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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNC0084620_Public Hearing Speeches_20190502 Hearing Officer Presentation May 2, 2019 PUBLIC HEARING DRAFT NPDES WASTEWATER PERMITS The Quartz Corp USA and Sibelco NA K-T Feldspar, The Feldspar Corporation, Schoolhouse, Quartz, Crystal, & Red Hill facilities- Mitchell and Avery counties. The public hearing will please come to order. Before we begin, I ask that everyone turn off or silence all cell phones and pagers as a courtesy to the speakers and to the audience. My name is Jon Risgaard, and I have been appointed to serve as hearing officer for the state Division of Water Resources. I am the supervisor of the Animal Feeding Operations and Groundwater Protection Section in the division's Central Office in Raleigh. This hearing is being held under the authority of North Carolina General Statutes, Chapter 143.215.1(c)(3) and Title 15A of the North Carolina Administrative Code, Rule 02H .0111. In North Carolina, every individual who discharges wastewater to waters of the state is required to obtain a National Pollution Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has authorized the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to issue or deny these permits. This is a combined public hearing for six NPDES permits — mineral ore processing wastewater facilities — for K-T Feldspar, The Feldspar Corporation, Schoolhouse, Quartz, Crystal, & Red Hill facilities discharging to the North Toe River in the French Broad River Basin. Please note that this hearing is not intended to gather public comments concerning the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources mining or stormwater permits for these facilities. I will preside over this hearing to receive oral and written comments related to all six permits. We will accept additional written comments until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 3rd. (Our email and mailing addresses are on the handout provided at the registration table.) Once the comment period is closed, Division Staff and I will prepare a written record of these proceedings. I will give equal weight to oral and written comments received. I will submit a report to the director of the Division of Water Resources with my findings and recommendations for final action on these draft permits Page 1 of 3 At this time, I would like to introduce the elected officials who are present tonight egistra ion aesk staJJ'will provide list oftlected of rcia s . [ READ LIST OF OFFICIALS WHO SIGNED IN ] Are there any other elected officials here that I missed? [ OFFICIALS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES ] I would also like to recognize the DEQ representatives here tonight (add names before Wart oJ heartna. [ INTRODUCE STAFF ] or have them stand up. • DWR: Jeff Poupart-WQPS Section Chief, Julie Grzyb-NPDES Complex WW Branch Chief, David Hill-NPDES permit writer, Christyn Fertenbaugh-PERCS engineer, Anjali Orlando-WQPS staff, Christy Simmons- Public Information Officer, Austin McCall -Public Records Officer • Asheville Regional Office: Landon Davidson-Regional Supervisor, Zan Price- Assistant Regional Supervisor, Linda Wiggs- Regional Inspector, Mikal Wilmer- Regional Inspector David Hill from the Division of Water Resources will now present information concerning the draft NPDES wastewater permits. [ PRESENTATION—WW ] Thank you David. Next, we will hear from audience members who have signed up to speak. When they have finished, if others in the audience would like to comment, they will have an opportunity to do so. To assure everyone will have an opportunity to be heard, there will be a three minute time limit for providing comments. Staff will keep track of the time and raise a sign to indicate when you have one minute left, 30 seconds left, and when your time is up. If necessary, I will request speakers to end their comments in order to be respectful of those waiting to make comments. As time allows, any speakers who needs additional time to conclude their oral comments will be given additional time to speak after those who have signed up to speak have had their opportunity to provide comments. Please keep your comments concise and limit them to tonight's subject. Comments that address specific scientific, technical, or regulatory concerns with the draft permits will be the most useful in our review process. Page 2 of 3 It would help me if speakers could provide a written copy of their comments, either tonight or by the end of the comment period. In case that's not possible, we are recording this proceeding to make sure we capture all of your comments accurately. Cross-examination of speakers will not be allowed. I may ask questions for clarification. We ask that everyone respect the right of others to speak without interruption. If approprial To ensure that everyone has a clear view of the roceedings, we ask that you refrain from waving signs inside the meeting area. f there are a lot of signs, we'll ask people to stand at the beginning of the meeting so we can take photos of the signs as part of the hearing record. I will now call speakers in the order that they registered. To