20030179 Ver 6_Public Comments_20071025 (2)

Mr. Steve Tedder
c/o Mr. John
Dorney
October 24, 2007
NC Division Water Quality
Parkveiw Building
Wetlands Unit
2321 Crabtree Blvd
Raleigh, NC 27604
Mr. Tedder & Mr. Dorney I am forwarding these comments and affidavits to you as part of a
never done historical study that would be pertinent information with any
comprehensive environmental impact study on the Dillsboro Reservoir. This would pertain to the
State of North Carolina Division of Water Quality 401 permit process with respect to the removal
of Dillsboro Dam. Please understand that I resigned as a stakeholder from the Tuchasegee
Stakeholders group of the Duke Energy sponsored Nantahala Stakeholder Process and
Agreement because of a very controlled process, rush to judgment favoring Dam Removal and
lack of this type of comprehensive social, historical and environmental impact studies. These
affidavits are in support of George Annandale's comments on the NCDWQ 401, Mr. Annandale
and his firm Energy &Hydrosystems Inc represent me in these matter. This type of data
and information pertaining to the history of industrial activity within the reaches of the
Dillsboro impoundment and shorelines all along the 1 mile long Dillsboro reservoir was never
collected and we believe intentionally excluded from Duke Energy Impact studies because of
known negative consequences to their intensions. The History and the relationship of Power and
Mining on the Tuckasegee river is extensive and went hand in hand for many decades mentioned
here in. This Dam removal is based and forwarded on erroneous biological opinions for the
benefit and "fad" of Dam removal and dam removal in the mountains has many different
relationships from an engineering perspective, biological standpoint and indeed, as you shall see,
social and historical perspective. There are numerous and glaring omissions in the Duke Energy
Narrative addressing this dam removal with respect to river depth behind the dam, sediment
quantity, quality and significant shoreline relationships threatening my business and the lives of
my family. These areas of concern, as well as other alarming impacts addressed in Mr.
George Annandale's comments and contained in these affidavits about industrial activity here for
a long time period. We believe that further independent geotechnical EMS and bathometry testing
and surveys need to be executed on the full 1 mile length of this reservoir and its shorelines. That
the cost of these tests be paid for by the licensee or the state of North Carolina. We ask that our
team of engineers, Mr. Andrew Aauld of Environmental Technical Support Services and Mr.
George Annandale of Engineering &Hydrosystems Inc. be consulted with in the procurement of
these tests and/or be involved and consulted with in the examination of these independent
tests before any 401 Water Quality permit is issued in this matter. Please refer to their letters,
comments and recommendations in these matters for the record and I hope you deem them
helpful in your review. I look forward to working with your office on all this for the benefit of our
river and entire Watershed. We hope that further scrutiny, common sense and study, can be
the impetus to rectify the glaring omissions that occurred in this Relicensing process from it's
inception.
_.
Respectfully Yours -~ --
--..
~ ~ C ~ ~.
~~
Thomas Joseph Walker

~~/J
~-~ c~'~ AFFIDAVIT
Mike Parris
BE IT ACKNOWLEDGED, that ,the undersigned
deponent, being of legal age, does hear by depose and say under oath as follows:
I was born in 1955 and I remember so may sand piles you would not believe. There were no trees along the river then,
on up from the dam, it was all beach. There was sand you would not believe and they had lots of piles.
There were 15, closer to 20 piles on the other side of the river and 40 alone, on our side of the river. I know because I use
to play in them as a kid all the time. I lived right above it all and that's all I could see and do, we had a lot of it when we
were kids and a lot of fun out there too. I remember the Sand pumps on the barges, they fed that hose pump as well as
they could down into the river. And when the cranes came, they made bigger piles of sand. I do remember that, up to 40
foot high, as high as their booms could reach. So I remember both, the barges and the cranes.
I remember when they opened those flood gates upon the dam for the last time. It's been a long time, 40 to 45 years. The
river bank use to open up more over there because that was right in front of those gates, in filled in a bunch over on that
side now.
