20080868 Ver 2_DWR Response to Concerns_20090302

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North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Division of Water Quality
Beverly Eaves Perdue Coleen H. Sullins Dee Freeman
Governor Director Secretary
March 2, 2009
Glenn I. Hockney
109 White Plains Road
Middletown, Engelhard, NC 27824
Re: Response to letter concerning PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. of Aurora, NC (Beaufort
County)
Dear Mr. Hockney:
The Division of Water Quality (DWQ) has received and reviewed your letter dated January 21,
2009. We appreciate your interest in and concern for the water quality in Hyde County, and our
office has made every effort to respond to your inquiry as thoroughly as possible. Internet links
to important sites are referenced with a response where appropriate. Files or documents that are
necessary to respond to a question are located on the enclosed CD.
The following statements respond to the questions numerically, as they were posed in your letter.
1. Perry Nelson report on Castle Hanes Aquifer in Hyde County, North Carolina, 1960 or 1961.
Please see the scanned copies of the Perry Nelson documents, "Geology and
Groundwater Resources in Swanquarter Area. Groundwater Bulletin No. 4. 1964." and
"Preliminary Report on Groundwater in Beaufort County with Special Reference to
Potential Effects of Phosphate Mining. Groundwater Circular No. 2. 1964." contained
on the enclosed CD.
An extensive search showed that "The Groundwater Bulletin No. 4" was the first
groundwater document done for Hyde County. It was also the earliest document by Perry
Nelson for that region of North Carolina. We were unable to find any articles written by
Perry Nelson in 1960 or 1961.
2. All Chemicals being used at PCS Phosphate Company, Inc.
DWQ does not possess a list of all chemicals being used at PCS Phosphate Company,
Inc. However, prior to the issuance of NPDES permits a Priority Pollutant Analysis is
conducted on wastewaters from PCS. This analysis serves as a baseline analysis of water
quality values, and is used to establish the water quality parameters that need to be
monitored and included in the monthly monitoring reports. A copy of the VCS Priority
Pollutant Analysis 2005" is included on the enclosed CD. The list of items currently
401 Oversig hflc? xpress Review Permitting Unit
1650 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1650
Location: 2321 Crabtree Blvd., Raleigh, North Carolina 27604
Phone [phone] FAX: [phone]
Internet: http://h2o.enr state.nc us/ncwetlands/
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An Equal Opportunity I Affirmative Action Employer
Glenn Hockney
Page 2 of 10
March 2, 2009
being tested in the effluent and downstream waters are included in the response to #4
below.
SARA Title III, known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act
(EPCRA), requires facilities that use or store a hazardous chemical above a threshold
quantity to submit annually their chemical inventory information to off-site officials on or
before March 1. The inventory information must be submitted to the fire department
having jurisdiction over the facility, the respective county LEPC, and the State
Emergency Response Commission.
The Beaufort County Fire Marshal may also have information relating to the types of
chemicals being used at the facility. The Beaufort County Fire Marshal can be reached at
252-946-2046.
The NC Division of Emergency Management and EPA Region IV maintain a database
which contains information on toxic chemical releases reported annually by certain
industries. The Toxic Release Inventory for PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. can be
accessed at:
http://www.epa. ov/cgi-
bin/broker?TRI=27806TXSGLHIGHW&YEAR=2006& VIEW=TRFA&TRILIB=TRI 1
&sort=_VIEW &sort _fmt=1&FLD=E41&FLD=E51A&FLD=E51B&FLD=STONDISP
&FLD=E 1 &FLD=E2&FLD=E3&FLD=E42&FLD=E52&FLD=E53 A&FLD=E53B&FL
D=E54&FLD=STOTHDIS&FLD=RELLBY&FLD=RE TOLBY&TAB RPT=1&_SER
VICE=oiaa& - PROGRAM=xp tri sasmacr tristartmacro
The NC Division of Waste Management and EPA Region IV maintain information
regarding the types of hazardous wastes generated at PCS Phosphate Company, Inc.
