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A large crowd of Blounts Creek-lovers came out Tuesday to speak out against the renewal of a mining company’s wastewater discharge permit — a permit that could potentially destroy the creek’s entire ecosystem.

The event was held at Beaufort County Community College’s conference center in Washington and kicked off with a Sound Rivers press conference at 5 p.m., followed by a public hearing at 6 p.m.

Read Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck and Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman’s comments below.

“The public hearing went as well as we could have hoped for,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman. “The Blounts Creek community showed up in impressive numbers and made well-informed, impactful comments against the issuance of Martin Marietta’s permit. We did exactly what we had to do. Now we’ll wait on DEQs decision and get prepared for next steps.”

Katey led off the press conference, followed by Sound Rivers Executive Director Heather Deck, Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Blakely Hildebrand, Mary Ellen Hunter, regional director of Coastal Conservation Association, Dr. Bobby Bowser, lab and field manager of East Carolina University’s Water Resources Center, and wrapping up with Bob Daw, Blounts Creek resident and co-founder of the grassroots Save Blounts Creek movement.

Each delved into the many facets of the 13-year-long Blounts Creek saga: the history of how a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit was issued by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources to Martin Marietta Materials for a 649-acre limestone-mining quarry; the Sound Rivers lawsuit that bounced around the North Carolina court system for a decade; the possible impacts of 12 million gallons of freshwater being discharged each day into the brackish waters of Blounts Creek; baseline monitoring that’s being done now to determine those impacts; and the passion with which Blounts Creek residents have advocated for the creek for more than a decade.

Local media outlets WITN, WCTI, WNCT, the Greenville Daily Reflector and the Washington Daily News covered the press conference and hearing.

“Since 2011, numerous state agencies have commented on the impact of such a discharge to Blounts Creek,” Heather told the assembled press. “The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and Wildlife Resources Commission both noted how special Blounts Creek is to eastern NC fisheries and that the creek is a widely used resource by the public. Blounts Creek maintains a vibrant, diverse and healthy population of both freshwater and saltwater fish species. Both resource agencies objected to the permitted discharge proposed in DEQ’s permit due to the harm they note is likely to occur from the wastewater discharge of this magnitude.  

“Sound Rivers and the Blounts Creek residents are here again tonight, because the department, through the release of its draft wastewater discharge permit and intent to issue a permit for 12 million gallons per day, has failed to protect the integrity of a beloved waterway. Sound Rivers is proud to stand with local residents as we advocate for protection of Blounts Creek.”

Following the press conference, approximately 130 people filled the conference room where Derek Denard, environmental program consultant with DWR’s NPDES Permitting Program, gave an overview of the permit Martin Marietta applied to renew after the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled in September 2023 that NCDEQ was correct to issue permit. The permit — good for five years — expired in 2018.

The renewal prompted a letter-writing campaign, the success of which determined NCDEQ hold a public hearing. Nearly 500 letters were sent, requesting that the permit not be issued.

Paul Wojoski, North Carolina Division of Water Resources section chief of Water Quality Permitting, led the hearing, and 26 speakers, including Katey and Heather, current Sound Rivers board member Betsy Hester, Dr. Ernie Larkin, one the founders of Pamlico-Tar River Foundation (Sound Rivers’ founding organization), and many Blounts Creek residents, many of whom also spoke at the original public hearing in 2012. Topics covered the loss of what the state has designated a nursery for saltwater species, property values, erosion, operation of wells, the collapse of an ecosystem that could force all wildlife to abandon the creek, loss of income from recreational fishing, and more.

The decision about the permit renewal will be announced in 90 days, according to Wojoski.