NC0000272_Evergreen Submittal Regarding Compliance 1-31-2018_20220401

Evergreen Packaging Submittal to North Carolina Regarding Compliance with the
North Carolina Water Quality Standard for Color in the Pigeon River
January 31, 2018
Introduction
Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. doing business as Evergreen Packaging ("Evergreen" or
"EPI") submits this report and supporting materials to the North Carolina Division of Water
Resources. The report and supporting materials demonstrate that color in the Pigeon River, at
current levels, complies with North Carolina's narrative water quality standard for color, and that
the variance from the North Carolina water quality standard for color is no longer necessary.
Background
The Pigeon River originates in Haywood County in Western North Carolina. The river
flows generally north through the Town of Canton where Evergreen's Canton Mill is located.
The mill produces pulp and paper from pine and hardwoods. Pursuant to NPDES Permit NC
0000272 (the "Permit"), the Canton Mill discharges treated wastewater to the Pigeon River.
The river is impounded at Hepco, approximately 26 river miles downstream from the
Canton Mill, and eventually is piped six miles to the hydroelectric facility operated by Duke
Energy Progress at the North Carolina Tennessee state line. It is approximately 39 river miles
from the Canton Mill to the North Carolina Tennessee state line. Maps and a stick diagram of
the Pigeon River are attached hereto as Exhibits A, and are incorporated herein by reference.
The Canton Mill has operated in Canton since 1908. Color from tannins and lignins in
wood, generated in the pulping process, has long been a constituent of concern for the Canton
Mill, for the state of North Carolina and the State of Tennessee. Since 1988, the Canton Mill has
reduced the color in its discharge by more than 90% and has reduced the amount of water used
and discharged by more than a third.
Because the discharge from the Canton Mill could not comply with North Carolina's
water quality standard for color in 1988, the NPDES Committee of the North Carolina
Environmental Management Commission issued a variance to the Champion International
Corporation (the then owner of the Canton Mill). The 1988 Color Variance required the Canton
Mill to meet a standard of 50 true color units (measured using the platinum cobalt standard) at
the North Carolina Tennessee state line. The 50 true color unit measurement can also be
expressed in milligrams per liter.'
' Both Tennessee and North Carolina had narrative color standards in 1988 and still do today. Neither state, nor
EPA has ever adopted a numeric color standard for the Pigeon River or any other water body. EPA, relying on then
available studies, concluded that a 50 color unit was necessary for the protection of aquatic life and aesthetic
purposes. See Fact Sheet to the 1987 NPDES Permit issued by EPA to the Canton Mill and Champion International
Corporation v. U.S. EPA, 648 F. Supp. 1390 (W.N.D.C.) 1986, reversed and remanded by Champion International
Corporation v. U.S. EPA, 850 F. 2d. 182 (4t1 Circ.) 1988. Evergreen is submitting a separate discussion of the
derivation of the 50 true color unit standard.

