960067_Response to Notice_20231219

December 19, 2023
Deborah Ballance
B&B Partnership
White Oak Farms
604 Benton Pond Road
Fremont, NC 277830
David May, Supervisor
NC DEQ Division of Water Resources
Washington Regional Office
943 Washington Square Mall
Washington, NC 27889
Mr. May,
Subject: NOV/NOI Response
B&B Partnership
Facility NO.96-67
Permit No.
AW 1960067
Fremont, NC
Wayne County
Please find attached with this cover letter our response to the Notice of Violation/Notice of Intent To
Enforce dated November 29, 2023. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at
919-273-3349.
Sincerely,
Deborah Ballance

ROY COOPER
Governor
ELIZABETH S. BISER
Secretary
RICHARI) E. ROGERS, JR.
Director
CERTIFIED MAIL
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
#7022 1670 0000 9974 8709
B & B Partnership
White Oak Farm, Inc.
604 Benton Pond Road
Fremont, North Carolina 27830
NORTH CAROLINA
Environmental Quality
November 29, 2023
Subject: NOTICE OF VIOLATION / NOTICE OF INTENT TO ENFORCE
White Oak Farm #96-67
AWI960067
Wayne County
NOV-2023-GW-0001
Dear B & B Partnership:
Chapter 143, North Carolina General Statutes (NCGS), directs and authorizes the Environmental
Management Commission (EMC) of the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to protect
and preserve the water and air resources of the State. The Division of Water Resources (DWR)
has the delegated authority to enforce water pollution control laws and regulations.
Over the past eighteen months, the Division has identified significant issues at your facility.
Among other things, the Division has received and substantiated complaints that your facility is
causing or contributing to the violation of surface water standards. As detailed below, you have
failed to properly move forward with required groundwater investigations related to those
surface water issues and groundwater exceedances set forth in a Notice of Violation/Notice of
Intent and Notice of Regulatory Requirements issued July 5, 2022 and subsequently reissued
September 2, 2022 as well as an additional Notice of Violation/Notice of Intent to Enforce issued
on July 12, 2023. You also failed to timely submit an application for permitting your facility and
failed to timely respond to requests for additional information to allow the Division to proceed
with processing your permit application. This letter details these ongoing issues and sets forth
your required responses to address these issues.
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources
Washington Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, North Carolina, 27889
252-946-6481

Failure to Conduct Required Groundwater Investigation
In a Notice of Violation/Notice of Intent and Notice of Regulatory Requirements issued July 5,
2022 and subsequently reissued September 2, 2022, the Division directed that a groundwater
quality investigation be performed pursuant to 15A NCAC 2L .0106 in response to groundwater
quality exceedance detected at the facility. Additionally, in a Notice of Violation/Notice of
Intent to Enforce dated July 12, 2023, the Division identified additional violations related to the
groundwater issues present at the site and again directed that groundwater investigation be
conducted to inform potential remediation actions at the site. The Division did receive a May 22,
2023 Proposal for Groundwater Investigation and an amendment to that proposal on June 20,
2023. As stated in the July 12, 2023 NOV, the Division expressly stated that groundwater
investigation activities should proceed under that plan. To date, you have not provided the
Division with any indication that you have initiated any activities to install monitoring wells as
called for by the plan or undertaken other activities to fulfill your obligations. Specific violations
follow:
Violation 1:
Failure to perform a groundwater investigation conforming and pursuant to 15A NCAC 2L .0106
and submit a report summarizing findings and the nature and extent of groundwater quality
violations at the facility, and addressing all items referenced under Corrective Action for
Violation 13 and 15, as referenced in the July 5, 2022 and September 2, 2022 Notices,
respectively as well as the corrective actions for violations 1 and 2 under the July 12, 2023
Notice.
IV. Monitoring and Reporting Requirements, 16.; Upon notification by the Division, the
Permittee shall undertake any monitoring and reporting including but not limited to
groundwater, surface water or wetland, waste, sludge, soil, lagoon/storage pond levels and
plant tissue) necessary to determine the source, quantity, quality, and effect of animal waste
upon the surface waters, groundwaters or wetlands. Such monitoring, including its scope,
frequency, duration and any sampling, testing, and reporting systems, shall meet all applicable
Division requirements. — [15A NCAC 02T . 0108(c)]
Corrective Actions for Violation 1:
Conduct groundwater investigations in accordance with 15A NCAC 2L .0106, and address all
items listed under Corrective Action in the above referenced Notices. Submit a report
summarizing findings and actions.
You are required to take any necessary action to address the above violations. You are
required to provide a written response to this Notice, including any additional information
that you wish to provide related to this incident for the Division to consider, within 10 days
of receipt of this letter.
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources
./ Washington Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, North Carolina, 27889
Moan cwoLi 252-946-6481
ON-h-w a �r....m a..iR,

