]
10 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, DEN ARO WQD -
Subject: NPDES NC 0000272
This note documents the wastewater compliance samples and records that were lost to floodwaters at Blue Ridge
Paper Products.
• BOD samples for 5 days prior to 918
• TSS samples for 9/7
• September dioxin samples for pine and hardwood bleach plant effluent
• The September toxicity sample, only collected 1 day so the test is invalid.
The weekly compliance samples were shipped off the PACE just before the flood, so these data should be
recoverable.
The wastewater operators pulled the most recent bench sheets and log books from the control building when it
became apparent that the wastewater plant was starting to severely flood. There was not time to remove archived
records. Most of our daily wastewater operating records got wet. We are attempting to preserve and salvage log
books, bench sheets and analytical reports for the past 5 years. However, some of these may be lost for good.
We lost all the PCs at the wastewater plant. However, the electronic wastewater database is kept on the network
servers and was saved. We should have electronic trends for key parameters. All manual strip chart records are
gone.
We have all the data needed for the August DMR.
The wastewater plant was shutdown at 0300 on 9/8 when floodwaters overtopped the mill dike. Compliance
monitoring and reporting records stopped on 9/7.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
1 of 1 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
Subject: Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:47:08 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail],[e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail]
Update 10 Sep at 1045
At 0920 the Town of Canton restored their disinfection pretreatment system for the town's sewage. They will bring
the remaining town pump stations on-line and pump all sewage into the mill's influent lift station thru disinfection.
From the influent lift station, the disinfected sewage will be pumped into the river with diesel pumps. This will
implement the interim treatment plan discussed with DENR ARO DWQ until the mill's secondary treatment system
can be restored.
The mill's sewer bypass gate at the 4A manhole remains open. There is no flow from the bypass. However,we are
keeping the gate open to prevent re-flooding of the mill in the event that temporary diesel pumps at the influent lift
station fail. All chemicals in the mill are contained, and we are maintaining fire and chemical watch duty in the mill to
insure no release. The mill's fire control and spill containment systems remain functional. Mill operations are down.
No process wastewater is being produced.
On the evening of 9 Sep, the town washed down streets in downtown Canton areas that had flooded. Most of this
washwater entered storm drains. The town also flushed several sanitary sewer lines that had clogged with flood
debris and were overflowing onto streets in the town.This sanitary sewer flush water entered the mill's wastewater
influent lift station and was pumped into the river.
This morning, Blue Ridge made arrangements for interim wastewater process control and compliance samples and
analysis thru PACE labs. We will set up an interim bare-bones lab in a corner of the existing wastewater lab with
capablity for pH, DO, conductivity, temperature and color. All other analysis will be done by PACE until we can
restore the mill wastewater lab.
Also this morning, we issued the required press release to local media concernig discharge of untreated sewage
related to outage of the mill's wastewater treatment plant. The notice was for both the mill and Town of Canton. An
electronic copy is attached. The press release will also be run as a public legal notice in accordance with the SSO
regulation.
At 1020 Paul Dickens contacted Haywood County Emergency Services- Brian Buchannan-and provided an update
on the status of sewage treatment for the Town of Canton.
Activities today focus on cleaning mud from the mill wastewater treatment plant, restoring electrical services and
controls, restoring pumps and motors, and restoring chemical feed systems. We will restart the wastewater plant at
the earliest time that all necessary power distribution systems, motors and controls are dry,tested and safe to run
without damage. We need to avoid shortcuts in this work because if we prematurely put power on switchgear or
motors that are wet or shorted to ground,we can do great damage and extend the wastewater outage even longer.
The first priority of the mill is to restore wastewater treatment. No mill operations will start until wastewater treatment
is restored.
Update 9 Sep at 1800
Blue Ridge and Town of Canto met at 1030 and confirmed plan to restore interim disinfection treatment of the Town's
wastewater until the mill's wastewater treatment plant can be restored. The Town's disinfection system flooded at the
same time that the mill's wastewater plant went under water and so motor starter and pumps will have to be cleaned,
1 of 5 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
dried and tested before restart. Town started work on disinfection system this afternoon after the area was made
safe to enter.