The variance was renewed each time the NPDES Peu nit for the Canton Mill was
renewed, in 1997, in 2001 and in 2010. Beginning in 1990, Champion modernized and re-
configured the Canton Mill as an oxygen delignification, chlorine dioxide substitution (OD-100)
bleach mill. The modernization and reconfiguration reduced water usage from approximately 45
million gallons per day to less than 30 million gallons and resulted in a substantial reduction in
effluent color. Additional process improvements since the modernization have reduced color in
the effluent to less than 36,000 lbs per day, annual average.2
Beginning in 2001, in accordance with the requirements in its NPDES Permit, the Canton
Mill has sampled color in the Pigeon River, on a periodic basis, upstream from the Canton Mill
at Park Street, at Fibreville Bridge, (approximately .4 miles downstream from the effluent
discharge), at Hepco (approximately 26 river miles downstream) and at Brown's Bridge in
Tennessee, approximately 1/2 mile downstream from the Duke Energy Progress Hydroelectric
plant. Evergreen is submitting with these materials, a report prepared by AquAeTer, Inc.,
analyzing color concentrations in the Pigeon River.3
The North Carolina Water Quality Standard for Color
North Carolina has a narrative water quality standard for color. The standard is set forth
at Title 15 North Carolina Administrative Code .0211(f) (12) and reads as follows:
Oils, deleterious substances, colored or other wastes: only such
amounts as shall not render the waters injurious to public health,
secondary recreation, or to aquatic life and wildlife, adversely
affect the palatability of fish, aesthetic quality or impair the waters
for any designated uses.
There are no public health issues on the Pigeon River in North Carolina. The Pigeon
River, below the Canton Mill, is classified as Class C Waters. Designated uses for a class C
stream include fishing, wading, and non -contact recreation. Color, at current levels in the Pigeon
River, is not interfering with any of these uses.
The last fish consumption advisory on the mainstem of the Pigeon River in North
Carolina or any of its tributaries was removed in 2007. Pursuant to a requirement in NPDES
Permit NC 0000272, Dr. Larry Wilson (University of Tennessee), Dr. Charles C. Coutant and
Dr. John Tyner (University of Tennessee) did a biological assessment of the Pigeon River in
North Carolina and eastern Tennessee in 2013. The biological assessment "... found a diverse
and healthy aquatic community present in the Pigeon River below the Canton Mill."4 During the
course of the biological study, abundant wildlife, primarily avian species were observed along
the mainstem of the Pigeon River and its tributaries.
2 On May 14, 1999, Champion International transferred ownership of the Canton Mill to Blue Ridge Paper Products
Inc. Evergreen Packaging acquired Blue Ridge Paper Products Inc. in 2007.
3 Analysis of Color Concentrations in the Pigeon River 2010-2017, AquAeTer, Inc. January 31, 2018.
Canton Mill Balanced and Indigenous Species Study for the Pigeon River (Clean Water Act Section 316(a)
Demonstration). Dr. Larry J. Wilson, Dr. Charles C. Coutant and Dr. John Tyner (2014).
2

Evergreen Packaging continues to participate, with Tennessee Wildlife Resources, the
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation ("TDEC"), the University of
Tennessee, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, in the Pigeon River
Restoration Project. Since 2004, the following species have been reintroduced in North
Carolina: Gilt Darter, Banded Darter, Silver Shiner, Tennessee Shiner, Telescope Shiner, and
Bigeye Chub. These species have been successfully reintroduced and are maintaining self-
perpetuating populations.
Color, at current levels, does not appear to have any impact on aesthetic quality.
Evergreen has not received any complaints about color in the Pigeon River during the teiui of the
current NPDES Permit, and Evergreen is not aware of any complaints having been received by
the State of North Carolina. Aesthetic quality is a subjective component influenced by personal
taste and perception. The human eye cannot distinguish between apparent color and true color.
There is simply no evidence that color, at current levels, has an "adverse effect" on the aesthetic
quality of the water in the Pigeon River below the Canton Mill in North Carolina.
Color, At Current Levels in the Pigeon River, is in Substantial Compliance with a 50 PCU
Standard at the Fibreville Bridge
Since 2001, the Canton Mill has sampled color in the Pigeon River at the Park Street
Bridge upstream of the Mill's discharge, at the Fibreville Bridge .4 miles downstream of the
discharge, and at Brown's Bridge, approximately V2 mile downstream from the Duke Energy
Progress Hydroelectric plant. Samples are taken at Park Street and Fibreville twice weekly, and
weekly at Hepco and Brown's Bridge.
Between 2009 and 2013, AquAeTer, Inc., on behalf of Evergreen, sampled and analyzed
color in the Pigeon River in North Carolina and its tributaries. Based on the sampling and
analysis, AquAeTer prepared a Comprehensive Assessment and Analysis of Color in the Pigeon
River.5 The AquAeTer report concluded, in 2014, that true color concentrations in the Pigeon
River downstream of the Canton Mill were well within the range of what has been measured as
naturally occurring in the Pigeon River and its tributaries and in the similar French Broad River
basin.
In 2017, Evergreen asked AquAeTer to review and analyze color concentrations taken by
the Canton Mill. AquAeTer has done that analysis and prepared a report.6 The report analyzes
color concentrations at various flows and concludes that, since July, 2010, the long term daily
average contribution of the Canton Mill to true color in the Pigeon River is 23 true color units at
flows greater than or equal to the annual 30Q2. The long term daily average color concentration
at Fibreville Bridge at flows greater than or equal to the annual 30Q2, is 34 true color units.
5 AquAeTer, Inc. (2014) Comprehensive Assessment and Analysis of Color in the Pigeon River.
6 Analysis of Color Concentrations in the Pigeon River 2010-2017, AquAeTer, Inc. January 31, 2018.
AquAeTer, Ibid.
3

