NC0072877_Compliance Summary_20030204

Town of Newton Grove
Compliance Summary
Since 1195 there has been 14 civil penalty assessments, as noted in BIMs,
(2 assessmentsfor monitoring violations, 12 assessments for limit violations)
no penalty assessments since the May 2001 discharge monitoring report.
Fayetteville Regional Office (FRO) staff visited the plant numerous times during the
period of ongoing violations and communicated via telephone and correspondence
to assess the situation. In addition to FRO interaction with the permittee the FRO
arranged for the Operator Training and Certification Unit to perform Technical
Assistance to evaluate4 the operationof the facility on at least three occasions and
Balled in the Construction Grants and Loan Section to perform a wastewater
treatment system evaluation through the Municipal Compliance Initiative (MCI)
Program.
It should be noted that the Town after being assessed penalties numerous times
hired Envirolink a contract operations firm to run the plant.
Shortly after the Town hired the contract operations firm and recommendations
furnished by DWQ,were implemented compliance began to improve and the facility
came back into compliance.
In summary the technical assistance evaluations concluded that the plant was not
being operated in the most optimal fashion prior to Envirolink and that the
penalties were justified.

PressRelease
North Carolina Coastal Federation • 3609 Hwy 24 (Ocean) • Newport, NC 28570
(252) 393- 8185 • Fax [phone]
For Immediate Release
Date: Feb. 4, 2003
Contact: Cape Fear Coastkeeper, Ted Wilgis
Phone: .[phone]
Email: [e-mail]
New Hanover truck stop among region's most chronic violators
A truck stop near Wilmington and the Kure Beach sewer plant are among the most chronic
violators of state sewer permits along the central and southern N.C. coast,according to an
investigation by the N.C. Coastal Federation's Coastkeepers.
The Dixie Boy Truck Stop, at U.S. 421 and N.C. 117, and the Kure Beach plant join 53 other
sewer plants in the region that have been fined at least twice in the last five years by the state for
violating their permits, according to the Coastkeepers.-Their report appears in the recently published
edition of the Federation's newsletter, Coastal Review.
Most of the violators are so-called "minor" dischargers — those that release less than a million
gallons of sewage a day -- according to the investigation by Frank Tursi and Ted Wilgis, NCCF's
Coastkeepers. These are mainly small city- or county -owned sewer plants and private package plants
that serve subdivisions, mobile -home parks and small businesses.
New Hanover County also appears onthelist of the 13 worst offenders, "The Dirty (Baker's)
Dozen." The county was assessed 11 times for more than $18,000 for violations at the county jail,
two sewer plants and public schools. Dixie Boy is third on the list, Kure Beach sixth and New
Hanover County ninth. Other plants along the southeast coast that made the list are Brunswick
County (1), Tabor City (4), Holly Ridge (5) and IBP Foods (11).
"While non -point sources of pollution such as storm water run-off can be difficult to pin
point, these point sources are easily identifiable and their effects, such as degraded water quality, on
coastal waters are very measurable," said Cape Fear Coastkeeper Ted Wilgis. "As the state
implements comprehensive new stormwater regulations, every effort should be made to
simultaneously clean up these chronic polluters."
State officials are shackled by a system that realistically gives them few weapons to bring the
plants into compliance, Wilgis said. They can fine the violators, and since beefing up enforcement in
1998, they have done so with regularity. The 55 on the Federation list were assessed more than $650,000 in the last five years. Most paid their fines, which end up in an education fund and are
distributed to public schools across the state.
The fines sometimes do as intended and force improvements, the Federation noted in its
report. Brunswick County, for instance, was assessed 31 times, totaling more than $70,000, for
violations at two public schools, a sewer plant and a water -treatment plant. The county fixed most of
the problems, as did New Hanover. Both counties remained clean last year.
If the assessments don't do it, realistically there's little else the state can do, Wilgis noted. The
threat of lawsuits, he said, makes state attorneys uneasy and regulators shy about using the ultimate
weapon: revocation. Rick Shiver, the director of the Division of Water Quality's regional office in
Wilmington, became so exasperated with the Worsley Companies failure to correct the problems at

its Dixie Boy truck stop that he took the unusual step in February 2000 of recommending that its
permit be revoked. The sewer plant at the truck stop discharges about 4,000 gallons of sewage a day
into the Northeast Cape Fear River.
In operation since 1991, the plant has a long history of noncompliance. Worsley has been
assessed 17 times — for more that $27,000 -- since 1998 for failing to meet permit limits. Despite its
history and Shiver's recommendation that the permit be revoked, it was renewed last March.
"That's another thing our investigation showed," Wilgis said. "Permits seem to always be
renewed."
State law also allows water -quality officials not to renew permits, which last for five years, if
the plant consistently violated its pollution limits. The Federation's report, however, showed that
renewals are about as certain as Kure Beach blowing its sediment limit.
The town's sewer plant, which can discharge up to 400,000 gallons a day into the lower Cape
Fear River, violated the sediment limit in its permit every month in 2001. The town was fined 13
times since 1998 for almost $16,000. Yet, the permit was renewed last March.
To encourage better enforcement of sewer permits, NCCF will devote a page on its website,
www.nccoast.org, to sewer permits. The site will list all the permits in the coastal counties, those that
violate their pollution limits and those that were assessed a fine. It will also contain information about
the state permitting system, contact names and phone number and suggest how people can get
involved in the permitting process. The site will be updated monthly, Wilgis said, and should be
launched on Feb. 18.
The Dirty (Baker's) Dozen
These are the most chronic water polluters along the southern and central coast since 1998 based on the
number of times they've been assessed by the state for violating their water -pollution permits.
Name County Assessments Amount
1. Brunswick County* Brunswick 31 $70,982.24
Sentry Utilities Onslow 31 $49,460.98
3. Worsley Co. Dixie Boy #6 New Hanover 17 $27,323.11
4. Tabor City WWTP Columbus 16 $50,143.10
Holly Ridge WWTP Onslow 16 $31,214.22
6. Kure Beach WWTP New Hanover 13 $15,857.45
7. Newton Grove WWTP Sampson 12 $26,989.88
Rexon Limited -Collins MHP Onslow 12 $19,553.51
9. New Hanover County** New Hanover 11 $18,383.54
10. Richlands WWTP Onslow 9 $11,566.87
11. Magnolia WWTP Duplin 8 $42,750.04
Beaufort Fisheries Carteret 8 $28,893.25
IBP Foods Onslow 8 $ 9,038.82
*Includes violations at sewer -treatment and water plants and at county schools
**Includes violations at the county jail, two sewage plants and at county schools
Source: N.C. Division of Water Quality
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The North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF) is the state's largest nonprofit organization working to
restore and protect the coast. NCCF headquarters are located at 3609 Highway 24 in Ocean between Morehead City and
Swansboro and are open Monday through Friday. The headquarters includes NCCF's main offices, the Cape Lookout
Coastkeeper office, a gift shop, nature trail, library, and Weber Seashell Exhibit. The NCCF also operates a field office in
Wilmington, which houses NCCF's Senior Scientist and the Cape Fear CoastKeeper. To join NCCF or learn more about
coastal conservation, call [phone] or check out its website at www.nccoast.org.