Failure to comply with conditions in a permit may result in a recommendation of enforcement
action to the Director of the Division of Water Resources who may issue a civil penalty
assessment of not more that twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars against any "person" who
violates or fails to act in accordance with the terms, conditions, or requirements of a permit under
authority of G.S. 143-215.6A. The Director may also submit a request for injunctive relief to the
Attorney General's Office under G.S. 143-215.6C.
Violation 1 Response:
Initially, a groundwater testing plan was submitted with our NOV response on September
16, 2022. Having received no response on our plan from DEQ, we asked DEQ to visit our
site in May of 2023 to discuss the testing. We did submit a proposal on May 22, 2023 and
an amendment on June 20, 2023. At the time we believed we would be receiving an ERC
tax credit to pay for the testing. However, the federal government announced after this
that they would not be processing anymore of these credits until 2024. We do not have the
funding at present to pay for the groundwater testing. I notified DEQ in October when we
paid the civil penalty that we had to borrow to pay the fine and that was money that could
be put toward testing. We applied for funding through NCDA Covid Relief and told we
did not qualify since we had not been a contract grower who received a termination letter.
Permitting of the Facility
Permit AWI960067 expired on October 31, 2022. You did not timely submit a request to renew
that permit. Although you did ultimately submit such a request, you subsequently indicated to
the Division that you did not intend to operate the facility as described in your application.
Accordingly, on February 3, 2023, the Division sent a letter to you asking that you clarify, in
writing, the system/operation design for which you are seeking permit coverage. To date, we
have not received this requested clarification.
In addition, please note, VII. General Conditions, 3. and 4. of the June 17, 2020 permit specify
the following, respectively:
3. All containment basins, such as a lagoon or a storage pond, used for waste management
(including those used for the Innovative System) shall continue to be subject to the conditions
and requirements of this Permit until properly closed. When the containment basin is properly
closed in accordance with the NRCS NC Conservation Practice Standard No. 360 " Closure of
Waste Impoundments, "April 2012 or any subsequent amendment, the containment basin shall
not be subject to the requirements of this Permit. The Permittee must submit a letter to the
Division to request rescission of the Permit by providing documentation of closure of all
containment basins. [15A NCAC 02 T. 1306 (a)]
Closure shall also include a minimum of 24-hour pre -notification of the Division and submittal
of the Animal Waste Storage Pond and Lagoon Closure Report Form to the address identified on
the form within fifteen (15) days of completion of closure. [15A NCAC 02 T . 0108(b)]
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources
./ Washington Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, North Carolina, 27889
�� D_E 252-946-6481
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4. Should the Permittee desire to close the animal feeding operation and abandon the
Innovative System, a " closure plan" must be submitted to the Division. The closure plan must
include recommendations by a Professional Engineer for the removal of all equipment
associated with the Innovative System so as not to create any discharge from the Innovative
System or the previously existing wastewater treatment system, and so as to not compromise the
Existing System in any way. No equipment shall be removed without prior approval from the
Division. [I5A NCAC 02 T . 0108 (b)]
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 143-215.1(a)(12) provides that no person shall "operate an animal waste
management system" without a permit. The June 17, 2020 permit covering facility operations
expired October 31, 2022 and waste containment structures have not been closed out, as of this
time. Possessing waste containment structures with remnant waste, even if new waste is not
being added, is operating an animal waste management system. To address the need to ensure
facility waste containment structures are covered under a permit until closure criteria are met and
during the interim period while facility plans continue to be evaluated, please take one of the
following actions within 30 days of receipt of this letter:
• If you intend to pursue an operation that includes live animals and management of only
on -site animal waste, including if a new digester is pursued, submit an Animal Feeding
Operation Individual Permit application with plans and a schedule for bringing online a
new digester structure.
• If you intend to pursue a new digester operation with feedstocks including, but not
limited to, mortality, food waste, or off -site animal waste, with land application of
effluent submit an application for an industrial non -discharge permit with plans and a
schedule for bringing online a new digester structure.
• Submit an application for a zero -animal permit with a facility closure plan, to include a
schedule and timeline for steps to be completed within the process, and also capturing
structures on the western side of the facility.
• If you intend to pursue an operation with pump and haul of effluent, submit a Pump and
Haul permit application to the DWR Washington Regional Office.
As to permitting the facility, we did submit an application for renewal and were told it was
30 days late but we were still asked for information on the renewal and submitted it in
October, 2022. We then met with DEQ on January 23, 2023 and asked to be permitted
under a different type of permit since we cannot secure a contract for hogs and meet the
requirements DEQ proposed for animal manure. After this meeting we were told we could
not submit a request for a new type of permit until groundwater testing is done, which we
have not been able to do.
In accordance with recent changes to"§ 143-215.1 OC, we respectfully request that our
October 2022 permit application be approved, and we be allowed to begin operation under
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources
./ Washington Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, North Carolina, 27889
rioATM� D_ E 252-946-6481
ay.t—de FaM.ra.iRX

