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On March 27, Martin Marietta Materials received a letter from North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources Director Richard Rogers informing the mining company that its recently issued water-quality permit had been rescinded, and that the original permit, issued in 2013, remains in effect.

According to the letter, the decision came after DWR personnel reviewed a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision — a decision that significantly rolls back the EPA’s ability to ensure compliance with surface-water standards from industrial dischargers, according to Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.

“We’re looking into what this really means for Blounts Creek,” Katey said. “But no matter what the outcome is of the permit status, we’re going to continue monitoring and gathering data and tracking the impacts of the mine’s discharge when Martin Marietta starts mining operations.”

The permit issued by DWR in February differed from the 2013 permit in that it contained increased monitoring and reporting requirements to help the state, Sound Rivers and the community track Martin Marietta’s compliance and the long-term impacts of discharging up to 12 million gallons of wastewater per day into Blounts Creek. The additional requirements, in part, stemmed from public input: a Sound Rivers’ letter-writing campaign last fall delivered more than 500 comments opposing the permit to DWR, and a public hearing held in November drew a crowd of Blounts Creek supporters to Beaufort County Community College to speak out against renewing the 2013 water-quality permit without strengthening monitoring requirements.

A tributary of the Pamlico River in Beaufort County, Blounts Creek is known for its recreational fishing and is designated by the state as a nursery for saltwater species. Large volumes of groundwater discharged into Blounts Creek could significantly raise the pH of the stream system, a change in water chemistry that would also change which aquatic species could survive in those waters. 

The water-quality permit’s renewal this year was preceded by more than a decade of effort to protect the creek. After the original permit was issued in 2013, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of Sound Rivers and North Carolina Coastal Federation, challenged it, citing the permit was in violation of state law. 

Between 2013 and 2023, Sound Rivers’ challenge to the water-quality permit that could potentially destroy an entire ecosystem bounced between North Carolina courts, reaching the N.C. Supreme Court twice. The permit was vacated by a Superior Court judge in 2017, only to be reinstated in 2019 when the N.C. Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s ruling. 

In 2023, the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the N.C. Court of Appeals’ decision, and Martin Marietta Materials applied to renew the then-expired water-quality permit.

According to Blounts Creek residents, a sign broadcasting the Vanceboro Quarry was erected this week on the road leading to the site of what will be a 649-acre limestone pit mine.

“I would assume putting the sign up means they are getting ready to, or already are, making moves back there,” Katey said.  “And when the mining starts, we will be monitoring impacts to the creek. We — Sound Rivers, the residents, business owners, the people who fish here — have been working to save Blounts Creek for nearly 15 years. We’re not going anywhere.”

Like the work your Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper is doing to protect Blounts Creek? Donate to support the fight for Blounts Creek today!