What are they going to do with the bridge and all the cars? As kids we use to swim out there and I remember barely being
able to reach and stand on the road bed that they left in the river. They salvaged what they could out have there and left
the rest.
They are crazy to let that sediment go, they have no Idea. There would be a solid sheet of sand from the bottom of the
dam down below, all across the river on down to Barkers Creek and Fontana. They have no idea what there doing. And
the rafters don't know what there doing either, it going to hurt there businesses and kill all the fish for miles. There the
ones behind all this and there could be trouble if they raft up here where there is mostly fishing. It will hurt fishing a good
deal. It's going to be a nasty mess and hurt us all through here.
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and belief, and as to those
I believe them to be true.
Witness my hand under the penalties of perjury this
2007.
Signature of Witness
Mike Parris
145 Reservoir Street
Dillsboro North Carolina
day of
Signature of Deponent
Name of Witness
Name of Deponent
Address of Witness Address of Witness
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
COUNTY OF JACKSON
On before me, personally appeazed personally know to me (of provide to me satisfactory
evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the persons(s), of the entity upon
behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed this instrument.
Witness my hand and official seal.
Signature Affiant KNOWN UNKNOWN
ID PROCEDURE

AFFIDAVIT
Scotty Copper
BE IT ACKNOWLEDGED, that ,the undersigned
deponent, being of legal age, does hear by depose and say under oath as follows:
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and belief, and as to those
I believe them to be true.
I was born April 1943 in Sylva, North Carolina. When I was 17, I started driving a dump truck and made my living hauling
sand. I use to haul sand out of George Lewis's sand pump on the south side of the river. I drove that dump truck starting
about 1960 for 20 years.
I remember a lot of piles on the curve on north river road and a sand pump there and many on up the road further up from
there. I remember the sand pumps on barges and them pumping sand through the pipes to the screen and separator. It
was mostly water that went through the screen and it got the sand out and the water went back to the river. They built the
piles high, as high as the conveyor coming off the screen could reach. They hauled off the sand so fast though that the
piles didn't ever get too big. It wasn't white sand; it was river sand, more tan in color. We hauled to a lot of individuals and
builders and they would mix mortar and concrete, builders and home owners.
All the sand from 1 pump on the south side of the reservoir went to the asphalt plant, they had there own piles over
there. They started out with the name of Warren Brothers; they got fined a few times so they changed their name to
APAC. The asphalt plant took all the sand from 1 pump and piled it over there to make their asphalt. Then George Lewis
had a sand pump on the south side and Jack Cooper had a sand pump on the other side further up, going way up the
road.
Witness my hand under the penalties of perjury this ~ `~ day of ~~-~ ~~°~'
2007.
Signature of Witness
Scotty Copper
Riverchase Apts #13
PO Box 2703
Dillsboro NC
Name of Witness
Sign ure onent
Name Deponent
Address of Witness
Address of Witness
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
COUNTY OF JACKSON
n
On / ~ _,a `~ "~' ~ before me *~ ~ u~( ersonally appeared Vii' ~y ~ 7~-cr personally know to me (of provide to me satisfactory
evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument his/her/their signa e(s) on the instrument the persons(s), of the entity upon
behalf of which the nersonlsl acted- executed this instrument-
Witness my hand and official seal.
r
Signat e ~.~ZGu~-!.~s
RICHARD W. FULTON
NOTARY PUBLIC
~,~~
Affiant KNO UN1dF40k>~ION COUNTY, N. C.
ID PROCEDURE

Statement of Tim Parris ,October 23, 2007
I remember as a boy sand pumps, operated by Chub Messer, dredging the river on both sides. He would
move and dredge up and down the river and stock pile sand on both sides of the river, from the dam up to
where Cart Mashburn lived. I remember both sides of the river banks with high piles of sand but mostly a
more cleaner river bank with sandy beaches, not a grown up mess that we have now. I remember kids
swimming in front of our house, diving out of a tree and not touching the bottom of the river. As far as
any noise, yes, the pumps did make a noise during the day but I never remember them running at night.