Hazardous waste information can be accessed at:
http://iaspub. epa. gov/enviro/fii_query_dtl. disp_program_facility?pgm_sys_id_in=NCD041519364
&pgm_sys_acrnm in=RCRAINFO
3. All Chemicals being manufacturing at PCS Phosphate Company, Inc. ?
A list of products that are manufactured at PCS Phosphate can be viewed at the PCS
Phosphate website at:
http://www.potashcorp com/about-potashcorp/operations map/auroral or
http://www.potashcorj2.com/about potashcorp/operations map/au_rora/products/ or
http://www.potashcoip.com/about potashcorp/operations map/aurora/facilities transportation/
Including, `produce phosphoric acid. Aurora produces amber and green merchant grade
acid (MGA), green superphosphoric acid, diammonium phosphate fertilizer,
monoammonium phosphate fertilizer, ammonium polyphosphate solution and purified
acid from this phosphoric acid. "
Glenn Hockney
Page 3 of 10
March 2, 2009
4. All Chemicals being discharged by PCS Phosphate Company, Inc?
The permitted discharges to surface water systems from PCS Phosphate are for
wastewater and stormwater. Water managed through recycling systems and groundwater
remediation systems are designed as non-discharge systems.
The current version of the wastewater permit's effluent limits are listed in the copy of the
NPDES Wastewater permit issued on February 7, 2005 and the permit modification
issued October 30, 2007. North Carolina's Basinwide Information Management System
(BIMS) also includes a list of the permit outfall limits. Each document is contained on
the enclosed CD as "npdes permit nc0003255," "permit modification 2007," and "PCS
outfall limit and monitoring req BIMS" respectively.
Other permits granted by the Aquifer Protection Section and held by PCS Phosphate
limiting the various levels within the groundwater include:
1. High rate infiltration permit that processes domestic waste
2. Wastewater recycle permits (3) that process 1) contact cooling water
and cooling tower blow down; 2) mining and material processing; 3)
fertilizer production
3. Land Application of residuals permit that allows application of solids
from mining and material processing and domestic waste processing
4. Injection well permit allowing fresh water injections through multiple injection
wells to drive the contaminant plume towards recovery wells to be treated and
reclaimed or used in the plant process. The injection and recovery well system,
along with a containment wall are designed to protect surface water quality.
5. Well Construction Permits
A summary of violations listed in BIMS for water samples that exceeded the permit
limits from 1996 to the present, based on the monthly reports submitted by PCS
Phosphate are located in "PCS monitoring rep violations" and "Monitoring Report
Violations Ground water 59" on the enclosed CD.
5. Where is the chemicals not used by PCS Phosphate disposed?
According to the copy of the NPDES wastewater permit issued to PCS Phosphate
Company, Incorporated on February 7, 2005 (contained on the enclosed CD): PCS
Phosphate has calcium sulfate storage piles and a mine loop/gypsum-clay
blend/reclamation area which may serve as reclamation or disposal areas. Historically,
waste material was placed in holding ponds on nearby property that was reclaimed in the
early 1980s.
PCS also has a permit for Land Application of residuals that allows application of solids
from mining and material processing and domestic waste processing through the Aquifer
Protection Section.
Glenn Hockney
Page 4 of 10
March 2, 2009
6. Who is responsible for testing all of the above chemicals?
"PCS Phosphate and/or individual contractors hired by PCS Phosphate are responsible for
collecting water quality samples and submitting water quality sample reports at required
frequencies. Any PCS lab or private lab used for water quality sampling or analysis must
be a certified lab. Labs certified in North Carolina are inspected by the state laboratory
section of the Division of Water Quality. The Division of Water Quality also has
oversight rules in place to provide several levels of oversight and maintain quality
assurance and control. A map with the location of groundwater monitoring wells tested
as required by certain permits is on the enclosed CD as "PCS Groundwater Wells A" and
"PCS Groundwater Wells B"
NC DWQ has a Basinwide Planning Program which currently collects water quality data
on a monthly basis. Extensive surveys occur on a five year cycle for the 17 river basins
in the state. You can find more information on what the reports generated by this
program include as well as the current planning schedule at,
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/basinwide/basinwide wq- planning htm
The Tar-Pamlico Basinwide plan can be accessed at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/basinwide/tarpam wa management- plan htm
Section B of this site also shows the sampling location points within Beaufort and Hyde
counties. The Tar-Pamlico River Basin Ambient Monitoring Report: January 1, 2003
through December 27, 2007 can be accessed at
http://iviAiv. esb. enr. state. nc. us/documents/Tar-Pant2002-07AMSR-FinaIJul lpdf
NC DWQ-Surface Water Protection group took toxicity samples at PCS's effluent in
1997, 1998, 1999 and 2001. A Toxicity sampling event is scheduled for 2009. Several
years ago, monthly monitoring was conducted for a year at each PCS outfall. Split
samples were taken during sampling inspections.
