840001_Email_20231125

From: Ronnie Kennedy Jr
To: Holcomb,Lee-FPAC-NRCS. NC
Cc: Brent Rhodes;Josh Amick;Shepherd,Michael D;Sarif,Grayson-FPAC-NRCS,NC; Patterson,Sierra N; Klrbv,
Amanda-FPAC-NRCS,NC; Edwards,Sam; Lawson,Christine; Dennis Daley
Subject: [External] Re:Josh Amick Lagoon-Discussion and Feedback before next week"s visit
Date: Saturday,November 25,2023 10:01:29 PM
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Our comments are in Bold below:
Geno & Josh,
Thank you for setting up the visit for next Wednesday
afternoon at the Amick Lagoon Closure Site in Stanly County.
I wanted to touch base with a few items before we all meet and
use our time on site wisely. I haven't provided any type of
feedback to Mr. Amick since last Tuesday's visit. I've
conversed mostly with Grayson Sarif as he is the local NRCS
field staff, so if you have done some of the things below then I
apologize for duplicative emailing. Hopefully with the small
video clip it won't go to junk/spam folders for most. See my
comments below:
1 . At least two new samples were taken before land applying
began. Grayson Sarif was provided the sample data for
sludge and liquid from Dennis. Grayson is updating the
closure plan with those new samples and edited fields in
order to have the most recent revision of the close-out plan
for you to provide Sierra Patterson with NC DEQ. I will
sign as the Designated Technical Specialist with the final
revision and Grayson will provide that to you for your

records. It is my understanding you or one of your staff
will have all the closeout application records thus far for
Sierra to review next Wednesday. We will have a good
amount of records to review but not all of them will be
completed by Wednesday's Meeting. An additional
waste sample of the sludge material needs to be taken for
land application records of this material as will be of a
different nutrient value, if not already done. If additional
samples need to be taken then we will do so. We have
taken a total of 3 samples for this job thus far.
2. Next week, with this meeting, are you proposing that the
lagoon is fully closed to NRCS 360 Practice Standard for
Waste Facility Closure? Yes If so, what criteria are you
proposing has been fulfilled in order to consider the
lagoon closed? Are you proposing it be closed by having
less than a foot of agitated material left in the lagoon? We
are proposing that there is less than one foot avg
material remaining in the lagoon currently. Are you
proposing to have the bottom and side slopes scraped
clean? We are proposing that we have scraped all areas
that would safely support the equipment. The side
walls have been cleaned twice since your last visit to the
lagoon and have less than 6 inches of sludge on
them. Myself or another Designated State Technical
Specialist will be the one to do the final sign off on the
closure method.
3. Last Tuesday, November 14th, we (Grayson, myself, Josh,
Amanda Kirby, and grading and manure haulers) were on-
site to witness the beginning of scraping the bottom of the
lagoon and removing the remaining solids. The grading
contractor tested the most NW portion of the lagoon.

Initially the bulldozer rode on top of existing sludge. It
was difficult to ascertain how much sludge remained and
what was the solid bottom of the lagoon. The grading
contractor was able to move back and forth and pushed
some slurry material and some soil material from the
bottom of the lagoon. I've attached a short video to show
a portion of the moving back and forth of the equipment in
the NW corner. It appears that the bottom of the lagoon in
this NW section will support earth moving equipment and
the bottom and sides must be scraped according to NC
NRCS 360 standard. If you are stating that the lagoon
floor will support the excavating equipment then we
will scrape the lagoon. Our understanding from the
other people who were on the site on the 14th, Josh,
Grayson, and the equipment operator, was that the
lagoon bottom was not supporting the
equipment. When we asked Grayson for an email
stating this he said that he would ask you. When we
followed up on this we were told that there was some
hesitation on your part to do so. We support whatever
needs to be done. If the lagoon supports the equipment
then it will be scraped. We will have an excavator on-
site and available to go into the lagoon and see if there
are any questions about the lagoon floor supporting
equipment.
4. Due to the size of the lagoon it could take extensive time
to remove the solid/slurry as it is my understanding the
side slinger being made available for land application will
hold 5 tons or less of material. I told Mr. Amick last
Tuesday that there is a lot of work left to do to remove the
remaining solids/slurry material. Water was added after