At 12 noon Paul Dickens contacted Haywood Co Emergency Services and provided an update on.plans to restore
sewage treatment for the Town of Canton. The mill remain down until the mill's wastewater treatment plant is fully
restored.
At 1500,the Town of Canton contacted Blue Ridge to request that we begin taking a portion of the towns sewage
flow into our influent lift station then pump to the river without disinfection to relieve sewage overflow from manholes
in the downtown area of Canton. The Town had started work to restore electrical controls and motors for the
disinfection system, but this work will require more time to complete.
At 1530, Bob Williams and Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge contacted Forrest Westall and Keith Haynes of DENR ARO
DWQ to discuss sewage overflow situation in Canton and request to pump Town's sewage to river thru the Blue
Ridge influent lift station. DENR agreed that this request was best for overall public health protection until disinfection
treatment can be restored.
At 1630 the Town of Canton started pumping sewage from downtown area into Blue Ridge influent lift station. From
there the raw sewage is pumped to the river as an interim measure to prevent raw sewage overflow in town. Town
will continue to work to restore their disinfection system, but the flood damage to electrical controls and motors was
severe.
At 1900 the Town completed all the work they could on the disinfection system. There was one electrical part that
was required for startup that was not available. Overnight delivery was scheduled.
Paul Dickens
—Forwarded by Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge on 09/09/2004 02:08 PM—
Paul Dickens/CantonlBlueRidge To
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/09/2004 09:28 AM cc
Bob Williams/CantonBlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Corrected Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 918 BRPPiLiDk
One correction on time that City stopped pumping sewage to mill.
Paul DickenslCanton/BlueRidge To
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/09/2004 09:19 AM cc
Bob Williams/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
2 of 5 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
9 Sep Update at 0900
Mill was successful in pumping and draining floodwaters out of wastewater treatment area and mill areas overnight.
Bypass on 4A manhole to river was still open as of 0600 on 9 Sep. This bypass was opened at 1630 on 9/8 to drain
floodwaters out of the mill and mill sewer system. Work to assess electrical system damage began last night and
will continue today.
Blue Ridge requested that the Town of Canton stop their sewage pump stations at 0630 1830 on 9/8 because the
influent lift station to the mill's wastewater plant remains down and we can't take any water until influent pumps and
treatment are restored. Sewage from Town's pump stations overflowed to the river during the 9/8 flood and
overnight. Blue Ridge will meet with Town at 1030 to discuss plan to restore Town's influent wastewater disinfection
system, then resume pumping thru that system and diversion of disinfected wastewater to river as an interim
treatment step until mill's wastewater treatment plant can be restored. All mill operations remain down. Blue Ridge
will also coordinate preparation of the SSO report and public notice with the Town.
Paul Dickens left voice message with Keith Haynes of DENR ARO DWQ at 0900 with the above information.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
—Forwarded by Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge on 09/09/2004 09:10 AM--
PaulDickens/Canton/BlueRidge TO
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/08/2004 05:52 PM
cc
Bob Williams/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Bob
Shanahan/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Derric
Brown/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Donald
Messer/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,George
Garten/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Daryl
Whitt/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Michael
KoerschnerICanton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Louie
Justus/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Flood and Wastewater Outage 918 BRPPI
8 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR-
Re: NPDES NC0000272
This note documents regulatory notice and key activities related to the Pigeon River flood and resulting shutdown of
wastewater treatment facilities for the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill and Town of Canton. A formal written report
will follow in 5-days as required by permit conditions. At this time (9/8 at 1700)our wastewater treatment plant
remains flooded, but waters are receding rapidly and we have started pumping floodwater out of both the mill and
wastewater areas. As you know we treat both mill wastewater and sanitary wastewater from the Town of Canton.
Our normal mill wastewater flow is on the order of 25 mgd and town's wastewater flow is on the order of 0.9 mgd.
