NC0020567_Correspondence_20030905

NPDES DOCUMENT SCANNING COVER SHEET
NPDES Permit:
NC0020567
Elkin / YVSA WWTP
Document Type:
Permit Issuance
Wasteload Allocation
Authorization to Construct (AtC)
Permit Modification
Complete File - Historical
Engineering Alternatives (EAA)
• Correspondence
Owner Name Change
Instream Assessment (67b)
Speculative Limits
Environmental Assessment (EA)
Document Date:
September 5, 2003
This document is printed on reuse paper - ignore any
content on the resrerse side

/Elkin consolidated WWTP
•
From: "Eddie Smith" <[e-mail]>
Subject:Elkin Consolidated WWTP
To: "Dempsey Benton" <[e-mail]>
CC: <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>,
"brad bucy" <[e-mail]>, <[e-mail]>,
<fhobbs@hobbsupchurch>, "Tom Gwyn" <[e-mail]>,
"Lestine Hutchens" <[e-mail]>,
"Steve Erlandson" <[e-mail]>
11:41 AM
Dear Dempsey: Back in June 2003 I forwarded a project summary for the possible consolidation of three WWTP's in
the Yadkin Valley area (Town ,of Elkin, Town of Jonesville, and Chatham -Interface Textile). I have attached a copy of
that email for referral purpos if needed. The pure se of this email is of utmost urgency as we are nearing the
October 1st deadline as set the Clean Water Man ement Turst Fund to confirm all commitements to the
project.
NC,o0 2._e
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As a follow-up to my last email (attached- word document), it appears as if Mr. Wallace Finlator (Department of
Justice) and John Walch (DENR-Inactive Site Branch) have been in contact with CMI concerning their bankruptcy
proceedings as it relates to the property needed for the consolidation. My biggest concern right now is for DENR to
understand the important benefit of supporting such a consolidation project and steering the Town of Jonesville into
reconsidering their position not to participate. You see, our cost estimates and projections indicate that Jonesville
can receive the equivalent of double their current WWTP capacity for a mere $750,000. Unfortunately, Jonesville is
fearful of losing control and operation of their sewer system and are not willing participants at this point. Clean Water
Management Trust Fund has stipulated that the $3.0 million grant is contingent upon Jonesville participating because
of the "clean water" value of the project. Jonesville is currently in the process of submitting a 201 facilities plan and
requesting permission to double their current WWTP capacity. This request makes little sense when there is the
possibility of creating a regional sewer authority and consolidating three existing WWTP' s that are 1-mile of
eachother. Jonesville will make claims that the project is jeopardized by flood plain issues and incorrect construction
estimates....all of which we have provided evidence to the contrary. In fact, Jonesville's engineers (Jamestown
Engineering) refused our invitation to jointly study the project costs (an obvious practice of self-preservation). At
some point, Jonesville needs to be influenced to seriously consider consolidation as the only logical route to achieve
the a greater good for the Yadkin Valley area. I would like to request that DENR consider asking Jonesville to
constructively outline why a regional consolidation project would not be the best course of action when compared to
doubling their own WWTP. We (Elkin) have already proven that it's a great project that can save money, operation
cost, and eliminate discharges into the Yadkin River Basin.
Last but not least, the Town of Ronda recently approached the Town of Elkin to inquiry as to whether or not we would
consider accepting their wastewater if they are funded for an unsewered community grant through the Rural Center.
Adding Ronda would increase the number of consolidated WWTP's from three to four (adding East Wilkes HS
package plant) as well as adding an unsewered community (eliminating a new discharge). Please let me know what
route we may be able to pursue to ensure that DENR will consider a consolidated, regional WWTP prior to issuing a
new plant permit to Jonesville. In addition, I would also like to ask about the possiblity of conducting a joint meeting
with DENR, CWMTF, CDBG, Elkin, Jonesville, Ronda, CMI, Chatham, and CMC Holdings in Raleigh (or other
centrally located destination) to discuss the intricate details of this very important project. Thank you.
Eddie Smith
Town Manager - Elkin
[phone]
[e-mail]
DWWTP Consolidation Summary.docj
Name: WWTP Consolidation Summary.doc
Type: Microsoft Word Document
(application/msword)
Encoding: base64
'Download Status: Not downloaded with message
I of 2 9/5/03 3:51 PM

Following is a written description of the Chatham -Interface and Town of Elkin Wastewater
Treatment Plant Consolidation Project that was originally conceived in December 2001 and
officially pursued beginning February 1, 2002. First let me begin by listing the total project cost,
current stakeholders, and progress activity as of April 2, 2003.