A Numeric Standard of 50 True Color Units has Never Been Promulgated by North
Carolina or EPA
EPA, when it was drafting the NPDES Permit for the Canton Mill in 1987, "interpreted"
North Carolina's narrative color standard to be 50 platinum cobalt units. Based on then available
studies, EPA believed a 50 pcu standard was necessary to protect aquatic life.8 It is clear, based
on the most recent biological assessment and the ongoing Pigeon River Restoration Project, that
aquatic life in the Pigeon River is thriving at current color levels. It is also clear that strict
compliance with a 50 color unit standard is not necessary for the protection of aquatic life or
wildlife.
Evergreen is submitting a separate discussion of the historical basis for 50 and an
argument that there was never a sound scientific basis for 50. Notwithstanding the discussion
and argument about 50, the number has gained some credence, by virtue of having been used as
a measurement of compliance since at least 1988. Since July 2010, Evergreen has been in
substantial compliance with a 50 unit true color standard.
The biological conditions in the river and the color concentrations all support the
argument that color, at current levels, is in compliance with North Carolina's Water Quality
Standard for color
8 Champion International Corporation v. U.S. EPA Ibid.
4

PIGEON RIVER BASIN
�1quA % r optimizing resources I water, air, earth
CLIENT: Evergreen Packaging Corporation Canton Mill
LOCATION: Canton, North Carolina
PROJECT/FILE: 122157
FIGURE 1-5. AREA MAP

Map of the Pigeon River
Observational Sites
River Mile
•
Above Mill
Wells Rd.
Canton Recreation
Park
RM 67.5
RM 64.5
•
Below Canton Mill
Fibreville
RM 62.9
Thickety 02 Station
RM 61.2
Clyde Bridge
RM 58.0
Ferguson Bridge
RM 48.3
Hepco Bridge
RM 42.6
Brown's Bridge
RM 24.7
(Stateline)

20
BROWN'S BRIDGE (PRM 24.'7)
BIG CREEK (PRM 25.84)
WALTERS PLANT (PRM 25.87)
NOTE: USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS
INDICATE THAT RIVER MILE 0 FOR
BIG CREEK IS CENTERED IN TILE
PIGEON RIVER CHANNEL OF THE
- NORTH CAROLINA/TENNESSEE
Ji BORDER,
40
iu
WALTERS DAM (PRM 37.8
CATALOOCIiEE CREEK (PRM 38.00)
HEPCO BRIDGE (PRM 42,58)
JONATIIAN CREEK (PRM 45.96+0.64)-
FERGUSON BRIDGE (PRM 48,3)
NCSR 1625 BRIDGE (PRM 53.56)
ii RICHLAN(D CREEK (PRML54.91+0.21)-"
POISON COVE TRIBUTARY
(PRM 57.45+0.04)
0
63
70
FKSIBDG('R)$5)PAtK RIE IRM636
BEGIN PIGEON RIVER (PRM 69.32)
W FORK PR (PRRWM 69.32+0.28)
PIGEON RI
TENNESSEE (PRM 25,85)
NORTH CAROLINA
FINES CREEK (PRM 42.68+0.26)
FERGUSON COVE TRIBUTARY (PRM 48,3+0.01)
CRAMER CREEK (PRM 49,73+0.01)
BIG BRANCH (PRM 51.74+0,02)
CLYDE (PRM 57.60)
MURRAY BRANCH (PRM 61.66+0.36)
BEAVERDAM CREEK (PRM 62.85+0.01)
CANTON RECREATION PARK (PRM 64.5)
WELLS ROAD BRIDGE (PRM 67.5)
E FORK PR (PRM 69,32+0.21)
RBW
VER (PR)