Because of the sand we had a high river bank, which would prevent flooding into the road. I was born in
1955 and lived here all my life and they dredged the river up into the late 70's. To remove a green source
of energy, which is very efficient to operate, and free is another mistake we as the people are making.
This power house absolutely should be upgraded and used to its full potential.
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and
belief, and as to those I believe them to be true.
Witness my hand under the penalties of perjury this ~ 3 day of ~~Q~~ , ~D 7
(Yeaz')•
~~is~--J L~~ ~~~Y1i(_d
Signature of Witness Signature of Deponent
Tim Parris
Name of Witness Name of Deponent
146 RESERVOIR STREET, Dillsboro NC
Address of Witness Address of Deponent
STATE OF Na~~ Ca~~~~A'l
COUNTY OF ~. ~lekso~ f
On l ~%3 ~ o ''~ before me, T/'-'~ ~RA°R.IS ,personally appeared
personally lmown to me (or proved to me
on the basis of satisfactory evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument
and acknowledged to me that he/she/they executed the same in his/her/their authorized capacity(ies), and that by
his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the`~ldCiA(~-,•tn,~e entity upon behalf of which the person(s) acted,
ex~ESthe instrumeannd offi ' s,••`~~~~ .....,A99~S~,'%
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Signature i ~ ~ "- ' U = Aff~ant Known Unknown
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AFFIDAVIT
MR. TERRY DILLS
BE IT ACKNOWLEDGED, that
the undersigned deponent, being of legal age, does hear by depose and say under oath as
follows:
I am 51 years old and reside at the same house my grandparents, Ralph and Anne Dills
owned and raised me in. Accept for my years at school I've lived on the Dillsboro
reservoir all my life. I saw a great deal of activity and industry in my neighborhood from
when I was a little boy to about 1987. In fact, if you didn't grow up here one could not
imagine how much dredging went on in the Dillsboro reservoir. I know for decades those
dredging business made a lot of money and eventually grew to be extremely profitable
for a considerable amount of time.
From when I first remember there were barges in the river and sand piles on both sides
of the reservoir. They ran 24 7, I don't remember them ever shutting down, they didn't
have to, there was that much sand. Back then, Nantahala Power and Light Co controlled
the flows of the river regularly on a daily schedule. Because of their power production
time table they would shut the generators on both forks of the river off so beginning at 7
in the morning till about 4 in the afternoon, the water was down and the sand crews were
able to do most of their major dredging during the day. That was a regular daily
occurrence. Depending on the time of year and what storms blew in, when more sand
washed in, they still ran those pumps and drag lines into the night. I don't ever remember
them shutting down. Those crews worked the river heavy all through the year; one
couldn't imagine how much sand was piled up. Huge piles of sand, especially on the
north side of river road.
The industry started in the late 1940's and got going full steam in the 1950's, all through
the mid 70's and around 1978 they tapered down and ceased operation about 1980.
Toward the later years the sand pumps ceased operation and the big crane and drag
line operators took over. The crane was out there swinging that big bucket for over 10
years, from the time I remember all through to the end. They worked the river heavy and
they didn't pause, it was a continuous operation. They didn't have to pause; there was
plenty of sand in the reservoir. There were a dozen big sand piles on north river road
and plenty on south river road.
After the dredging ceased, my great uncle, Boyd Brown, got into the cattle business a
few years. He kept, bred and raised jersey bulls on his 4 acre riverfront pastureland
all up through there to bull rock, that's how that rock on the river road got its name you
know. And people would dump trash and worse all around that rock too, dump all kinds
of nasty things right on the river edge by the road there, away from where people could
see. There were quite a few places along the river where people did that back then.
About 1985 my great uncle leased his 4 acres of land to Harrison Construction and their
Rock Quarry and Asphalt Plant business operations and industry returned to the
Dillsboro reservoir for about 3 years. He leased it for over 5 years but they moved out
before their lease was up due to suspicious experiences. He leased it with the
understanding that they would fix it back as well or better than they found it.

t;
They first set up their Quarry related rock crushing and asphalt washing operation there.