1. Chatham WWTP Consolidation
Purpose: Rehabilitate and remediate one CMI property by consolidating two
Wastewater Treatment Plants and remediating a second CMI property (fly ash
property) as a passive recreation area. A third piece of property (Chatham Park) will
be rehabilitated into an active recreational area.
a. Project Cost: $6.3M (CWMTF Grant $3.0M; CDBG-Economic
Development Grant $750,000; CMI Escrowed Funds $1.25M - $1.55M;
Town Contribution $1.0M - $1.2M)
b. Participants: Chatham -Interface (Mike Hargett and Wendy Porter), Hobbs
Upchurch Engineering (Fred Hobbs, Brad Bucy, Angie Mettlen), DENR —
Brownfields Division (Tony Duque), DENR — Inactive Site Branch (John
Walch), Department of Justice (Wallace Finlator), CMI (Jim Ovenden —
CFO, Ed Hedgecock — Environmental Engineer, Charlie Carter —
Environmental Attorney), Chip Luckey (Town Environmental Attorney —
Chatham Park Property), George Sherri! (Department of Commerce —
CDBG Program), Clean Water Management Trust Fund (Bill Hollman —
Executive Director, Bern Shumack), Town of Elkin (Eddie Smith, John
Holcomb, Robert Fuller, Mayor Gwyn, Commissioner J.L. Lowe).
c. Progress: Active. Chatham -Interface is moving forward with the
employee surveys that are required to qualify for $750,000 in CDBG-
Economic Development Funds; CWMTF has postponed our response
deadline to accepting the grant until Mr. Fred Hobbs can meet with Bill
Hollman (CWMTF) on April 21st to discuss Jonesville's position not to
participate. CMI must prepare a corrective action report to be submitted
to DENR. Tony Duque (DENR — Brownfields) agreed to submit a letter
to Elkin (Eddie and Chip Luckey) by April 7th to outline additional
procedures for submitting the Chatham Park property for remediation
approval.
Here's a brief synopsis. A Mr. Bill Davis, representing CMC Holding, approached the Town of
Elkin in late 2001 to request that the Town of Elkin consider accepting ownership of Chatham
Park - a 15-20 acre tract currently used as recreational ballfields that contains a small area of
contaminated soil. The Town agreed to research the request and solicited the services of Mr.
Chip Luckey to assist with the process. Several months later in February 2002, Chatham -
Interface approaches the Town of Elkin with a conceptual idea to study the consolidation of sewer
operations at their existing WWTP. The Town agreed to take operational responsibility of the
Chatham WWTP on May 1, 2002 for 12-months while a consolidation study is being completed
and under the condition that Interface will spearhead all efforts related to Brownsfield issues. The
initial consolidation study did not prove cost effective to consolidate just Elkin and Chatham sewer
operations. At this point, I contacted the Town of Jonesville (300 yards away across the Yadkin
River) and requested that they give serious consideration to a 3-way sewer consolidation using
the Chatham -Interface WWTP. Jonesville was currently in the midst of planning to expand their
existing WWTP from 400,000 mgd to 800,000 mgd. In short, a new study concluded that a 3-way
consolidation is beneficial to all three parties. In fact, Jonesville would have contributed the least
and benefited the most. As the project continued to move forward, Jonesville began to
have some concern about the Brownfields area associated with the Chatham -Interface WWTP. I

shared with the Jonesville representatives Mr. Tony Duque's letter dated July 17, 2002 to Ms.
Wendy Porter discussing some of the information provided by Interface that would be used in
determining the evaluation of risk as they relate to the reuse of the site (which would remain a
WWTP). In addition, I shared with Jonesville that Mr. Duque's office (Superfund Section) was
aware of Interface's request to consider the site safe for reuse and that funds have been
escrowed for any potential clean-up required. Jonesville was hesitant to participate as a result of
some "unknowns" associated with a brownfield site. They wanted to know how much it
was going to cost to clean-up, what was the usual time frame for similar cases, what was their
liability if they became a partner with the consolidation project, and would they be committing
to something where the state will come back and designate them fiscally or legally responsible
for contamination related issues? Tony's office provided the appropriate information to answer all
of Jonesville's concerns, but due to circumstances beyond our control Jonesville elected not to
participate. In essence, Jonesville's engineers practiced self-preservation by recommending
against the project that would have saved Jonesville money in construction and operational cost.
