Exhibit C - Proposed Remediation and Compliance Work Plan

TIMBERMILL WIND’S RESPONSE
TO THE MARCH 13, 2024 NOTICE OF VIOLATION

Exhibit C – Proposed Remediation and
Compliance Work Plan

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March 1, 2024

VIA EMAIL AND U.S. MAIL

United States Army Corps of Engineers
Wilmington Regulatory Division
Attn: Mr. Anthony D. Scarbraugh
69 Darlington Avenue
Wilmington, North Carolina 28403
Email: [e-mail]

North Carolina Department of Environmental
Quality, Division of Water Resources
Attn: Ms. Stephanie Goss, Mr. Samir
Dumpor, Mr. Adam Parr, and
Mr. Robert Tankard
512 N. Salisbury Street,
Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
Email: [e-mail]
[e-mail];
[e-mail];
[e-mail]

From: Hank Seltzer, Environmental Permitting Director
Timbermill Wind and Apex Clean Energy
120 Garrett Street, Suite 700, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Phone: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

RE: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Permit No. SAW-2021-00056
North Carolina Water Quality Certification # WQC005442

Timbermill Wind’s
Proposed Remediation and Compliance Work Plan

On February 27, 2024, Timbermill Wind, LLC (the “Permittee”) notified the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (the “Corps”), the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s
(“NCDEQ”) Division of Water Resources (“DWR”), and the North Carolina Division of Energy,
Mineral, and Land Resources (“DEMLR”) that the Permittee discovered the potential violation of
Special Condition 1 (the “Work Limits”) of the above-referenced U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
permit.
The purpose of this submission is to supplement the February 27, 2024, notification by
proposing remediation for the potential violation and by describing the corrective actions the
Permittee has taken and intends to take moving forward. For brevity, the information contained in
the February 27th notification is incorporated by reference.
As discussed in more detail below, the Permittee will revegetate the 1,000 square-foot area
impacted. The Permittee has terminated the subcontractor and individual responsible for this

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incident. The Permittee will now have four full-time environmental compliance monitors on site.
The Permittee has implemented a pre-approval authorization process for all construction activity.
Finally, the Permittee has taken and proposes to take additional measures to further strengthen
environmental compliance on site.
I. Proposed Remediation

As more fully described in the Permittee’s February 27th notice, on February 26th, the
Permittee determined that a subcontractor had cut down trees and removed vegetation between a
crane path and an access road between Turbine 22 and Turbine 23. The area in question is about
100 feet long by 10 feet wide, or about 1,000 sq ft in size.1 While trees and woody vegetation
were cut down, the cleared area was not grubbed or otherwise disturbed. The location of this
incident can be seen on the Project Site Map that is included here as Exhibit A.
To remediate this situation, the Permittee proposes to revegetate the area and take the
further actions described in Section II below. Regarding revegetation, consistent with Section 4
of the Project’s Wetland Mitigation and Revegetation Plan, the Permittee will re-vegetate the
impacted areas with methods consistent with the NCDEQ DEMLR Temporary and Permanent
Seeding Specs. For seedbed preparation, the Permittee will either conduct soil testing to determine
if soil amendments are needed, or follow the recommendations from the NCDEQ’s Temporary and
Permanent Seeding Specifications for lime, fertilizer, and surface roughening.
II. Corrective Actions Taken and Proposed Compliance Work Plan Going Forward

Upon learning of this incident, the Permittee promptly took corrective action, described in
Part A below. The Permittee proposes additional measures as part of a Compliance Work Plan for
future work in Part B.
A. Corrective Actions Already Taken

The Permittee has already taken the following corrective measures:
1. On February 26, 2024, the Permittee issued a Stop Work Order that ceased all
ground disturbing activities at the site including tree-clearing, grubbing, trenching,
road construction, or any activity that may affect wetlands or water courses. This
Stop Work Order remains in effect. The Permittee is requiring all contractors and
subcontractors to sign and return an acknowledgment that they have received the
Stop Work Order, understand it, and will adhere to its terms and conditions.

