20070812 Ver 2_Subject: Please Deny Alcoa_20090129

Please deny Alcoa's 401 permit request and protect our public waters.
Subject: Please deny Alcoa's 401 permit request and protect our public waters.
From: Charles B <[e-mail]>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:26:41 -0500
To: [e-mail]
Dear Mr. Dorney,
As a concerned, lifelong citizen of North Carolina, I am urging the NC Division of Water Quality staff and
the state of North Carolina to recognize their responsibility to protect public health and the
environment. Please deny Alcoa's 401 Water Quality Certification. Alcoa has acknowledged they have
contaminated Badin Lake with carcinogenic PAH's (poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), PCB's
(polychlorinated biphenyls) as well as heavy metals and other contaminants associated with their
aluminum manufacturing.
Recent fish testing data and sediment sampling conducted by the state in Badin Lake has not been
completed. This critical information needs to be made available to the public and thoroughly reviewed
before the permit request can be even considered. More importantly, NC has an obligation to require
Alcoa to address all contamination issues, low dissolved oxygen levels and many other environmental
and public health concerns for which Alcoa is responsible.
Contamination of public trust waters, left to attenuate naturally, will inevitably allow pollution to migrate
downstream passing through dams and effecting people, fish and the wildlife. There are numerous
examples around the country on the James, the Hudson and Housatanic Rivers where upstream
contamination continued to be a persistent environmental problem for many decades after its
discovery, causing millions of dollars in economic and environmental damage. Alcoa has no right to
pass on its toxic legacy to the citizens of NC. Please deny their 401 permit request and protect our
public waters.
We owe that to ourselves and future generations.
Sincerely,
Charles Blount
514 Sasser St
Raleigh NC
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