Because the project is so important to Chatham -Interface, a struggling textile company, and the
Town of Elkin as it relates to water quality, resource conservation, streamlining wasterwater
operations costs, brownfields remediation/reuse, and elimination of costly future sewer projects
we (Interface, CMI and Town of Elkin) elected to continue forward with the project as a two-way
consolidation. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund is still committed to the providing $3.0
million is grant funding if we can get all the stakeholders involved to approve the project
and secure the funds needed to match the CWMTF grant. Hence the need to discuss using a
portion of the CMI escrowed funds, up to $1.25 million, to help with the consolidation project
(bricks and mortar rehabilitation). CMI has verbally agreed to allow some of the escrowed funds
to be allocated for the consolidation project if the Town agrees to assume ownership of the two
CMI properties and partner with DENR to insure all clean-up requirements, if any, are completed.
You may be asking yourself how does this consolidation project relate to the fly ash
property/project (Texas Property) located between the WWTP and Chatham Park
Property? Originally it didn't relate at all - at least not directly. You see, Elkin used CMC
Holding's (Bill Davis) request for Elkin to consider assuming ownership of Chatham Park as a
potential conservation easement in our application to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund
for grant funding to consolidate the Elkin-Chatham-Joneville WWTP's. When CMI (Jim Overden -
CFO and Charlie Carter) heard of these two projects (Chatham Park & Interface's WWTP), they
in turn approached the Town of Elkin to consider assuming ownership of property that connected
Chatham Park and the Chatham WWTP. You see if everything goes according to plan the
outcomes are tremendous:
1. The Town assumes ownership of a cleaned -up Chatham Park (Bill Davis - CMC Holdings) to
be used for recreation purposes.
2. The Town of Elkin and Chatham have a consolidated WWTP with lower unit cost of operation
that will eventually be marketed as a regional wastewater treatment plant (at which time DENR's
permitting branch will have an opportunity to encourage Jonesville to join the consolidation
instead of doubling their plant capacity).
3. The Yadkin River would benefit from a decrease in the daily maximum permitted discharge
amounts from 6.0 mgd to 4.0 mgd.
4. The CMI fly ash site (Jim Overden and Charlie Carter), when cleaned -up, would be used for
recreation as well in the form of walking trails and a possible mountain bike course. In addition,
the fly ash is being evaluated as a possible material to be cominbed with other materials to be
used in the construction of a mitigating flood burm around the WWTP site.
5. The most exciting benefit is the connection of all three properties that would then be under
the ownership of the Town of Elkin. The adjoined properties would be used in the creation of a
Riverwalk along the Yadkin River connecting the River with Downtown Elkin, Elkin Library, Elkin
Recreation Center, Elkin High School, Big Elkin Creek Nature Trail, the Overmountain Victory
Trail (Revolutionary War), and the Elkin Business Park. The three sites would be rehabilitated
and remediated (cleaned up ) into safe, useable space for the Town of Elkin and Surry County.

In short, Tony Duque is providing conceptual guidance on what, if anything, will need to be
remediated at the two CMI sites for the project to be successful. With the Town accepting
ownership as a non-contributing partner (with regards to contamination) and serving as principle
developer, the requirements may be minimal thus allowing a majority of the escrowed funds to be
used towards the consolidation project. CMI has been supportive of the remeditation project from
its inception and is willing to allow the re -appropriation of funds for the project if the Inactive Sites
Branch can assist by interpreting our efforts as meeting the goals outlined in the claims reserve
agreement. The property is being elevated beyond its current status of being vacant and
contaminated and transformed into a valuable, dean site for future use.
Elkin is now trying to solidify commitments from the remaining stakeholders in an attempt to keep
the project moving and not lose a $3.0 million dollar Clean Water Management Trust Fund Grant.