It was a nightmare for our neighborhood and it all caused a good bit of trouble and hard
feelings within our family. They brought the fresh quarried rock over from less than a
mile and with a lot of heavy machinery broke up the rock and crushed it, separated it and
washed it ,all on the river and in front of our homes and farm. They ran that operation
with loud and dirty machinery from from dawn to dusk with a lot of heavy banging,
shaking, dirt and dust.
We had very hard feeling with our uncle for a number of years for what he had done, but
made up before he died. After they crushed the rock, screened and the washed the fines
and dust off, it pooled and drained into 3 large ponds built right on the shoreline
bottomland pasture. These ponds filled up, collected silt and settle back down over night.
They were 40' long by 20' wide. The 3 were rectangular shaped, side by side, in a
little triangular formation. One was very close to the river and the others not far from the
road. They were eventually filled to a 10' depth of this 3 200 fines, and were not as deep
toward the road.
These ponds were at the north end of the property toward bull rock. The machinery,
conveyor and loaders were on the south end not far front our home and caused a great
discomfort and disturbance. I am sure a lot of runoff entered the river from the fill
area with the ponds so close and the wash so great. This was bottom land and they dug
the ponds below the waterline in there as best they could.They washed the fines daily
and it was a white and gray looking chalk dust. Trucks were constantly arriving and
departing causing a mess on the road and a lot of dust in the air.
After about a year I began to notice 2 or 3 times a week trucks entering the grounds
more at night and for a very long time dumping liquids of unknown origin into the ponds.
They were dumping some nasty stuff on a regular basis, out of 80 gallon drums
and metal barrels that had been sealed. I suspected after a while that this probably was
going on from the start and began to take notice and upon closer inspection confined my
suspicions of its nastiness. This material did not have a strong odor but was visible
upsetting with a brown gel like consistency. Soon after some inspections and continued
disposals and almost 2 years into this lease, I finally called the EPA in 1987. After some
repeated calls and leading inquiry they finally showed up on site to observe and took
notice. Within a month of that Harrison Company moved the landfill and washing
operation, cleaned up and left for good.
I was use to this type of thing happening in the mountains sometimes but to others. I
worked for the same EPA office for 3 years, 6 years before, at the Waynesville,
N.C. field office and I knew what went on in the enforcement world throughout the
mountains. There was little or none enforcement or penalty with violations within industry
like these. For these very same reasons I left the office in 1981 because I saw so many
instances of this kind, with these same type industries, be swept right under the
bureaucracy. I saw industry gain favor from up the chain of command, with so little
enforcement. This was the norm back in the 1970's and 80's in the mountains. I grew up
here.
2

I J
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and
belief, and as to those I believe them to be true.
Witne s my hand under the penalties of perjury this a ~ day of
~~~~ ~ , 2007.
~ ~` mil' ~~i~°~"
t <~~~ ~i ~
gnature of Witness Signature of Deponent
Mr. Terry Dills
510 Mocking Bird Lane ~~
Sylva, North Carolina I ~ ~ ~~
Name of Witness
Address of Witness
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
COUNTY OF JACKSON
N e of Deponent
~ ~~~Q /~/C~~~~l j
Address of Wi ss
.~
On~E L~7 before me G sonally appeared ~ personally know to me (of provide to me satisfactory
evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/a subscribed to the within instrument his/her/t eir signature(s) on the instrument the persons(s), of the entity upon
behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed this instrument.
Witness my hand and official seal. ~ fLJ , I
Signature ~"~ ~~
Affiant xrrowrr
~Urrlcrr
ID PROCEDURE r~.n~
,r
~

AFFIDAVIT
MR. JERRY DILLS
BE IT ACKNOWLEDGED, that
the undersigned deponent, being of legal age, does hear by depose and say under oath as
follows:
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and
belief, and as to those I believe them to be true.
