NC0000353_Response to Notice_20181030

THE f.j QUARTZT"'
CORP
October 23, 2018
G. Landon Davidson, P.G., Regional Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality
Division of Water Resources
Asheville Regional Office
2090 U.S. 70 Highway
Swannanoa, NC 28778
Subject: `Notice of Violation & Intent to issue civil penalty
- Tracking Number: NOV-2018-LM-0071 J J
The Quartz Corp USA
Mitchell County
Dear Mr. Davidson:
1. This letter is provided in response to the above -described Notice of Violation & intent to issue
civil penalty, dated October 12, 2018 (NOV), and which we received last Friday.
The NOV correctly notes that the July Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) reported a
measurement on July 15, 2018 of pH at outfall 001 outside of the limits in the permit. The unanticipated
violation was due to a valve not being completely closed and apparently involved a new employee. It
was quickly detected and immediately reported, as required by permit NC0000354. We acted promptly
to mitigate any impacts and continually monitored the effluent quality. No employee or member of the
community was put at risk of harm and the effects to the environment were nominal. To avoid a similar
occurrence in the future, all Quartz Corp employees were immediately re-trained on safe chemical
handling and procedures. Also, equipment and procedure upgrades were implemented to prevent any
future occurrences. We will, of course, continue to provide our regular employee training.
The NOV also asserts a violation on July 4, 2018, due to lack of flow in conduit or through the
treatment plant. As noted in the DMR, the plant was conducting previously scheduled preventive
maintenance for the entire plant, which involves a shutdown of production and operating processes that
normally produce flow into the treatment plant. As a result, there was no discharge of effluent and no
fresh water entering the plant. There was not even any electricity in the WWTF. We did take upstream
and downstream samples of the river using a portable meter to check the pH, but again there was no
effluent to compare this to.
Our goal at TQC is to not only to meet the conditions of our permit but to be a responsible
environmental citizen. We regret that the temporary pH exceedance occurred but believe we quickly
implemented a plan of action that mitigated any impacts and should avoid the likelihood of the event
occurring in the future. We do not believe that the lack of flow during the planned maintenance outage
was a permit violation.
The Feldspar Corporation, 797 Altapass Road, PO Box 99, Spruce Pine, NC 28777

If there are any further questions, please contact the undersigned.
Regards,
96�1&1 L"I"
John Silver
TQC Environmental Manager
797 Altapass Rd,
Spruce Pine, NC 28777
[e-mail]
828-467-3386
828-765-8979
The Feldspar Corporation, 797 Altapass Road, PO Box 99, Spruce Pine, NC 28777