Based on flood warnings and river level, Blue Ridge Paper activated the mill flood plan at— 1600 on 9/7. We placed
3 of 5 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
gates in the mill flood dike and assembled other emergency equipment and supplies.
At— 1900 on 9/7, the mill started a controlled shutdown of the backend - recovery and pulp-as a precaution against
flooding.
At—2200 on 917, based on rapid river rise,the mill started a controlled shutdown of paper production as a precaution
against flooding. We also started a controlled shutdown of power boilers.
At 0253 on 9/8, flood waters backed up into the wastewater treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers.
At that time, the low lift pumps influent to wastewater treatment were stopped. This started a unanticipated bypass
of treatment necessary to prevent severe property damage. At this time all mill operations were down and chemical
and oil tanks were secured. Aerators in the aeration basin were turned off to settle and store activated sludge.
At 0300 on 9/8, power to the mill site including wastewater treatment was turned off to prevent damage to electrical
substations and switch gear from flood water. The mill went cold at this time.
At 0600 on 9/8, the Pigeon River crested at—21 ft, a record for Canton. There was 4 to 5 feet of water in the
wastewater area which flooded the influent lift station, secondary clarifiers, all switch gear rooms as well as the
wastewater control lab and offices. The aeration basins and primary clarifiers remained above flood level. Flood
water backed up into the mill sewer system from the influent lift station and flooded the back end of the mill with 4 to
5 feet of water.
At 0745, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge call the DENR 1-800 number to report flooding and outage of the mill
wastewater treatment plant. We reported that all mill operations were down and that wastewater treatment for the
Town of Canton was also down. At this time, the Town's sewer pump stations and disinfection system influent to the
mill wastewater plant were flooded and also not operating.
At 0815, George Garten of Blue Ridge called Brendan Davey and Keith Haynes of the DENR ARO to report that all
air pollution sources and equipment were down and that the wastewater plant was down and flooded. George spoke
directly to Brendan and left a voice mail for Keith.
Between 0800 and 0930, Paul Dickens and other Blue Ridge environmental staff made an inspection of the
wastewater area and mill areas that were still accessible and not flooded. We determined that chemical tanks and
oil storage locations were secure and that there was no evidence of environmental releases other than sewage.
Between 0900 and 0930, George Garten and Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge contacted Greg Shuping, Haywood Co
Emergency Management Director, and advised him that wastewater treatment services for the Town of Canton were
down as a result of the flood and mill wastewater plant outage. Sewage from the town was entering the river from
flooded pump stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station. All mill operations were down and there were no
process wastewater or chemicals entering the river.
At 1100, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge made a follow-up call to the DENR ARO and spoke with Roy Davis of the DWQ.
Paul outlined the morning's events and the shutdown of wastewater treatment to minimize flood damage to electrical
equipment. We advised DENR that raw sewage from the Town of Canton was entering the river from flooded pump
stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station.
At 1130, Roy Davis and Keith Haynes of DENR visited the mill wastewater treatment plant to inspect and confirm
flood damage. Lori Cooper was the Blue Ridge Operator in charge at that time and hosted the tour. Derric Brown of
Blue Ridge was inspecting the wastewater plant at the time and also participated in the tour.
At 1400, flood water began to rapidly recede and activities to drain water from the mill and wastewater plant began in
earnest.
At 1600, Paul Dickens contacted Roy Davis of the DENR DWQ and advised that to drain flood water trapped inside
the mill it was necessary to open the mill sewer bypass to the river. The mill sewer at this time contained floodwater.
The valve was opened at 1630 and will remain open until the mill area is drained. The bypass valve will be closed
4 of 5 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Update 9/10-Blue Ridge and Town of Canton Sewage Treatment
after remaining floodwaters are drained to restore the mill sewer to normal function.
As of 1600, the Town of Canton was able to restart several pump stations and resume pumping sewage into the
mill's wastewater headworks. These headworks are flooded and the sewage is discharging back into the river thru
the mill sewer bypass. The Town will restore the pretreatment disinfection system for their sewage as soon as it is
safety access and restart this equipment.