My name is Jerry Dills. I was born in April of 1942. My father Earnest Dills had a sand pumping
and hauling business on our land right on the Dillsboro Reservoir in the mid 1940's to the mid
1950's. He had a barge that worked the upper reservoir and that pumped sand out of a suction
pump to a hopper on land, where he screened, sold and hauled sand out of the field. He worked
the upper half of the river all the way up to about the bend in the river over 3/4 of a mile above the
dam.
We had a suction pump on that barge that was power by a large gasoline engine that pumped
sand through the pipes that flouted on barrels on the water to our fields right on north river road.
We had 5 inch rubber suction hoses ahead of the pump and 6 inch pipes on the barrels headed
to the hopper, with a screen on top of that. This screen would separate the sand on one side then
send the trash and debris into a pile to the other side. We had 2 trucks and a lot of other trucks
would pull right under that hopper, then pull the lever and fill right up with sand. My father
delivered a lot of sand through the county at night. We hauled sand to Glennville Mountain,
Barkers Creek and other building sites.
Other haulers came in and got sand from us all through the day. Our piles never got too big but
there were piles of sand 20 feet high all up and down Dillsboro reservoir, on both sides of the
river, where ever they could put it. I believe atone time or another there were 3 or 4 operations at
one time on the river above the Dam, sand everywhere and nobody had trouble getting it or
selling it. I can remember those of holes in the river, all up through there. You would pump out
one hole and go to the next and work your way back because it took little time for them to fill right
back up. We all had plenty of sand too. This was a way to make a living in Dillsboro.
There were 3 or 4 family pumping operations going on in Dillsboro. And we would pump at the
same time without being in the way of one another. There was my daddy and then Chub and
Vaun Messer, Carl and JM Mashburn and Carl Almond. It was a cold job when the wind blew
through in the winter. We hauled a lot of sand and I even got to drive the truck as a little one.
can remember those holes a going real deep in the river. We would use a 5 inch round rubber
hose and lower them down with a hand winch because they were too heavy for a man to handle
by himself. These pipes would go straight down till they hit the sand and bring up all the sand till
they hit and cleaned the bottom the holes some 20 feet down. I saw myself that hoses going 20
feet straight down. We had sand piles on the shore 20 feet high too.
We helped build Glennville School down on the lake and Barkers Creek School too. My daddy
sold his sand pump for 1 thousand Dollars and boy that was like a million dollars back then. It
was good for the Dillsboro Community and although it would stir up some mud, we helped keep
the river clean too.
One time, after the sand pumps were gone, a man from Franklin brought in a big crane and
dropped a large bucket and a drag line. He could sling his big bucket 40 to 50 feet in there and
when he brought that in, he'd have a bucket full of sand, not screened though. He got out more
sand than the pumps. He'd have piles 40 to 50 feet high, big piles of sand all on that south side

land up in front closer to the dam. He would stay 250 feet away from the dam and work this way
up round the bend. He'd pile the sand on the other side; all the trees were cleared back then. He
dug out a whole lot more sand and got deeper than the sand pumps ever did. That hole got
deeper. He would come and go, go to Franklin a month or 2, then come back to Dillsboro a month
or 2. This lasted for three years.
Witness my hand under the penalties of perjury this 1 3 day of
(~c ~ . , 2007.
~' `
Signature of Witness ignature of Deponent
Mr. Jerry Dills
Crawford Cove Road
Dillsbo~ro,~NC
e of Witness ame of Deponent
~=
cjress o, fr~itness Address of ss
T~
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
COUNTY OF JACKSON
On Cl GT Z- ~i ZUL~7 before me, ~~y Or f~s personally appeazed personally know to me (of provide to me satisfactory
evidence)to h person(s) whose name(s) is/aze subscribed to the within instrument his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the persons(s), of the entity upon
behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed this instrument.
Witness my hand and official seal.
Signature !~ ~~ ~~ ~~"~ Affiant Krrowrr Urrxrrowrr
/', J~~ ~ /~~ ~ ~ ~ ID PROCEDURE
2

AFFI AVTT
Betty Parris
,..
BE IT ACKNOWLEDGED, that ,the undersigned
deponent, being of legal age, does hear by depose and say under oath as follows:
And I affirm that the foregoing is true except as to statements made upon information and belief, and as to those
I believe them to be true.
