NCG02 Comments from Vulcan Materials Company

Morman, Alaina
From: Lucas, Annette
Sent: Monday,June 14, 2021 11:41 AM
To: Johnson Jr, Tony
Cc: Morman, Alaina; Meloy, Michael
Subject: RE: [External] NCG020000 for Mining Activities sormwater, mine dewatering
wastewater, and process wastewater discharges
Follow Up Flag: Follow up
Flag Status: Completed
Tony,
Thank you for the comments, they will be added to the official public record. Also, they will be addressed in a
comment/response document that DEMLR will prepare shortly.
Sincerely,
Annette
Annette Lucas, PE
Stormwater Program Supervisor
Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
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Email: annette.lucas(@ncdenr.aov
Web site: deg.nc.gov/SW
Physical Address: 512 North Salisbury Street, Office 640L, Raleigh, NC 27604
Mailing Address: 1612 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1612
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From:Johnson Jr,Tony<[e-mail]>
Sent: Monday,June 14, 2021 11:34 AM
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To: Lucas, Annette<[e-mail]>
Subject: [External] NCG020000 for Mining Activities stormwater, mine dewatering wastewater, and process wastewater
discharges
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Annette,
Vulcan Materials Company (Vulcan) objects to the change from semi-annual to quarterly
stormwater sampling.
The quarterly stormwater sampling requirement in the proposed permit is not consistent
with the permit requirements for several neighboring states - four of those states also
being in EPA's Region 4. None of these states require quarterly sampling for the entire
permit, as North Carolina does. For example:
• Virginia - Annual stormwater sampling.
• Maryland - Quarterly, but only until you have 4 consecutive samples with an average TSS
< 100.
•Tennessee - Annual stormwater sampling, with an option to not sample the final year if
the average of the first 4-years is below the benchmark.
• Kentucky - Only wastewater must be sampled.
• Georgia - Stormwater sampled quarterly, but with 4-consecutive compliant quarters, the
permittee can reduce to annual sampling. Only requires quarterly stormwater sampling
to impaired (303) waters.
• South Carolina - Stormwater sampled quarterly, but once 4-consecutive compliant
quarters, then stormwater sampling stops for the remaining permit period.
We do not believe there is data to support the need for more frequent sampling. Since
most of the industry's erosion control BMP's are designed for the 25-year storm, it is
common for outfalls to not discharge in response to many storm events. So, the new
quarterly sampling requirement will make an already challenging semi-annual sampling
requirement even more difficult.
Vulcan believes that semi-annual stormwater sampling is still appropriate and more
consistent with our neighboring states and opposes changing to quarterly stormwater
sampling.
Vulcan proposes the following revisions to the draft permit.
• Page 6 - B-11 (a)
oSecond sentence - "Inspections shall occur at a minimum on a quarterly
schedule. A minimum of thirty (30) days must separate each inspection."
• If 30 days must separate each inspection, that would restrict the frequency
to a maximum of monthly. Vulcan suggests either removing this second
sentence, or making it clear that the minimum of 30 days separation is
only required if the inspections are not more than quarterly.
• Page 28 - H-5 (b) i and ii
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At appears this language was copied from Section F.5 and therefore references
"same storm event" and "next measurable storm event." For this wastewater
section, it should read "sample event" or "next sample event."
• Page 33 - Part J Table 12
Andustry has expressed concerns over the 24-hour notification for "Visible sediment
deposition" and the fact that there may be a need for an expert opinion from
someone who is not onsite to make that determination. We would suggest either
removing the 24-hour notification, or the addition of"significant" sediment
deposition. That would allow for a determination to be made by an expert from
photographic evidence, rather than potentially causing someone to travel to a site
to make the determination of whether or not the "visible sediment deposition" is
in fact from the operation and not naturally occurring.
Sincerely,
Tony Johnson
Environmental Engineer
Vulcan Materials Company
11020 David Taylor Drive, Suite 400
Charlotte, NC 28262
Office 704-547-7076
Cell 571-422-6401
Fax [phone]
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