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8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
https://soundrivers.org/large-crowd-turns-out-for-blounts-creek-meeting/1/7
News
Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting
ACTION ALERT, Action Alerts, Environmental, Sound Rivers, Tar-Pamlico Watershed, Water Quality
Posted on August 29th, 2024
Seventy people came together Tuesday evening to discuss potential impacts of mine wastewater
discharge into Blounts Creek.
8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
https://soundrivers.org/large-crowd-turns-out-for-blounts-creek-meeting/2/7
WRITE YOUR LETTER TO NCDEQ TODAY USING OUR ACTION ALERT!
A larger-than-expected crowd turned up for a Blounts Creek strategy session on Tuesday night.
Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman
joined residents of Blounts Creek at Cotton Patch Landing to discuss Martin Marietta Materials’
application to renew a NPDES permit (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit)
for a 649-acre limestone mine in Vanceboro.
“I was very pleasantly surprised by the amount of people that showed up on such short notice. It
was a big turnout and there’s denitely lots of public interest,” Katey said. “Heather, who was
there when this whole thing started in 2011, said there were a lot of new faces there. A lot of the
new people were curious and wanted more information about the issue, so we went into detail
about the past legal case.”
According to Save Blounts Creek co-founder and Blounts Creek resident Bob Daw, there were
exactly 70 people gathered at the picnic shelter at Cotton Patch Landing.
“Bob gave a little introduction of why were all there and Heather and I talked about the past
lawsuit, and looking at assessments and reports done in the past. We answered questions that
ranged from ooding from discharge and how creek levels may impact personal property to
which university resources we can draw on and contacting elected ocials,” Katey said.
8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
https://soundrivers.org/large-crowd-turns-out-for-blounts-creek-meeting/3/7
Save Blounts Creek cofounder Bob Daw introduces the issue and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman and Sound
Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck to the assembled crowd.
The meeting was arranged last week after North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
announced it would be taking public comments about the permit’s renewal from Aug. 24 to Sept.
23. The NPDES permit would allow up to 12 million gallons per day of groundwater pumped out
during the mining process to be discharged into the headwaters of Blounts Creek — a process
that puts the entire creek’s ecosystem at risk. In 2013, Sound Rivers led a lawsuit against the
state challenging the initial permit; last year, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled against
Sound Rivers, giving the go-ahead for the mine to proceed.
Sound Rivers launched a letter-writing campaign last week, creating an Action Alert template to
send emails to NCDEQ objecting to the permit renewal and requesting a public hearing be held.
“At the meeting, we stressed the fact that we are trying to get a public hearing following the
public comment period,” Katey said. “We also recommended that if anyone sends a letter to
NCDEQ to copy it and send it to local elected ocials. It helps to add your personal perspectives
of why the creek is important to you.”
8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
https://soundrivers.org/large-crowd-turns-out-for-blounts-creek-meeting/4/7
She said the main goal of a public hearing is to ask for assessment resources to be put in place to
measure pH, salinity and benthic (aquatic bug) populations — all of which stand to be impacted by
mine discharge and are indicators of a healthy brackish creek, one that has been designated by
the state as a nursery for saltwater species.
Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman talks to the crowd about writing letters to NCDEQ to request a public hearing.
“Hopefully, we’ll also be able to get more assurances for landowners with regard to potential
erosion to personal property and impacts such an immense drawdown of groundwater could have
to wells,” Katey said.
Katey also passed around a petition requesting a public hearing that she will be sending with her
letter to the Director of NCDEQ’s Division of Water Resources. Those who would like their names
added to the petition can email Katey directly at [e-mail].
WRITE YOUR LETTER TO NCDEQ TODAY USING OUR ACTION ALERT!
8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
https://soundrivers.org/large-crowd-turns-out-for-blounts-creek-meeting/5/7
You can nd out more about Blounts Creek and the mine threatening to destroy it by listening to
the Sound Rivers podcast, “The Story of Blounts Creek,” here. (It’s also available on Apple
Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. Search by the name of the podcast, “Sound Rivers:
Riverkeeping Tales from the Neuse & Tar-Pamlico”)
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8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
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New Bern Oce 252.637.7972
Raleigh Oce 919.856.1180
Washington Oce 252.946.7211
Katey Zimmerman | Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper [e-mail]
Samantha Krop | Neuse Riverkeeper [e-mail]
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8/30/24, 3:34 PM Large crowd turns out for Blounts Creek meeting - Sound Rivers
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