NC0000272_Public Comments_20220401 (3)

BLUE RIDGE PAPER PRODUCTS' COMMENTS IN SUPPORT OF THE RENEWAL
OF NPDES PERMIT #NC 0000272 AND PROPOSED REMOVAL OF COLOR
VARIANCE (via e-mail to [e-mail] )
Blue Ridge Paper Products LLC d/b/a Evergreen Packaging ("Blue Ridge Paper"), submits
these written comments in support of the renewal of NPDES Permit #NC 0000272 and removal of
the color variance.
1. Timing of Permit Renewal
A. Blue Ridge Paper timely filed application for renewal of its NPDES Permit on
December 31, 2014. In March of 2015, work on the issuance of the permit was
stayed at the request of Region 4 of EPA and the Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation ("TDEC"), so that a study of the Pigeon River basin
in North Carolina and Tennessee could be conducted.
B. From March of 2015 to the fall of 2017, EPA collected existing information on the
Pigeon River basin from Blue Ridge Paper, the North Carolina Department of
Environmental Quality ("DEQ) and TDEC.
C. In March of 2017, EPA decided that the basin study was no longer a part of its core
mission. Despite requests from DEQ, EPA has not produced any "report" of the
basin study.
D. Since the fall of 2017, Blue Ridge Paper has been working closely with DEQ on
the renewal of the permit.
E. Prior to issuance of the draft NPDES Permit and removal of the color variance,
DEQ submitted the draft NPDES Permit and removal of the color variance to EPA
Region 4 and TDEC for input and comment.
F. The public hearing on the draft NPDES Permit and removal of the color variance
was originally scheduled for January 20, 2021. The public hearing was rescheduled
at the request of TDEC and held on April 14, 2021.
2. Temperature
A. The current NPDES permit has a weekly average limit for temperature. Blue Ridge
Paper believes the temperature limit should continue to be a weekly average, and
has so advised DEQ.

B. Blue Ridge Paper does not believe a daily temperature limit is necessary to prevent
temperature spikes and fish kills. The temperature of the Mill effluent does not
vary widely, and there is always a zone of passage at Fibreville Bridge not affected
by Mill discharge. See comments of Charles C. Coutant, Ph.D. attached. 1
C. The most recent 316A study, which was required under the current NPDES Permit,
was done in 2012 and 2013, as part of a settlement of contested cases challenging
the 2010 NPDES Permit and Color Variance. The study determined there was a
balanced and indigenous community above and below the mill. The study was
approved by DEQ in January, 2019. The proposed NPDES permit includes, in
Section A. (12) on page 18, a requirement that another 316A study be conducted
during the permit term.
3. Dioxin
A. Dioxin has been non -detect in the Canton Mill effluent since 1989.
B. EPA did intensive high -volume sampling for dioxin in the Pigeon River
downstream of the Mill in 2014. Dioxin was detected in the samples. None of the
samples exceeded the North Carolina Water Quality standard for dioxin.
C. Sediments were also sampled, and dioxin was detected in the sediment. There is
no standard for dioxin in sediment. A report of the dioxin sampling is included
with these comments.
D. The draft NPDES Permit, A. (9.) on pages 17 and 18, requires fish tissue sampling
for dioxin in the second year of the permit. If any of the sample results exceed NC
DHHS' 4 part per trillion TEQ action level, Blue Ridge Paper will conduct
additional fish tissue sampling in the 4t' year of the permit
4. Technology Based Limits
A. EPA publishes effluent guidelines for pulp and paper.
B. EPA did not publish an effluent guideline for color. Instead, EPA decided color
should be regulated on a site specific, case by case basis, using Best Professional
Judgment (of the permit writer).
C. In developing the draft NPDES Permit, North Carolina determined that the water
quality standard for color is being met. So, there is no need for North Carolina to
develop a technology based limit for color. Instead, North Carolina conducted a
reasonable potential analysis to determine whether or not the water quality standard
1 The last fish kill in the Pigeon River was in September, 2007, during a drought period of extremely low flow and
extreme ambient temperature (90°).