Activities the night of 918 will focus on draining remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment area and mill
and on assessing damage to electrical switchgear, motors and pumps.
The first priority for Blue Ridge Paper is to restore operation of the wastewater treatment plant. Restoration of mill
operations will the follow. Blue Ridge will update both DENR and the Haywood Co. Emergency Management group
on the status of restoring wastewater treatment on the Thursday morning 9/9.
Keith, thanks for your help and concern today during your flood damage assessment.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
Name: Press Release Flood.doc
Press Release Flood.doc Type: WINWORD File (application/msword)
Encoding: base64
Download Status: Not downloaded with message
5 of 5 10/22/2004 7:06 AM

Corrected Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 918 BRPPI
Subject: Corrected Update- Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 09:28:55 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail]
One correction on time that City stopped pumping sewage to mill.
Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge To
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/09/2004 09:19 AM
CC
Bob Williams/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
9 Sep Update at 0900
Mill was successful in pumping and draining floodwaters out of wastewater treatment area and mill areas overnight.
Bypass on 4A manhole to river was still open as of 0600 on 9 Sep. This bypass was opened at 1630 on 9/8 to drain
floodwaters out of the mill and mill sewer system. Work to assess electrical system damage began last night and
will continue today.
Blue Ridge requested that the Town of Canton stop their sewage pump stations at GM 1830 on 9/8 because the
influent lift station to the mill's wastewater plant remains down and we can't take any water until influent pumps and
treatment are restored. Sewage from Town's pump stations overflowed to the river during the 9/8 flood and
overnight. Blue Ridge will meet with Town at 1030 to discuss plan to restore Town's influent.wastewater disinfection
system, then resume pumping thru that system and diversion of disinfected wastewater to river as an interim
treatment step until mill's wastewater treatment plant can be restored. All mill operations remain down. Blue Ridge
will also coordinate preparation of the SSO report and public notice with the Town.
Paul Dickens left voice message with Keith Haynes of DENR ARO DWQ at 0900 with the above information.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
--Forwarded by Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge on 09/09/2004 09:10 AM---
I of 3 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Corrected Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge
To
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/08/2004 05:52 PM
cc
Bob Williams/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Bob
Shanahan/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Derric
Brown/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Donald
Messer/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,George
Garten/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Daryl
Whitt/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Michael
Koerschner/CanlonBlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Louie
Justus/Canton/BlueRidg a@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
8 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR-
Re: NPDES NC0000272
This note documents regulatory notice and key activities related to the Pigeon River flood and resulting shutdown of
wastewater treatment facilities for the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill and Town of Canton. A formal written report
will follow in 5-days as required by permit conditions. At this time (9/8 at 1700)our wastewater treatment plant
remains flooded, but waters are receding rapidly and we have started pumping floodwater out of both the mill and
wastewater areas. As you know we treat both mill wastewater and sanitary wastewater from the Town of Canton.
Our normal mill wastewater flow is on the order of 25 mgd and town's wastewater flow is on the order of 0.9 mgd.
Based on flood warnings and river level, Blue Ridge Paper activated the mill flood plan at— 1600 on 9/7. We placed
gates in the mill flood dike and assembled other emergency equipment and supplies.
At— 1900 on 9/7, the mill started a controlled shutdown of the backend -recovery and pulp -as a precaution against
flooding.
At—2200 on 9/7, based on rapid river rise, the mill started a controlled shutdown of paper production as a precaution
against flooding. We also started a controlled shutdown of power boilers.
At 0253 on 9/8, flood waters backed up into the wastewater treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers.
At that time, the low lift pumps influent'to wastewater treatment were stopped. This started a unanticipated bypass
of treatment necessary to prevent severe property damage. At this time all mill operations were down and chemical
and oil tanks were secured. Aerators in the aeration basin were turned off to settle and store activated sludge.
At 0300 on 9/8, power to the mill site including wastewater treatment was turned off to prevent damage to electrical
substations and switch gear from flood water. The mill went cold at this time.
