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Alternative site for PCS Phosphate would have least environmental, e...
Subject: Alternative site for PCS Phosphate would have least environmental, effect, study finds
From: susan massengale <susan. massengale@ncmail. net>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2008 15:40:41 -0500
To: DWQ Clips <[e-mail]>
From the New bern Sun Journal
Alternative site for PCS Phosphate would have least environmental
effect, study finds
May 23, 2008 - 9:24PM
Nikie Mayo <mailto:[e-mail]>
Sun Journal
AURORA -- An alternative area that PCS Phosphate is now seeking permits to mine will
have the least environmental effect of any of the land options considered, the Army
Corps of Engineers said Friday.
Known only as Alternative L, the site includes acreage on three tracts just east of
the company's present mining operation in Aurora.
The Corps of Engineers describes it as a "holistic alternative (that) contains the
fewest acres of impacts to waters of the U.S." It's also an alternative that the
company can afford to mine, the corps said in a final environmental impact study.
The 293-page document was released Friday.
The public has until July 7 to comment on the study. The Corps of Engineers could
decide by August which site receives a permit.
Of about a dozen potential sites that were evaluated by the company and the corps,
Alternative L is not the one that PCS Phosphate officials had originally hoped to
have permitted. But Ross Smith, the company's environmental-affairs manager, said
PCS modified its permit request less than a month ago because having some site
approved is necessary for the company to continue its current operations.
"This is obviously an exhaustive document and we appreciate that," Smith said. "But
it will be really disappointing if we are going to be required to leave 50 percent
of the phosphate on the NCPC (tract) reserve. And Alternative L will make us have to
do that. It's disappointing to have to leave phosphate there that would help us and
that helps feed the world."
The company had pushed for a separate site, Alternative M, that still covers the
same tracts as Alternative L, but would have allowed a larger area to be mined. PCS
Phosphate's preferred site would affect about 450 more "acres of waters" than the
site the corps favored, according to the study.
"We need a permit," Smith said. "We are at a critical point."
He said the company is feeling the economic effects of an eight-year effort to get
a permit.
"The lack of a permit is causing PCS to expend significant dollars and time in the
development of contingency plans to maintain production," he said.
Smith did not disclose what the wait is costing the company, saying that he wasn't
sure.
The company employs about 1,000 people, about 400 of whom drive from Pamlico and
Craven counties.
Tom Walker, the PCS Phosphate project manager for the Corps of Engineers, said the
company will still need assurances from the state that the mining site meets
standards set by the Coastal Area Management Act.
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Alternative site for PCS Phosphate would have least environmental, e...
Once the public comment period ends in July, the Corps of Engineers could have a
decision ready within 30 days.
"Obviously, that could change based on comments that we get, but the goal of the
final environmental impact statement is to cover all the bases," Walker said.
"At this point, though, the study doesn't mean that we will or we won't issue a
permit for Alternative L," he said. "This is a step forward in the process."
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