I was born in December, 1933 and grew up right across from the Dillsboro Dam and Power House on North River Road.
My father, Claude Jacobs saw the dam being built and sold chestnuts to the men building the dam. All my life I saw them
pumping sand out from behind the dam, why even next to the power house, where the log use to be in front of the where
the water flowed in, they use to pump sand right out of there. There were several barge pumps in the river at one time,
piles of big sand over on the other side and lots up in the fields on this side.
A lot was going on; there were a lot of dump trucks hauling sand out of here. With one, Chub Messer was the man on the
barge pumping it out and his brother Vaun was in the truck hauling it out. Later on, sometime in the 60's they came with
the drag lines, the cranes and they would sift it and get big piles of chat, small rock and piles of sand, piles of sand and
chat. Over on the other side of the river they hauled a lot of sand out. I grew up with it.
In 1940, when the flood came we saw the bridge come down, I saw the flood. My grandpa lived down there when it came.
There use to be an ice house and an apple house and the flood turned all that around. The bridge sat in the water and
they took the some apart but some of it stayed. There are cars in there too, right under the parking lot at the power house.
I know because we had an Oldsmobile buried in there. They built the parking right on top of it.
Fred Alexander told me at the meeting Duke was going to blow that dam out and that was it. They were not going to do
nothing else. That's what he said; they were going to leave it that way. It's going to hurt all our property values if it goes
down.
Witness my hand under the penalties of perjury this
2007.
Signature of Witness
Betty Parris
175 Reservoir Street
PO Box 4
Dillsboro NC
Name of Witness
Address of Witness
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA,
COUNTY OF JACKSON
day of
Signature of Deponent
Name of Deponent
Address of Witness
On before me, personally appeared personally know to me (of provide to me satisfactory
evidence) to be the person(s) whose name(s) is/are subscribed to the within instrument his/her/their signature(s) on the instrument the persons(s), of the entity upon
behalf of which the person(s) acted, executed this instrument.
Witness my hand and official seal.
Signature Affiant ICIVOWN UNKNOWN

Mr. Steve Tedder
c/o Mr. John Dorney
NC Division of Water Quality
Parkview Building
Wetlands Unit
2321 Crabtree Blvd
Raleigh NC 27604
October 23, 2007
RE: Withdrawal and Re-submittal of Application for 401(k) Water Quality
Certification, Dillsboro Hydroelectric Project, FERC No. 2602
DWQ # 03-0179
Jackson County, North Carolina
Dear Mr. Tedder:
I represent Mr. TJ Walker, owner of the Dillsboro Inn immediately
downstream of the Dillsboro Dam, which Duke Energy Carolinas (Duke)
plans to remove. My specialty is in reservoir sedimentation management,
sediment transport, scour and erosion. I have authored, co-authored and is
contributing author to books on these topics.
My review of the environmental studies prepared by Duke's consultant and the
US Fish and Wildlife Service indicates that these studies are incomplete and
lacking as indicated in what follows. I address my comments to the
requirements for reviewing 401 permit applications, as copied below.
15A NCAC 02H .0506 REVIEW OF APPLICATIONS
(b) The Director shall issue a certification upon determining that existing uses are not
removed or degraded by a discharge to classified surface waters for an activity which:
(1) has no practical alternative under the criteria outlined in Paragraph (f) of this Rule;
(2) will minimize adverse impacts to the surface waters based on consideration of
existing topography, vegetation, fish and wildlife resources, and hydrological
conditions under the criteria outlined in Paragraph (g) of this Rule;
(3) does not result in the degradation of groundwaters or surface waters;
(4) does not result in cumulative impacts, based upon past or reasonably anticipated
future impacts, that cause or will cause a violation of downstream water quality
standards;
(5) provides for protection of downstream water quality standards through the use of
on-site stormwater control measures; and
(6) provides for replacement of existing uses through mitigation as described at
Subparagraphs (h)(1) of this Rule.