1 In our initial self-report, Permittee indicated that this event occurred between Turbine 20
and Turbine 23. Upon further investigation, a more specific description is that this event took
place between Turbine 22 and Turbine 23.

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2. The Permittee directed its construction contractor to immediately remove the
subcontractor who caused this incident from the Project Site and terminate that
subcontractor’s employment with the Project. This subcontractor is no longer
working on this Project.

3. The Permittee instructed its construction contractor to remove its Senior Project
Manager who was previously on site and in charge of all subcontractors from the
Project Site and end this individual’s involvement with this Project. The
construction contractor has complied and replaced its Senior Project Manager with
a new person.

4. The Permittee increased the number of on-site environmental compliance monitors
to four full-time monitors. The additional monitors will begin on site on Monday,
March 4th. The four full-time monitors will remain on site until further notice.

5. The Permittee implemented a revised work authorization process for all
construction activity occurring on site (the “Work Authorization Procedure”).
Under these procedures, all construction activity must receive written approval
from the environmental compliance monitors before it can occur. For land-
disturbing activities, the approval process requires the construction contractor or
subcontractor to apply for a Work Permit Authorization. The application will be
reviewed by the environmental compliance monitors who, after confirming whether
the work complies with all permit requirements, can issue a work permit. Without
such a work permit, the work will not occur. The Work Authorization Procedure
also includes requirements for enhanced communication and compliance
monitoring on site. It also mandates that all new personnel on site acknowledge, in
writing, that they have received these procedures, pledge to conform with the
process in place and to abide by all site requirements.

B. Proposed Compliance Plan Moving Forward

In addition to the actions described above, the Permittee will undertake these additional
actions as part of an ongoing compliance plan:
1. All contractors and subcontractors must sign and return an acknowledgement that
they have received the Work Authorization Procedure, understand it, and will
adhere to its terms and conditions. No one will be permitted to conduct any
construction activity without first returning this acknowledgement.

2. The Permittee will keep the four full-time environmental compliance monitors in
place until further notice and will evaluate environmental compliance monitoring

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needs and staffing requirements going forward to ensure that all such roles are
appropriately staffed.

3. The Permittee will ensure that all construction activity is pre-approved by the
environmental compliance monitors through the Work Authorization Procedure.

4. All subcontractors and employees will be briefed during Site Orientation regarding
environmental compliance protocols, permit requirements, and the work
authorization procedures. No one will be permitted to conduct any construction
activity without first receiving this orientation.

5. Limits of Disturbance will be further identified by installing high visibility flagging
at 25-foot intervals.

6. For any area where clearing will occur, a visual barrier such as brightly colored
string or tape will be installed prior to the beginning of the activity to delineate
approved areas of work.

7. The Permittee will install increased signage around the Project Site describing how
to identify the Limits of Disturbance and expressly prohibiting anyone from
crossing those limits.

8. The Permittee will similarly create placards, laminated cards, and/or other summary
documents that describe Limits of Disturbance, how they are identified, and the
prohibition against crossing them. The Permittee will distribute these documents
to contractors, subcontractors, and employees.

9. The Permittee will conduct training of any new personnel and conduct periodic
refresher training on environmental compliance for all personnel.

***
Thank you for your consideration of this information. Please contact me if you have any
questions, suggestions, or would like additional information. Otherwise, please let us know if this
proposed plan is acceptable.

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Sincerely,

Hank Seltzer
Environmental Permitting Director
Timbermill Wind
Apex Clean Energy
120 Garrett Street, Suite 700
Charlottesville, VA 22902
[phone]
Email:
[e-mail]

Enclosures: Exhibit A: Project Site Map

Location of Interest - Between T22 and T23
Timbermill Wind
February 29, 2024 Scale: Not to Scale
Location of Interest
Location of Interest - Between T22 and T23
Timbermill Wind
February 29, 2024 Scale: Not to Scale
Location of Interest