20080868 Ver 2_News and Observer_20090315

THE NEIL'S & OBSERM
SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2009
e&State
Fighting mining expansion
Groups challenge enlarging PCS Phosphate operation
BY WADE RAWLINS
STAFF WRITER
Environmental groups have
filed a challenge to a decision by
state water quality regulators to
allow an expansion of PCS Phos-
phate's mining operation in
Beaufort County, which would
involve massive destruction of
wetlands near the Pamlico River.
The permit, issued in January by
the state Division of Water Qual-
ity, allows the company to mine
about 11,000 acres adjacent to its
current open-pit mine over 35
years.
The effects on 4.8 miles of
streams and more than 3,900
acres of wetlands represent the
largest destruction of wetlands
ever permitted in North Carolina.
PCS Phosphate, part of an in-
ternational company headquar-
tered in Canada, has worked the
mine since 1995 to produce phos-
phate for fertilizer and animal
feed supplements and for use in
food additives such as phos-
phoric acid, a flavor enhancer in
Coca-Cola and jellies. It is the
largest employer in Beaufort
County, with more than 1,000
workers.
"This permit challenge asks
whether PCS's mine expansion
has to comply with the laws pro-
tecting the environment, fish-
eries and public health," Geoff
Gisler, a lawyer with Southern
Environmental Law Center said
in a statement Thursday. "The
long-term economic and envi-
ronmental health of eastern
North Carolina depends on the
state holding PCS to those stan-
dards."
The challenge was filed on be-
half of Environmental Defense
Fund, the N.C. Coastal Federa-
tion, Pamlico-Tar River Foun-
dation and the N.C. Sierra Club
in state administrative court,
where agency decisions are ini-
tially appealed.
Ross Smith, environmental
manager for PCS Phosphate, said
the company had not yet re-
viewed the legal challenge and
couldn't comment.
Meanwhile, in a separate per-
mitting.decision involving PCS,
a state administrative law judge
has ruled that state air regulators
erred in issuing a permit to the
company to overhaul its fertil-
izer plant without properly no-
tifying federal wildlife officials
and that it used the wrong base-
line for predicting whether the
plant would harm air quality at
the Swanquarter National
Wildlife Refuge.
Last year, the state Division of
Air Quality allowed the com-
pany to build a new sulfuric acid
plant to replace two existing
plants at the site near Aurora.
The new plant will produce
about 4,500 tons of sulfuric acid
a day, 1,000 tons more than the
existing facility. The acid is
mixed with phosphate ore mined
on site to produce phosphoric
acid.
The U.S. Department of Inte-
rior challenged the permit, say-
ing air emissions from the larger
phosphate plant could harm vis-
ibility at the wildlife refuge about
20 miles east.
Judge Fred Morrison of the
state Office of Administrative
Hearings, ruled that the state
did not properly notify the Fish
& Wildlife Service, part of the In-
terior Department, of PCS's
plans. Morrison also found state
environmental regulators used
too lenient a baseline for esti-
mating whether the added pol-
lution from the plant would harm
air in the Swanquarter refuge.
The judge's decision is advi-
sory. The state Environmental
Management Commission, an
appointed panel, will make the fi-
nal decision, which could change
the baseline that air regulators
use for comparing whether
added air emissions would harm
air quality and visibility.
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