Engln~ring
i
Hydtosystems inc
• Duke proposes two optional methods for managing sediment during dam
removal,

o Option 1: According to the "Dillsboro Dam and Power House
Removal Project Narrative", a report submitted by Duke, the
removal of Dillsboro Dam will proceed by first dredging most of
the sediment upstream of the dam and temporarily storing it in an
off-site decanting facility on the left bank of the current reservoir.
The water from the dredged sediment will be drained at this
facility and the sediment subsequently removed to an off-site
landfill.
o Option 2: No removal of sediment from the reservoir prior to dam
removal, allowing the deposited sediment to naturally erode from
the reservoir and discharge into the river downstream after dam
removal.
Review of the environmental study, related documents, and information and
affidavits I received from Mr. TJ Walker indicate that the following aspects of
the studies are lacking. The requirements of (b) (1), (2), (3) and (5) are violated,
as follows:
• Affidavits obtained by Mr. TJ Walker identify the possibility of the
presence of toxic or hazardous materials within the reservoir and along its
banks.
o Affidavits obtained by Mr. TJ Walker indicate that the left bank of
the reservoir has been subject to indiscriminate, illegal dumping of
waste, which could include toxic and hazardous waste.
o One of the areas, approximately 3 acres in size, has reportedly
been subject to storage of unidentified, potentially hazardous or
toxic waste that apparently originated form the bitumen plant
close by.
o That site was closed by the EPA in 1987.
o Toxic or hazardous material was allegedly dumped into the river
using containers and is likely covered by deposited sediment.
o Identification of the presence of such materials will require
detailed investigation of the subsurface within the reservoir and
along the banks of the reservoir, potentially using Electro-
Magnetic surveys, Ground Penetrating Radar, or other physical or
geophysical techniques.
o Should the alleged toxic /hazardous material within the reservoir
exist, it can lead to water quality degradation.
o Duke has made no attempt to identify the potential presence of
buried toxic or hazardous materials within the reservoir sediments
or along the banks of the reservoir.
• Neither Duke nor the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFW) have
adequately studied the impacts of using the left bank of the reservoir for
temporary storage and decanting of water from dredged material.

o The buried waste, of unknown quality and quantity, at the 3 acre
site is likely subject to seepage into the river after dam removal.
This can occur during the time when this area is used for
decanting water.
o The buried waste, of unknown quality, at the 3 acre site can be
subject to seepage even if this area is not used for decanting
surplus water from the dredged material. This is likely to happen
due to the fact that dam removal will lower the average water
surface elevation in the river, and could lead to a head difference
in the groundwater table of the river bank. Such a head difference
could potentially lead to seepage of the unknown waste material.
o No mention of the indiscriminate dumping and potential presence
of toxic or hazardous waste are made by either Duke or the
USFW.
• Duke did not consider the option to retain Dillsboro Dam in place, i.e. not
removing it, and comparing its benefits and impacts to that of removal.
This means that Duke did not consider all alternatives.
o In particular, Duke did not consider the potential impact of the
presence of alleged toxic or hazardous material buried in the
sediment and along the reservoir banks.
o Should hazardous or toxic materials be present in the reservoir
sediments or along the reservoir banks, it could lead to releases of
contaminated sediment if the dam is removed. Such an event will
adversely affect water quality.
o Should such hazardous and toxic materials be present in the
reservoir and along its banks, retaining the dam in place will retain
conditions as they are and will not adversely affect water quality.
o Duke made no attempt to investigate and identify the potential
presence of toxic and hazardous materials in the reservoir
sediments and along the reservoirs banks and has not considered
the value of retaining Dillsboro Dam in place.
• No detailed, defensible study has been executed to identify the fate of the
sediment that will be discharged downstream into the river after dam
removal, should the sediment not be removed from the reservoir prior to
dam removal.
o Duke refers to a study on the Marmot Dam removals as
justification for removing Dillsboro Dam without prior removal of
sediment from the reservoir.
o What Duke fails to recognize is that that particular study is only
one of many that dealt with potential impacts of sediments on the
downstream river due to the planned removal of Marmot Dam.