At 0600 on 9/8, the Pigeon River crested at—21 ft, a record for Canton. There was 4 to 5 feet of water in the
wastewater area which flooded the influent lift station, secondary clarifiers, all switch gear rooms as well as the
wastewater control lab and offices. The aeration basins and primary clarifiers remained above flood level. Flood
water backed up into the mill sewer system from the influent lift station and flooded the back end of the mill with 4 to
5 feet of water.
At 0745, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge call the DENR 1-800 number to report flooding and outage of the mill
wastewater treatment plant. We reported that all mill operations were down and that wastewater treatment for the
Town of Canton was also down. At this time,the Town's sewer pump stations and disinfection system influent to the
2 of 3 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Corrected Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
mill wastewater plant were flooded and also not operating.
At 0815, George Garten of Blue Ridge called Brendan Davey and Keith Haynes of the DENR ARO to report that all
air pollution sources and equipment were down and that the wastewater plant was down and flooded. George spoke
directly to Brendan and left a voice mail for Keith.
Between 0800 and 0930, Paul Dickens and other Blue Ridge environmental staff made an inspection of the
wastewater area and mill areas that were still accessible and not flooded. We determined that chemical tanks and
oil storage locations were secure and that there was no evidence of environmental releases other than sewage.
Between 0900 and 0930, George Garten and Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge contacted Greg Shuping, Haywood Co
Emergency Management Director, and advised him that wastewater treatment services for the Town of Canton were
down as a result of the flood and mill wastewater plant outage. Sewage from the town was entering the river from
flooded pump stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station. All mill operations were down and there were no
process wastewater or chemicals entering the river.
At 1100, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge made a follow-up call to the DENR ARO and spoke with Roy Davis of the DWQ.
Paul outlined the morning's events and the shutdown of wastewater treatment to minimize flood damage to electrical
equipment. We advised DENR that raw sewage from the Town of Canton was entering the river from flooded pump
stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station.
At 1130, Roy Davis and Keith Haynes of DENR visited the mill wastewater treatment plant to inspect and confirm
flood damage. Lori Cooper was the Blue Ridge Operator in charge at that time and hosted the tour. Derric Brown of
Blue Ridge was inspecting the wastewater plant at the time and also participated in the tour.
At 1400,flood water began to rapidly recede and activities to drain water from the mill and wastewater plant began in
earnest.
At 1600, Paul Dickens contacted Roy Davis of the DENR DWQ and advised that to drain flood water trapped inside
the mill it was necessary to open the mill sewer bypass to the river. The mill sewer at this time contained floodwater.
The valve was opened at 1630 and will remain open until the mill area is drained. The bypass valve will be closed
after remaining floodwaters are drained to restore the mill sewer to normal function.
As of 1600, the Town of Canton was able to restart several pump stations and resume pumping sewage into the
mill's wastewater headworks. These headworks are flooded and the sewage is discharging back into the river thru
the mill sewer bypass. The Town will restore the pretreatment disinfection system for their sewage as soon as it is
safety access and restart this equipment.
Activities the night of 9/8 will focus on draining remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment area and mill
and on assessing damage to electrical switchgear, motors and pumps.
The first priority for Blue Ridge Paper is to restore operation of the wastewater treatment plant. Restoration of mill
operations will the follow. Blue Ridge will update both DENR and the Haywood Co. Emergency Management group
on the status of restoring wastewater treatment on the Thursday morning 9/9.
Keith, thanks for your help and concern today during your flood damage assessment.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
3 of 3 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Subject: Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2004 09:19:55 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail]
9 Sep Update at 0900
Mill was successful in pumping and draining floodwaters out of wastewater treatment area and mill areas overnight.
Bypass on 4A manhole to river was still open as of 0600 on 9 Sep. This bypass was opened at 1630 on 9/8 to drain
floodwaters out of the mill and mill sewer system. Work to assess electrical system damage.began last night and
will continue today.
