NC0000272_Publc Comments 4-9-2021_20220401

OHY TAMS NON CW
Boy 51592
April 9, 2021
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
217 West Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27603
[e-mail]
Re: Blue Ridge Paper Products hearing
Ladies/Gentlemen:
Knoxville, Tennessee 37950-1592
I am writing on behalf of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club (SMHC) in connection with
the upcoming hearing on April 14 regarding Blue Ridge Paper Products' proposed wastewater
permit renewal and variance removal. Please make these continents a part of the record for such
hearing.
SMHC was founded in 1924 and is one of the original clubs responsible for making the
dream of the A.T. a reality. Today, SMHC maintains 102 miles of the A.T., including the portion
within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP) that is adjacent to the Pigeon River.
SMHC has a longstanding tradition of hiking, fellowship, volunteerism, and conservation of the
Great Smokies and surrounding lands.
Until the mid-1980s the Pigeon River that flows through Cocke County (between the
GSMNP and Cherokee National Forest) and into the French Broad River (and then into
Knoxville where SMHC is based) was a sensory mess, dirty, smelly, and polluted, all resulting
from discharges by Champion International Paper Company (now Blue Ridge Paper Products) in
Canton, NC. Successful lawsuits by citizens and regulatory action forced a cleanup of the river
and has made Cocke County a budding adventure travel destination (around $52 million in direct
tourism expenditures in 2019 and especially rafting on the Pigeon). Now, Blue Ridge Paper is
requesting renewal of its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System discharge permit and
seeks to loosen regulations, including removal of a color variance, on effluent entering the
Pigeon River, thereby opening the possibility of returning the river to its past polluted state.
The quality of the water in the Pigeon River is important to the downstream residents, to
the downstream recreation users of the Pigeon River, and to the adjacent National Park. We are
therefore very much opposed to any relaxation or reduction of the existing permit requirements
and urge you to continue to protect the water quality of the Pigeon River.
Respectfully,
Diane Petrillo M.D., President Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Exploring the Smokies Since 1924