North Carolina's Division of Water Resources (DWR) conducts quarterly monitoring of
its Monitoring Well Network and provides yearly monitoring reports. The 2008
monitoring report can be accessed at
littp://www.ncwater.org/Reports and Publications/GWMS Reports/Network Annual Reports/N2007-8 network ann report0
and the well data can be accessed at the DWR website www.ncwater.org
7. Does PCS Phosphate have any Leases with North Carolina? If so, provide a copy.
The only lease that we are aware of that PCS has with the state of North Carolina is one
issued by the NC Council of State on September 27, 1967. A scanned copy is on the
enclosed CD. There was a renewal of that lease dated July 22, 1992 which is also
included on the CD.
Glenn Hockney
Page 5 of 10
March 2, 2009
8. How much money has PCS Phosphate Company Inc. paid North Carolina in the past ten
years?
The payment on the lease mentioned above is $27,627 per year or $276,270 for 10 years
PotashCorp reports their 2007 community giving amounts under their "Facility:
Community Support" which can be found at:
http://www.potashcorp.conVabout-potashcorp/ot)erations map/aurora/
They may be able to provide you with similar numbers for the other years of interest.
PCS Phosphate has also paid North Carolina about $61,000.00 from 1999 to the present
for application and yearly annual fees for all of its permits. The fees paid are listed by
permit number in the "application fees pcs" on the enclosed CD.
9. Who approved the final 401 water quality permit? Who else was consulted? Was this
meeting recorded? Where did this meeting take place? These questions are very important
since we expect an open government.
I approved the final 401 Water Quality Certification based on recommendations from my
staff in the Central Office (primarily John Dorney) and the Washington Regional Office
(primarily Kyle Barnes). The final 401 Certification was based on additional information
received from PCS Phosphate dated December 19, 2008 (received December 22, 2008).
Various meetings were held to discuss this final submittal and then the final Certification
was issued on January 15, 2009. This meeting was not recorded.
10. Provided all information received from PCS Phosphate Company Inc within the past sixty
days?
Please see the enclosed CD which has a complete copy of the Division of Water Quality
PCS Phosphate file as of the date of this letter.
11. Who test all the fill being put back in these pits? Where is the replacements fill coming
from? Six tons mined only five tons is returned. Explained how this land can be not lowered? If
you mined a several millions of tons each year. Will we have a big hole in the ground?
The North Carolina Division of Land Resources - Mining Program regulates mining
activities for the state. The most current permit 07-01 defines the requirements for fill
material. A copy of the permit is included on the CD. As stated in the permit, all
excavated material is used for reclamation of older mines, or is stocked-piled for future
mine reclamation activities. At present, no off-site material is or will be used as fill for
mine reclamation, and no testing of on-site material is required.
Fill returned to mining pits: Layers of rock and soil formed over millions of years are
tightly compacted and cemented prior to disturbance. When these materials are
excavated, the material expands due to decreased pressure and the impact of the
excavator breaking up the material. If a portion of the material is removed, and the
Glenn Hockney
Page 6 of 10
March 2, 2009
remaining material is returned to the excavated area, the volume of unconsolidated
material is usually larger than the volume of the hole, making a mound.
12. Is any chemicals added to the discharge waters to protect the oxygen in the water?
Waters that pass through the wastewater treatment-storage basin are treated with hydrated
lime to control the pH by removing Phosphorous from the water as Calcium Phosphate.
"This material is very dense resulting in a precipitant with good settling characteristics."
PCS also operates a flocculent feed system as necessary for total suspended solids (TSS)
control for outfalls 007, 009, and 101. The conditions for these treatments are specified
on p. 13 of the "npdes permit nc0003255," located on the enclosed CD.
Dissolved Oxygen (DO) could be added to the water if it were determined that the
dissolved oxygen levels were low.