One of the primary stakeholders is the Inactive Hazardous Site Branch within DENR. The
inactive site branch has a vital roll in determining whether or not a portion of $2.0 million currently
in being held in an escrow for site clean-up and remediation can be used to assist the
consolidation project. The money was escrowed as part of a Proof of Claim filed by DENR when
the property owner (CMI) was in bankruptcy court. DENR's Attorney General for the Inactive
Site Branch (Wallace Finlator) has been an active and supportive partner in the project,
however, he and his staff have rendered a decision that none of the escrowed funds may be used
for the project because it would be disingenorous to pursue indifferently to the Proof of Claim
between DENR and CMI. Mr. Finlator's latest email dated June 1, 2003 is as follows:
Mr. Smith,
Pursuant to your request, I am writing to you in response to your telephone call to me of May 21, 2003.
In that telephone call, you asked me if the State would agree to release some portion, up to $1.25 million,
from a $2 million escrow account established by CMI, in order to help fund a $6.3 million waste water
treatment plant consolidation project (consolidation project) in Elkin, North Carolina. You followed up
your telephone call with an informative e-mail to me, dated May 22, in which you described that
consolidation project.
I forwarded your May 22 e-mail to my client, the Inactive Hazardous Substance Branch of the
Superfund Section of the Division of Waste Management of the North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (State), and I have discussed your proposal with my client. We
recognize the strong merit of Elkin's consolidation project. Unfortunately, the State cannot agree to release
any portion of the $2 million account (CMI escrow account) to help fund the consolidation project.
The Claims Reserve Agreement (Agreement) entered on July 2, 2002, between the State and CMI,
settled the State's claims against CMI for assessment and cleanup of two parcels of the textile
manufacturing facility (facility) in Elkin, which CMI formerly operated. Pursuant to the Agreement, CMI
established two claims reserves (the Escrow Accounts) to pay for assessment and cleanup of the two
parcels at the facility. I have forwarded to you a copy of the Agreement. The Agreement makes it clean
that the $2 million in the Escrow Accounts may only be used for assessment and cleanup at the,two
designated parcels. My client and I believe the Escrow Accounts cannot be used for any other purpose,
however worthy. It is also our view that we cannot rewrite the Agreement because the Agreement settles
the State's claims, presented via a proof of claim against CMI in its bankruptcy proceeding, for assessment
and cleanup of the two parcels, and a restructuring of the Agreement to accommodate a use of the
settlement funds other than for remediation would contravene the State's proof of claim.
John Watch, of the Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, tells me that the State has informed CMI
on several occasions that the State will not be actively pursuing the responsible parties to remediate the two
parcels anytime soon, but that CMI may come forward at any time and volunteer to commence
remediation. The two parcels would then be placed in the State's Registered Environmental Consultant
(REC) program for remediation. As CMI knows, under the Agreement, any unexpended amounts

remaining in the Escrow Accounts after completion of cleanup may be distributed back to CMI. As of the
present date, CMI has not contacted the State indicating that it is ready to commence remediation.
Please let me know if you have any question. With best regards, I am
Wallace Finlator
Assistant Attorney General
While Mr. Finlator was dratfing the previous mail, CMI was preparing a letter to Mr. Finlator outlining
their intent to submit a corrective action report and continued support for allocating some of the escrowed
funds for the consolidation project. The CMI letter in not in electronic format and must be faxed for
review.
I apologize if I have thoroughly confused you. Individually the three pieces of property and
projects are confusing enough, but when you begin combining them it becomes even more
challenging. It's not very often that the Clean Water Management Trust reviews a project and
determines its importance to be so great that it allocates $3.0 million towards the project. Their
offer to contribute such a large sum of money illustrates the value of combining these properties
and consolidating the two wastewater treatment plants while also creating useable, passive
recreational areas along the Yadkin River. Bottom Line: Once you have had an opportunity
to absorb this lengthy email and confer with Mr. Finlator (Inactive Site Branch Attorney)
and Mr. Duque (Brownsfield Branch), I would like to ask if it would be possible for us to
schedule a mediation in Raleigh (with your assistance) between Elkin, DENR (Inactive Site
Branch, Brownsfield Site, Water Quality), CMI, Clean Water Management Trust Fund and
Hobbs -Upchurch Engineering in order to address any current or future challenges that
may derail the project? As mentioned earlier, Mr. Finlator, Mr. Duque, and their respective
staffs have been very supportive of the project. Based upon the recent communication
exhanges concerning the CMI escrowed funds, it may be prudent to bring all the
stakeholders mentioned above to the table for one last discussion before we terminate all
efforts to consolidate. I will be out of the office until Monday, June 9th at which time I
would be free to discuss the project in more detail if you so desire.