last Tuesday's visit to help with further agitating the
remaining solids in an effort to reduce the amount of solids
needed to be removed via grading equipment. Application
through honey wagons is much more cost effective than
moving 5 tons of solid material at a time through a side
slinger.
5. Stanly SWCD and NRCS staff then used a basic laser level
survey to estimate the amount of sludge still remaining in
the NW portion where the equipment had been operating.
We estimated on-site that there was greater than a foot of
sludge remaining in the testing section of the lagoon. The
estimate was around 14-18". There was no safe way to
estimate the amount of sludge remaining in the middle and
other portions of the pond. If the lagoon floor will
support the equipment that's great. On November
22nd my team and I went back out to the lagoon. We
took 23 elevation shots of the lagoon bottom and the
results clearly show the current average of remaining
sludge in the lagoon to be under I foot. In addition our
field crew walked the banks of the lagoon and what is
remaining on the banks comply with the close out
standards. We will have field assessment information
and sludge depth charts that will support our findings.
6. Due to the 9 acre site, it presents a challenge in how to
remove the remaining solid/slurry sludge on the bottom. It
will require extensive grading with an experienced
operator to find a way to move the remaining solid/slurry
material via dump trucks, excavators, side slinger to fully
scrape the bottom and sides clean for final inspection. The
attached soils report shows Patrick Mitchell's, Licensed
Soil Scientist, soils analysis from November 1 st, 2023. As

you can see there was no free standing water in any of the
soil boring holes and the closest "Seasonal High Water
Table" (SHWT) showing redoximorphic features was
within 2.16 ft of the bottom of the lagoon. This would
lend itself to support that the bottom of the pond should
support earth moving equipment and it should be scraped
clean. The best approach to accomplish this may be to
section off the lagoon into smaller subsections to better
isolate the sludge and remove it versus trying to push all of
the sludge to one area to be loaded out. The attached map
is just an idea, and shows roughly 1 .25 acre sections. I
can't emphasize enough that someone with extensive
experience to handle a job this large will be critical. We
are not at all concerned about the size of the
lagoon, We have closed lagoons of this size before. We
have a specific plan as to how we will do it and estimate
that this process should only take another 8 days.
7. On site during November 14th visit it was evident that
there was a buildup of sludge around the NW portion of
the lagoon side slopes that was at least calf high with a
pair of muck boots on. It is my understanding that the
agitators were used last week to help with cleaning some
of the sludge buildup? We still need to ensure that there is
no sludge left on the side slopes. Since your visit on the
14th we have added water 2 times to the lagoon. The
walls of the lagoon were washed down again, the
lagoon was agitated, and additional sludge was
removed.
8. The plan to convert to a freshwater pond or breach the
dam has been unclear since the beginning of the lagoon
closure. Please indicate which method of closure will be

done at time of completion so we can plan accordingly. I
understand Mr. Amick will need to make that final
decision. If conversion to a freshwater pond is the method
decided, then a Licensed Professional Engineer must
design the conversion and then an NRCS engineer must
review and approve the design before the closure is
considered complete and the wet poultry CAWMP permit
rescinded by NC DEQ. According to Grayson and
Josh, our understanding from day one was that the
lagoon would be breached and that work would be
completed by Josh.
I understand this is a lot of information to review and offer
feedback. I wanted to begin the conversation and get
appropriate feedback so we're more aware of how next week's
discussion should be directed. Amanda Kirby, Stanly SWCD,
had been omitted from earlier emails and I just now
remembered to add her to the discussion. I believe everyone
listed on this particular email chain will be the ones present
next week. If you want to include anyone else back into the
discussion feel free to add them with a reply. A lot of work
has been completed to this point and we look forward to
the discussion as to how the job needs to be finished. We
all want to close this lagoon so that it meets the close out
standards. At the end of the day cooperatively, we are
eliminating a 9 acre environmental concern to address the
objectives of both federal and state programs.
I will be out of the office the rest of the week, but will return to
the Salisbury Area Office Monday after lunch. I will be

checking emails while on Leave. Hope everyone has a great
Thanksgiving!
Thanks,
Lee