Blue Ridge requested that the Town of Canton stop their sewage pump stations at 0630 on 9/8 because the influent
lift station to the mill's wastewater plant remains down and we can't take any water until influent pumps and treatment
are restored. Sewage from Town's pump stations overflowed to the river during the 9/8 flood and overnight. Blue
Ridge will meet with Town at 1030 to discuss plan to restore Town's influent wastewater disinfection system, then
resume pumping thru that system and diversion of disinfected wastewater to river as an interim treatment step until
mill's wastewater treatment plant can be restored. All mill operations remain down. Blue Rige will also coordinate
preparation of the SSO report and public notice with the Town.
Paul Dickens left voice message with Keith Haynes of DENR ARO DWQ at 0900 with the above information.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
—Forwarded by Paul Dickens/Canton/BlueRidge on 09/09/2004 09:10 AM—
Paul Dickens/CantonBlueRidge To
Keith Haynes(DENR DWQ)
09/08/2004 05:52 PM
CC
Bob Williams/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Bob
Shanahan/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Denic
Brown/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Donald
Messer/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,George
Garten/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Daryl
W hitt/CantonBlueRidge@BI ueRidgePaper,Michael
Koerschner/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper,Louie
Justus/Canton/BlueRidge@BlueRidgePaper
Subject
Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
8 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR-
Re: NPDES NC0000272
I of 3 10/27J2004 7:07 AM

Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
This note documents regulatory notice and key activities related to the Pigeon River flood and resulting shutdown of
wastewater treatment facilities for the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill and Town of Canton. A formal written report
will follow in 5-days as required by permit conditions. At this time (918 at 1700) our wastewater treatment plant
remains flooded, but waters are receding rapidly and we have started pumping floodwater out of both the mill and
wastewater areas. As you know we treat both mill wastewater and sanitary wastewater from the Town of Canton.
Our normal mill wastewater flow is on the order of 25 mgd and town's wastewater flow is on the order of 0.9 mgd.
Based on flood warnings and river level, Blue Ridge Paper activated the mill flood plan at— 1600 on 9/7. We placed
gates in the mill flood dike and assembled other emergency equipment and supplies.
At— 1900 on 9/7, the mill started a controlled shutdown of the backend -recovery and pulp -as a precaution against
flooding.
At—2200 on 9/7, based on rapid river rise, the mill started a controlled shutdown of paper production as a precaution
against flooding. We also started a controlled shutdown of power boilers.
At 0253 on 9/8, flood waters backed up into the wastewater treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers.
At that time, the low lift pumps influent to wastewater treatment were stopped. This started a unanticipated bypass
of treatment necessary to prevent severe property damage. At this time all mill operations were down and chemical
and oil tanks were secured. Aerators in the aeration basin were turned off to settle and store activated sludge.
At 0300 on 9/8, power to the mill site including wastewater treatment was turned off to prevent damage to electrical
substations and switch gear from flood water. The mill went cold at this time.
At 0600 on 9/8, the Pigeon River crested at—21 ft, a record for Canton. There was 4 to 5 feet of water in the
wastewater area which flooded the influent lift station, secondary clarifiers, all switch gear rooms as well as the
wastewater control lab and offices. The aeration basins and primary clarifiers remained above flood level. Flood
water backed up into the mill sewer system from the influent lift station and flooded the back end of the mill with 4 to
5 feet of water.
At 0745, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge call the DENR 1-800 number to report flooding and outage of the mill
wastewater treatment plant. We reported that all mill operations were down and that wastewater treatment for the
Town of Canton was also down. At this time, the Town's sewer pump stations and disinfection system influent to the
mill wastewater plant were flooded and also not operating.
At 0815, George Garten of Blue Ridge called Brendan Davey and Keith Haynes of the DENR ARO to report that all
air pollution sources and equipment were down and that the wastewater plant was down and flooded. George spoke
directly to Brendan and left a voice mail for Keith.
Between 0800 and 0930, Paul Dickens and other Blue Ridge environmental staff made an inspection of the
wastewater area and mill areas that were still accessible and not flooded. We determined that chemical tanks and
oil storage locations were secure and that there was no evidence of environmental releases other than sewage.