an executed Special Order of Consent which includes a reasonable timeline to allow all the
necessary activities to be accomplished, as provided for within the Statute.
Otherwise, the plan is to sell the facility and let someone else build a new basin. We were
hoping to transfer the contents of our basin to the new basin as this would be the quickest and
easiest route to go. Right now this has not been settled but we have applied to NRCS for lagoon
closure funding. This funding is not available until 2025. However, perhaps we should submit a
lagoon closure plan based on two different scenarios.
For questions related to permit application processes for any of the above routes, including
permitting information in general, please contact Michael Pjetraj at michael.pjetraj&deq.nc.gov.
Due to previous violations and sampling data indicating groundwater violations, the existing
basins can no longer be used and must be closed out per NRCS standards. All future DWR
permitting activities at this site will include requirements to close the existing basins.
Your conceptual operational outlook or facility closure plan should be submitted to:
NC Division of Water Resources
Animal Feeding Operations Program
1636 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1636
We appreciate your attention and prompt response in this matter. If you have questions, please
do not hesitate to call me at [phone].
Sincerely,
ova "
David May, L.G., Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Division of Water Resources
Washington Regional Office
cc: DEQ Stewardship Program
DWR-WQROS-CAFO Unit -Central Office
Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District
NCDSWC — WaRO
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources
./ Washington Regional Office - 943 Washington Square Mall - Washington, North Carolina, 27889
NORTMcwo<rwD_E 252-946-6481
D.P.t...Wbmra.iRI

To Whom it may concern,
B & B Partnership, Owner and operator of White Oak Farms LLC located at 604 Benton Pond Rd, Fremont
NC has applied to close both lagoons through the EQIP program with NRCS. They will potentially be
funded in the spring of 2025. We will begin completeing technical assistance on the farm in the srping of
2024 wich will include lagoon samples,sludge samples, soil samples to determine how much and where
waste can be applied.
This letter does not garuntee funding. It is to show good faith effort to DWQ that B&B Partnership is
activley seeking measures to close the lagoons.
Kristian Turner
Soil Conservationist,Wayne County NC
o MRCS