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Home My WebLink About20080868 Ver 2_USACE Comments_20090416Draft oonchtions Subject: Draft conditions From: "Walker, William T SAW" <William.T.Walker@usace.army.mil> Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:56:28 -0400 To: "John Dorney" <john.dorney@ncmail.net> John, As we discussed. We will likely want to sit down and go through these at some point. Tom <<conditionsToJohn.doc>> Content-Description: conditionsToJohn.doc conditionsToJohn.doc Content-Type: application/msword Content-Encoding: base64 I of 1 4/15/2009 4:33 PM A) As required by the State Water Quality Certification, the applicant will work with the corps and the NC Division of Water Quality to establish a monitoring plan for groundwater in and around mine and reclamation areas. At a minimum, this plan shall include sufficient monitoring within and surrounding the reclamation areas to ensure that heavy metal/toxic pollutants including cadmium are not entering the groundwater. It is suggested that this monitoring commence with weekly samples for a period of 5 years to generate an acceptable baseline. After 5 years, monthly monitoring is acceptable. Yearly results of this monitoring shall be reported to the Corps and NCDWQ no later than January 31 of the year following data collection. The applicant and/or the Corps will make these reports available in whole or in summary to any interested party. If increases in the levels of any sampled substance are observed for more than 1 sampling occurrence in any given year, or for more than 1 year, the applicant shall include in the yearly report, a plan for mitigating the effect or satisfactory justification as to why no action is necessary. If the Corps, in consultation with other ag ies, including but not limited to NCDWQ and EPA, determines that the ent reclamation practices are causing an unacceptable adverse i act roundwater, the DE may modify, suspend or revoke the permit. B) Within 1 year of the issuance of this permit tfiOVSrmittee will submit to the Corps a remediation strategy in the e t heavy al contamination of groundwater or surface tributaries that are jacent to mined areas W occurs. That strategy will be made avai e u blic review. C) In concert with the monit re ireme contained in the Water Quality Certification, PCS sha ve n ement a plan of study to address the effects of the reduc ' n in w etlands on the utilization of Porters Creek, Tooley C Jacobs ee , Drinkwater Creek, and Jacks Creek as nursery areas by resi fish d appropriate invertebrate species. The applicant shall coordina all appropriate resource agencies including but not limited to NMFS, US S, NCWRC, NCDMF, and the appropriate permitting agencies including NCDWQ, NCDCM, NCDLR and the Corps in the development of this plan. This plan should be submitted to the Corps and NCDWQ for approval within 6 months of this issuance of this permit. The plan shall identify reference creeks (at least four - the usefulness of Muddy Creek as a reference creek should be reevaluated, not assumed); sampling stations, schedules, and methods; laboratory methods; data management and analysis; and quality control and quality assurance procedures. At a minimum, the plan shall address the following issues: 1) Has mining altered the amount or timing of water flows within the creeks? Data collection may include: i) Continuous water level recorders to measure flow ii) Rain gauges to measure local water input iii) Groundwater wells to measure input to the creeks iv) Semi-continuous salinity monitoring v) Periodic DO monitoring (continuously monitored for several days at strategic times of year) 2) Has mining altered the geomorphic or vegetative character of the creeks? Data collection may include: i) Annual aerial photography to determine creek position, length, width, sinuosity ii) Annual cross sectional surveys of each creek at established locations iii) Annual sediment characterization iv) Annual vegetation surveys along creeks v) Spring and fall sediment chlorophylls or organic content in vegetation zone. vi) Spring and fall location of flocculation zones with each creek. 3) Has mining altered the forage base of the creeks? to collection may include: i) Spring and fall benthic cores to sample cro una. ii) Spring and fall benthic grabs focused bival such as Rangia sp. iii) Periodic sampling for pelagic species as grass shrimp, blue crabs, and small forage fish. Sampl' ears w e chosen to reflect ontogenetic shifts in creek usa 4) Has mining altered the e cre s by managed fish? Data collection may include periodic li for spe es managed under the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery C a ement Act. Sampling would occur during appropr' tim y nd gears would be chosen to reflect ontogenetic s n cree sa e. 5) Do creek sediments a contaminants at levels that could impact fish or invertebrates? Dat collection may include annual sediment and water column sampling for metals, including cadmium, mercury, silver, copper, and arsenic. If elevated levels are detected, the availability and uptake by appropriate aquatic species (e.g., Rangia sp., blue crabs) should measured using appropriate bioassay techniques (annual) D) Monitoring under the plan referenced in condition 18 above shall commence immediately upon the plans approval by the Corps and NCDWQ. Monitoring shall continue for 10 years following the completion of all reclamation work within the headwaters of the subject creeks unless the Corps, in consultation with the appropriate resource agencies agrees that monitoring can be discontinued. Yearly results of this monitoring shall be reported to the Corps and NCDWQ no later than January 31 of the year following data collection. The applicant and/or the Corps will make these reports available in whole or in summary to any interested party. ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT E) PCS will work with the Corps to establish an independent panel of qualified persons to annually evaluate whether direct and indirect impacts from mining and benefits from the compensatory mitigation are in accordance with expectations at the time of permitting. All monitoring reports mentioned in the above mining, reclamation, mitigation and monitoring conditions will be supplied to the members of this panel at the times specified in the respective conditions. The applicant shall set a date during March of each year to convene this panel and notify the members of this panel no later than January 31 of the meeting date. By March 31, the panel shall provide the Wilmington District and PCS with any input on the collected data and analysis. At five year intervals beginning from the date of permit issuance, the panel shall review the monitoring methods, sampling locations, ;pkineters analyzed, and other elements of monitoring protocol to determin odifications to the plan are appropriate. The Wilmington District c 'der this information and comments from resource agencies to det e if co tive actions or permit modifications are needed. If the p con udes an e Wilmington District c agrees that the mine expansion has c' ed significant adverse environmental impacts that are not o *t by mil` io , then corrective action 40a . lions viewed by the panel shall shall be taken. All data, reports, and p be made available to the public.