Between 0900 and 0930, George Garten and Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge contacted Greg Shuping, Haywood Co
Emergency Management Director, and advised him that wastewater treatment services for the Town of Canton were
down as a result of the flood and mill wastewater plant outage. Sewage from the town was entering the river from
flooded pump stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station. All mill operations were down and there were no
process wastewater or chemicals entering the river.
At 1100, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge made a follow-up call to the DENR ARO and spoke with Roy Davis of the DWQ.
Paul outlined the morning's events and the shutdown of wastewater treatment to minimize flood damage to electrical
equipment. We advised DENR that raw sewage from the Town of Canton was entering the river from flooded pump
stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station.
At 1130, Roy Davis and Keith Haynes of DENR visited the mill wastewater treatment plant to inspect and confirm
flood damage. Lori Cooper was the Blue Ridge Operator in charge at that time and hosted the tour. Derric Brown of
2 of 3 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Update-Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Blue Ridge was inspecting the wastewater plant at the time and also participated in the tour.
At 1400,flood water began to rapidly recede and activities to drain water from the mill and wastewater plant began in
earnest.
At 1600, Paul Dickens contacted Roy Davis of the DENR DWQ and advised that to drain flood water trapped inside
the mill it was necessary to open the mill sewer bypass to the river. The mill sewer at this time contained floodwater.
The valve was opened at 1630 and will remain open until the mill area is drained. The bypass valve will be closed
after remaining floodwaters are drained to restore the mill sewer to normal function.
As of 1600, the Town of Canton was able to restart several pump stations and resume pumping sewage into the
mill's wastewater headworks. These headworks are flooded and the sewage is discharging back into the river thru
the mill sewer bypass. The Town will restore the pretreatment disinfection system for their sewage as soon as it is
safety access and restart this equipment.
Activities the night of 9/8 will focus on draining remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment area and mill
and on assessing damage to electrical switchgear, motors and pumps.
The first priority for Blue Ridge Paper is to restore operation of the wastewater treatment plant. Restoration of mill
operations will the follow. Blue Ridge will update both DENR and the Haywood Co. Emergency Management group
on the status of restoring wastewater treatment on the Thursday morning 9/9.
Keith,thanks for your help and concern today during your flood damage assessment.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
3 of 3 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Subject: Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 17:52:43 -0400
From: [e-mail]
To: [e-mail]
CC: [e-mail], [e-mail],[e-mail],
[e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail],
[e-mail],[e-mail]
8 Sep 2004
Keith Haynes, NC DENR-
Re: NPDES NC0000272
This note documents regulatory notice and key activities related to the Pigeon River flood and resulting shutdown of
wastewater treatment facilities for the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill and Town of Canton. A formal written report
will follow in 5-days as required by permit conditions. At this time(9/8 at 1700)our wastewater treatment plant
remains flooded, but waters are receding rapidly and we have started pumping floodwater out of both the mill and
wastewater areas. As you know we treat both mill wastewater and sanitary wastewater from the Town of Canton.
Our normal mill wastewater flow is on the order of 25 mgd and town's wastewater flow is on the order of 0.9 mgd.
Based on flood warnings and river level, Blue Ridge Paper activated the mill flood plan at— 1600 on 9/7. We placed
gates in the mill flood dike and assembled other emergency equipment and supplies.
At— 1900 on 9/7,the mill started a controlled shutdown of the backend-recovery and pulp-as a precaution against
flooding.
At—2200 on 917, based on rapid river rise, the mill started a controlled shutdown of paper production as a precaution
against flooding. We also started a controlled shutdown of power boilers.
At 0253 on 9/8, flood waters backed up into the wastewater treatment area and overtopped the secondary clarifiers.
At that time, the low lift pumps influent to wastewater treatment were stopped. This started a unanticipated bypass
of treatment necessary to prevent severe property damage. At this time all mill operations were down and chemical
and oil tanks were secured. Aerators in the aeration basin were turned off to settle and store activated sludge.