13. How often do you check the waters downstream?
Part of the water quality sampling requirements for PCS Phosphate include downstream
sampling that must be reported each month for particular parameters (e.g. turbidity, TSS,
phosphorus, etc) for some of the outfalls. This information is located in the BIMS
Outfall Limits and Monitoring Requirements document, located on the enclosed CD as
"PCS outfall limit and monitoring req BIMS."
North Carolina's Division of Water Quality (DWQ) has a Basinwide Planning Program
which currently collects water quality data on a monthly basis. Extensive surveys occur
on a five year cycle for the 17 river basins in the state. You can find more information on
what the reports generated by this program include as well as the current planning
schedule at,
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/basinwide/basinwide wgplanning htm
The Tar-Pamlico Bastnwide plan can be accessed at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/basinwide/tarpam wq_management plan htm
Section B of this site also shows the sampling location points within Beaufort and Hyde
counties. The Tar-Pamlico River Basin Ambient Monitoring Report: January 1, 2003
through December 27, 2007 can be accessed at
http://www.esb.enr.state.nc us/documents/Tar-Pam2002 07AMSR Fina]Julyl8th pdf
The NC DWQ-Surface Water Protection group has been monitoring three different
locations in the Pamlico River near the outfall canal twice monthly since 1999.
Parameters include DO, temperature, pH, salinity, conductivity, fecal coliform, turbidity,
chlorophyll a and nutrients.
As previously mentioned, North Carolina's Division of Water Resources (DWR)
conducts quarterly monitoring of its Monitoring Well Network and provides yearly
monitoring reports. The 2008 monitoring report can be accessed at
htt:H%vww.ncwater.or /Re orts and Publications/GWMS Re orts/Network Annual Re orts/' 2007-8 network ann re ort. df
and the well data can be accessed at the DWR website www.nCwater.org
Glenn Hockney
Page 7 of 10
March 2, 2009
The 401 certification also requires monitoring for water quality, hydrology and aquatic
life for many of the small streams in the NCPC tract. The new Certification expands this
monitoring to also include streams on the Bonnerton and South of 33 tracts. Annual
reports are required to be submitted to DWQ for federal and state agency review to
determine if water quality or aquatic life impacts are occurring. To date, those reports
have not shown impacts from the mining operation on these small streams on the NCPC
tract. DWQ and our sister agencies will continue to review these reports. If negative
impacts do occur, then PCS will be required to address these concerns in order to comply
with their 401 Water Quality Certification.
14. Is this public Waters?
All of the downstream waters (including the small streams on PCS's property, South
Creek and the Pamlico River) are waters of the state and therefore impacts to these waters
require permitting from the Division of Water Quality. The phrase "Public Waters"
generally refers to the larger streams and rivers that are usually subject to the jurisdiction
of the NC Division of Coastal Management. Since PCS Phosphate will not impact any of
these Public Waters, a CAMA Permit from the NC Division of Coastal Management was
not required for this project.
15. Who has title to these lands?
Again we cannot fully answer this question since it is so broad. Certainly the water in
these waterbodies are waters of the state. However, in many cases, the land underneath
smaller streams is in private ownership.
16. Does PCS Phosphate Company Inc. lease these lands or waters? Who is held accountable
for these lands and waters?
We understand that PCS Phosphate has a lease for land underneath the Pamlico River.
This lease was authorized by the NC Council of State on September 27, 1967 and
renewed July 22, 1992. Our understanding is that the State Property office is responsible
for administering this lease.
17. Need an organizational chart of your department.
The Department of the Environment and Natural Resources Organizational Chart can be
found at
http://www.enr.state.nc.us/docs/DENRochart8-O7New.pdf
The Division of Water Quality (NC DWQ) Organizational Chart can be found on the
DWQ website at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/documents/InternetOrgChart.odf
Glenn Hockney
Page 8 of 10
March 2, 2009
18. Do you have the power to revocation of water permits?
As Director, I do have the authority to revoke Water Quality Certifications if there are
violations of conditions of the Certification or the Clean Water Act or if information in
the application is incorrect or if conditions under which the Certification have been made
have changed (15A NCAC 2H .0507 (d)).