1 Stewart, G. and Grant, G.E. 2005. Potential Geomorphic and Ecological Impacts of Marmot
Dam Removal, Sandy River, OR., prepared for Portland General Electric, Portland, Oregon.

o The principal reason why the study they are referring to has been
executed is that it was recognized that the one-dimensional
sediment transport modeling that was previously executed on the
Sandy River, OR is inadequate to understand the fate of the
sediment after removal of Marmot Dam.
o The study by Stewart and Grant, referred to in the footnote was a
detailed geomorphologic study to address the shortcomings of
previous one-dimensional sediment transport studies executed to
assess impact due to Marmot Dam removal.
o Sediment transport is three-dimensional by nature and the
potential to adversely affect the aquatic environment and aquatic
life in the river downstream of Dillsboro Dam, after its planned
removal, with indiscriminate release of sediment can only be
determined by considering the three-dimensional nature of
sediment transport.
o The only study executed by Duke to determine the fate of the
sediment that would be released from Dillsboro Dam, should it be
removed and the sediment allowed eroding from it, is a one-
dimensional sediment transport study2 using HEC-RAS.
o HEC-RAS is currently not a sediment transport model and the
results obtained from that study are suspect.
o The HEC-RAS model study presented by Duke can, at best, be
described as aone-dimensional study that does not adequately
address the three-dimensional nature of sediment transport.
o The fate of sediment in the river downstream of the Dillsboro
Dam, should it be removed and sediment allowed to
indiscriminately erode from its reservoir, cannot be defensibly
determined using the results of the attempt at aone-dimensional
sediment transport study executed by Duke.
o Duke has not defensibly demonstrated the fate of sediment once
released from Dillsboro Dam, should it not be removed from the
reservoir prior to dam removal. They ignore the three-
dimensional nature of sediment transport and how this
characteristic can adversely affect aquatic life and the aquatic
environment.
• Duke has not determined the volume of sediment stored behind Dillsboro
Dam.
o Duke executed two surveys of the sediment surface in the
Dillsboro reservoir and was not able to determine the total volume
of sediment stored behind the dam.
o Duke failed to use available technology to accurately determine
the volume of sediment stored behind Dillsboro Dam.
z Milone & MacBroom, Inc. 2004. SEDIMENT STUDY: Relating to the Removal of the
Dillsboro Dam, Tuckasegee River, Jackson County, North Carolina, March 31.

o It is not possible to reliably predict the fate of released sediment
from Dillsboro Dam if the volume of sediment that will be
released is unknown.
o Duke's prediction of the fate of sediment, once indiscriminately
released from the reservoir after dam removal, is inaccurate and
flawed due to the fact that the volume of sediment to be released is
unknown and due to the fact that only inadequate one-dimensional
sediment transport studies were executed.
• Duke has not adequately addressed erosion and scour due to dam
removal.
o Erosion of riverbanks is likely to occur due to higher rates of flow
in the river reach that is currently occupied by the reservoir, once
the dam is removed.
o Duke has not provided any detailed indication of how such
erosion will be mitigated once the dam is removed.
o Duke has not conducted any investigation to determine how the
riverbank at the Dillsboro Inn property will be affected after dam
removal. No proposals of how the riverbank in front of the Inn
will be protected against erosion have been made.
o Duke has not investigated the impact of dam removal on bank
erosion in the general vicinity of the US 23 & 441 Bridge (Bridge
No. 75), located just downstream of Dillsboro Dam.
o Review of the Bridge Scour Report, obtained from Jackson
County, indicates that piers B 1 and BS of that bridge could be
subject to scour in the event of channel migration.
o The final conclusions in that report indicate that the structure
appears to be borderline scour critical.
o The report recommends that further investigation of bridge scour
is warranted.
o Duke has made no attempt to determine the fate of the bridge after
dam removal.
Based on the above information, I believe that Duke has not demonstrated that
removal of Dillsboro Dam will not adversely affect water quality. Such proof
will require detailed investigation as indicated.
Sincerely,
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Dr. George Annandale, PE