At 0300 on 918, power to the mill site including wastewater treatment was turned off to prevent damage to electrical
substations and switch gear from flood water. The mill went cold at this time.
At 0600 on 918, the Pigeon River crested at—21 ft, a record for Canton. There was 4 to 5 feet of water in the
wastewater area which flooded the influent lift station, secondary clarifiers, all switch gear rooms as well as the
wastewater control lab and offices. The aeration basins and primary clarifiers remained above flood level. Flood
water backed up into the mill sewer system from the influent lift station and flooded the back end of the mill with 4 to
5 feet of water.
At 0745, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge call the DENR 1-800 number to report flooding and outage of the mill
wastewater treatment plant. We reported that all mill operations were down and that wastewater treatment for the
Town of Canton was also down. At this time,the Town's sewer pump stations and disinfection system influent to the
mill wastewater plant were flooded and also not operating.
At 0815, George Garten of Blue Ridge called Brendan Davey and Keith Haynes of the DENR ARO to report that all
air pollution sources and equipment were down and that the wastewater plant was down and flooded. George spoke
directly to Brendan and left a voice mail for Keith.
1 of 2 10/22/2004 7:07 AM

Flood and Wastewater Outage 9/8 BRPPI
Between 0800 and 0930, Paul Dickens and other Blue Ridge environmental staff made an inspection of the
wastewater area and mill areas that were still accessible and not flooded. We determined that chemical tanks and
oil storage locations were secure and that there was no evidence of environmental releases other than sewage.
I
Between 0900 and 0930, George Garten and Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge contacted Greg Shuping, Haywood Co
Emergency Management Director, and advised him that wastewater treatment services for the Town of Canton were
down as a result of the flood and mill wastewater plant outage. Sewage from the town was entering the river from
flooded pump stations and the mill's;wastewater influent lift station. All mill operations were down and there were no
process wastewater or chemicals entering the river.
At 1100, Paul Dickens of Blue Ridge made a follow-up call to the DENR ARO and spoke with Roy Davis of the DWQ.
Paul outlined the morning's events and the shutdown of wastewater treatment to minimize flood damage to electrical
equipment. We advised DENR that raw sewage from the Town of Canton was entering the river from flooded pump
stations and the mill's wastewater influent lift station.
At 1130, Roy Davis and Keith Haynes of DENR visited the mill wastewater treatment plant to inspect and confirm
flood damage. Lori Cooper was the,Blue Ridge Operator in charge at that time and hosted the tour. Derric Brown of
Blue Ridge was inspecting the wastewater plant at the time and also participated in the tour.
At 1400,flood water began to rapidly recede and activities to drain water from the mill and wastewater plant began in
earnest.
At 1600, Paul Dickens contacted Roy Davis of the DENR DWQ and advised that to drain flood water trapped inside
the mill it was necessary to open the mill sewer bypass to the river. The mill sewer at this time contained floodwater.
The valve was opened at 1630 and will remain open until the mill area is drained. The bypass valve will be closed
after remaining floodwaters are drained to restore the mill sewer to normal function.
As of 1600, the Town of Canton was able to restart several pump stations and resume pumping sewage into the
mill's wastewater headworks. These headworks are flooded and the sewage is discharging back into the river thru
the mill sewer bypass. The Town will restore the pretreatment disinfection system for their sewage as soon as it is
safety access and restart this equipment.
Activities the night of 9/8 will focus on draining remaining floodwaters from the wastewater treatment area and mill
and on assessing damage to electrical switchgear, motors and pumps.
The first priority for Blue Ridge Paper is to restore operation of the wastewater treatment plant. Restoration of mill
operations will the follow. Blue Ridge will update both DENR and the Haywood Co. Emergency Management group
on the status of restoring wastewater treatment on the Thursday morning 9/9.
Keith, thanks for your help and concern today during your flood damage assessment.
Paul Dickens
Manager, Environmental Affairs
Blue Ridge Paper Products, Inc.
[e-mail]
828-646-6141 FAX [phone]
2 of 2 10/22/2004 7:07 AM