for color would be exceeded. DEQ determined there is no reasonable potential for
violation of the color standard so long as the Canton Mill is required to meet an
effluent limit of 36,000 lbs per day (annual average), 52,000 lbs per day (monthly
average) and 105,000 lbs per day (daily maximum). As an additional check, DEQ
included instream A 50 at Fibreville.
5. North Carolina Water Quality Standard for Color — Removal of the Color Variance
A. North Carolina has a narrative water quality standard for color set forth at Title 15A
North Carolina Administrative Code, Subchapter 2B.0211(12):
(12) Oils, deleterious substances, or colored or other wastes: only such amounts
as shall not render the waters injurious to public health, secondary recreation, or
to aquatic life and wildlife, or adversely affect the palatability of fish, aesthetic
quality, or impair the waters for any designated uses.
B. Tennessee also has a narrative water quality standard for color. Historically, EPA
and others have interpreted the NC standard to be 50 platinum cobalt units of true
color (50 milligrams per liter). Blue Ridge Paper believes all of the components of
North Carolina's narrative water quality standard for color are being met.
C. The 50 mg/1 standard has never been formally promulgated as a water quality
standard by EPA or North Carolina. Prior studies attempting to establish a new
numeric interpretation of the NC standard for aesthetic purposes proved
unsuccessful.
D. Blue Ridge Paper, with the assistance of the AquAeTer consulting firm, analyzed
Canton Mill effluent color, instream monitoring results for color and flow data for
the period July 2010 through December 31, 2020. Results of the analysis
demonstrate that color in the Pigeon River, at flows equal to or greater than 129
cubic feet per second, averages 50 mg/1 or less true color at the Fibreville Bridge
more than 90% of the time. Average color upstream of the Canton Mill is 13 true
color units. Color at the NC / Tennessee state line averages 17 true color units. The
AquAeTer report on data through 2017 and an accompanying submittal were
provided to DEQ in January 2018.2 Blue Ridge Paper submitted an updated report
from AquAeTer including data through the end of 2018. An updated report
including data through December 31, 2020, is being submitted with these
comments.
E. The Color Variance should be removed as all components of the NC standard are
being met.
2 Evergreen Packaging Submittal to North Carolina Regarding Compliance with North Carolina Water Quality
Standard for Color, January 31, 2018.

6. Chloroform — The proposed increase in chloroform is based on EPA's revision of
guidelines for chloroform.
A. The chloroform limit is not an effluent limit. This is a limit on the amount of
chloroform coming out of the pine and hardwood bleach plants. Blue Ridge Paper
would propose that the limits in the 2010 NPDES Permit be retained in the renewed
NPDES Permit.
7. Backsliding
A. The proposed NPDES Permit, with corrected temperature limit, does not represent
any backsliding. The effluent limits for color remain the same. In other words, no
more color is allowed in the draft permit than in the current permit. The term,
"backsliding," is misplaced and is not applicable here.
8. Fecal Coliform
A. Blue Ridge Paper has treated wastewater from the Town of Canton since 1964.
Blue Ridge Paper acknowledges that there were issues with chlorination of the
Town of Canton's wastewater prior to discharging to the Canton Mill's waste
treatment system. Blue Ridge Paper believes those issues have been resolved.
9. Documents
Blue Ridge Paper is submitting additional documents in support of the Permit renewal
and removal of the color variance. A list of the documents being submitted is attached
hereto as Exhibit A. The documents can be accessed at the following link:
https://rsncl.roberts-stevens.com/index.php/s/sKyEnYHN2DMpS7q

Exhibit A
Documents Submitted with Blue Ridge Paper, LLC's Comments Following Public Hearing
on Renewal of NPDES Permit and Removal of Color Variance
https://rsncl.roberts-stevens.com/index.php/s/sKyEnYHN2DMpS7q
1. Letter to Sergei Chernikov
2. Evergreen Submittal with History of Color Standard in Pigeon River
3. AquAeTer Analysis of Color Concentration in Pigeon River (through 2017)
4. Evergreen Memorandum on History of 50 Color Unit Standard
5. Updated Color Concentration Report by AquAeTer (data through December 31, 2018)
6. Updated Color Concentration Report by AquAeTer (data through December 31, 2020)
7. Color Chart through 2019
8. Responses to EPA Region 4 questions February 2020
9. Charles C. Coutant Responses to Information Requests from EPA Region 4 to NCDEQ
(July 2020)
10. Fact Sheet Temperature Edits Coutant 1-28-21
11. Evergreen Packaging — Color Tech Update
12. Color Benchmarking 2014 EKONO
13. Color Benchmarking 2018 for Evergreen Packaging by EKONO (2017 data)
14. US EPA Report of Pigeon River High Volume Sampling August 2014
15. NCDEQ Letter Approving 316a Report (Cindy Karolyi)
16. Engineering Alternative Analysis by AquAeTer