(15A NCAC 2H.0507 (d)) can be accessed at http://li2o.enr.state.nc.us/adrnin/ruies/2H.0500.p
df
The NC Division of Water Quality rules web page can be accessed at
http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/admin/ruies/codes-statutes.ht
m
19. Is peoples' health important enough to revocation these water permits?
The Water Quality Standards are established to protect the quality of waters of the state
and human health. A permit may be revoked if it meets the provisions listed above.
20. The buck stop at your desk concerning water permits?
Yes, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) has designated the Director of
the Division of Water Quality as having final say in permit decisions. However, when a
decision made by the Division is contested through the office of Administrative Hearings
the final agency decisions is made by the EMC. After a decision has been rendered by
the EMC, all Certifications are subject to appeal through the state court system.
21. Provide all divisions of Government who made the final revisions on the Water permit of
December 2008, and their written resonances.
The decision to issue the revised 401 Certification was made by staff of the Division of
Water Quality (DWQ). We carefully considered concerns expressed by the Division of
Marine Fisheries, Division of Coastal Management and Division of Parks and Recreation
(Natural Heritage Program) during the permitting process as well as concerns of citizens,
federal agencies and other parties. We also consulted with staff of the Aquifer
(Groundwater) Protection Section of the Division of Water Quality and the Division of
Water Resources in order to get their input on existing and proposed groundwater
monitoring for this project before issuing the 401 Water Quality Certification. The
answers to question number 4 list the other permits that are in place for PCS Phosphate.
The written concerns expressed by these agencies are included on the CD for the entire
PCS file which is enclosed.
22. Other issues raised in the four initial points on page 1 of your letter:
a. Due to excessive over pumping, the land in Hyde County has subsided and
thereby caused damage to citizen's property rights.
Glenn Hockney
Page 9 of 10
March 2, 2009
The North Carolina Division of Water Resources has online information
regarding subsidence in the coastal area along a Raleigh to New Bern
transect. Information regarding this is found at the following link:
http: //wti w. ncwater. org/Permits_and_Regi strationJCapacit.v_Use/Central_Coastal_Plain/landsub. plip
DWQ is unaware of any current information indicating subsidence in Hyde
County. However, a proceedings paper addressing subsidence in coastal Virginia
(USGS 2001, pp 49-56) is available. The USGS proceedings document is
included on the CD. The collection of land surface elevation and subsidence data
is the responsibility of the North Carolina Geodetic Survey, Division of Land
Resources.
b. Toxic wastes have been discharged to ground waters and the Castle Rayne
Aquifer with no testing to protect public health and our natural resources
The responses to questions 4, 5, 6 and 13 above address the permitted discharges
and their limits, monitoring requirements, and monitoring results.
c. Government not providing protection for public trust lands, waters and natural
resources as well as coverup of aquifer reports of Perry Nelson, toxic materials
and lack of inspections to protect public health.
We hope we have provided the requested Perry Nelson document
(question 1 above).
The following reference: Nelson, P.F., 1964, Geology and Ground-Water
Resources of the Swanquarter Area, North Carolina, NC Department of Water
Resources, Division of Ground Water, Ground Water Bulletin No. 4, 79 p.,
has been publicly available in the State library since 1964.
The North Carolina Division of Water Resources maintains a Capacity Use Area
in a 15 county area in the Central Coastal Plain in order to protect aquifers from
the effects of over-pumping. Permits are required for ground water users of more
than 100,000 gallons per day. Annual registration and reporting of withdrawals is
required for surface and ground water users of more than 10,000 gallons per day.
d. PCS Phosphate has spent millions of dollars to cover up violations and to change
existing laws, rules and inspections in North Carolina
Our office is unaware of expenditures of PCS Phosphate funds as suggested.
Question 8 represents our understanding of funds received by the state of North
Carolina.
Glenn Hockney
Page 10 of 10
March 2, 2009
Again, we appreciate your interest in and concern for the water quality in Hyde County. We hope
that you find the answers to your questions to be more than adequate. Please contact John Dorney of my
staff at 919-733-9646 if you should have any further concerns or need any further assistance.
Sincerely Yours,
Caoeen. li
Cc: John Dorney, DWQ-Program Development Unit
David May, Washington Regional Office-Aquifer Protection
Al Hodge, Washington Regional Office- Surface Water Protection
Jim Simons, Division of Land Resources
Tom Reeder, Division of Water Resources
Dexter Matthews, Division of Waste Management
File copy