ensure that our records are accurate, please clearly state your name and, if applicable, the organization you are representing. In addition, we ask that you identify other affiliations you may have that have bearing on your input tonight. For example, if you are appearing on your own behalf, but have obtained information from, or provided research to, another group that is interested in this matter, please tell us. That will be useful in reviewing your comments and any other information you provide. [ CALL ON SPEAKERS, BY NAME ] [AFTER LAST SPEAKER... ] Is there anyone else that would like to comment? [ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS, IF ANY ] Anyone who ran out of time? [ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS, IF ANY ] Again, if you did not speak tonight but would like to comment on the draft permits, you can submit written comments until 5 p.m. next Friday, May 3rd, to be considered. Those comments should be submitted to the email address or postal address given on the handout available at the registration desk. Based on the public comments received and information submitted in the permit applications, I will submit a report to the director of the Division of Water Resources with my findings and recommendations for final action on these draft permits. I would like to thank all of you for your interest and your attendance tonight. This hearing is adjourned. Page 3 of 3 Public Hearing The Quartz Corp USA and Sibelco NA mines May 2, 2019 Good evening. My name is David Hill and I am a permit writer in the Division of Water Resources NPDES complex wastewater permitting program in the Raleigh Central Office. I will give a brief introduction and overview of the proposed changes for all six mining permits which included:The Feldspar Corporation, K-T Feldspar, Schoolhouse, Quartz, Crystal, and Red Hill facilities. Four of the mines were originally permitted 1979-80 and later, Sibelco's Crystal and Red Hill facilities in 1995 and 1997 respectively.The four original mines process local mineral ore through a crushing, screening, acid extraction, and flotation process to produce quartz,feldspar, and mica product. Sibelco's Red Hill and Crystal facilities perform additional processing on quartz obtained from their Quartz and Schoolhouse facilities to achieve a high-purity quartz product.The wastewater treatment processes involve acid neutralization and solids removal before discharge. The primary pollutant of concern for these mines has been fluoride due to the use of hydrofluoric acid in the extraction process.The North Carolina surface water standard for fluoride is 1.8 mg/L for the protection of aquatic life. Five of the mines discharge to the same segment of the North Toe River and to provide protection for the fluoride standard,they share a wasteload allocation for fluoride.This involved determining the mass loading rate of fluoride that the stream can handle at critical low-flow conditions, accounting for background concentrations, and then allocating portions of that mass load among the five facilities.The last fluoride wasteload allocation was performed in 1995 with the addition of Sibelco's Crystal facility to the group of dischargers.The current fluoride limits for each facility were based on that wasteload allocation and agreements between the two companies and DWR on how to share that allocation among their five facilities. Sibelco's Red Hill facility is downstream of these five, below the confluence of the South Toe River, and is not part of the wasteload allocation because of a much larger river flow at that point. The permits for these mines have been relatively the same since that 1995 wasteload allocation.The current draft permits propose the following major changes from previous permits: • Quarterly monitoring for the metals Al, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn have been added based on limited data from a 2015 EPA inspection and some Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources stormwater data.The results of this monitoring will allow the Division to determine if any of these metals are pollutants of concern during the next permitting cycle. Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn are hardness dependent metals, meaning their toxic effects vary according to water hardness, therefore hardness monitoring of the effluent and stream have also been added to the permits. • pH limits have been reduced from 6-10 SU to 6-9 SU to reflect North Carolina's freshwater pH standard. • Stream monitoring for turbidity has been increased requiring upstream and downstream monitoring within 24 hours when effluent values exceed 10 NTU for turbidity.This is in addition to the requirement to sample instream turbidity weekly which remains in effect from previous permits. The Division first provided notice of these draft permits and invited comments in October 2018.The permits were re-noticed for public comment again in January 2019. In response to requests from many commenters,the Director of the Division of Water Resources recommended that this public hearing be held. This concludes my presentation and I will now turn the hearing back over to Mr. Risgaard.