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Sound Rivers’ Riverkeepers met up with residents of the Blounts Creek this week to strategize on commenting at an upcoming public hearing.

“We really wanted to get people together to discuss what to expect at the hearing, share some key talking points and let them know how important it is that they share their own connection to Blounts Creek,” said Pamlico-Tar Riverkeeper Katey Zimmerman.

Katey and Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop hosted the workshop at Highwater Social in Chocowinity to set the stage for how North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s public hearings work and to answer any questions residents had about the issue.

“We had a lot of questions about what options had previously been explored regarding the wastewater, and what that really points to is the amount of time that’s passed since the mining company first applied for the permit,” Katey said.

The issue at stake is whether NCDEQ renews an expired wastewater discharge permit to Martin Marietta Materials for a 649-acre limestone mine in Vanceboro — a permit that could discharge up to 12 million gallons of fresh water per day into the headwaters of the brackish tributary of the Pamlico River in Beaufort County.

Thirteen years ago, Sound Rivers took a stance against this potential destruction of the Blounts Creek ecosystem — designated by the state as a nursery for saltwater species — which led to the rise of the Save Blounts Creek grassroots movement and a Sound Rivers’ lawsuit challenging the state-issued permit. The lawsuit bounced around the North Carolina court system for more than a decade until last year, when the North Carolina Supreme Court decided the permit stood.

Martin Marietta Materials applied to renew the expired permit this year, and nearly 500 comments about the mine and its potential impacts were submitted to DEQ during the public comment period. Emails sent to NCDEQ individually, through Sound Rivers’ Action Alert and a postcard-writing party held at Two Rivers Alehouse in Washington expressed sufficient public interest to require NCDEQ hold a public hearing about the permit renewal.

“We’re asking everyone who cares about Blounts Creek to come out to the public hearing,” Katey said. “The way we’re going to get the state to take another look at monitoring the impacts of all that wastewater is if we have plenty of people asking DEQ to protect the creek, its wildlife, the fishing, and all the other reasons people love Blounts Creek.”

The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Nov. 19 in the Boyette Conference Center in Building 10 on Beaufort County Community College’s campus in Washington. Speaker registration is required. A sign-up sheet will be available starting at 5 p.m.

Sound Rivers will be sharing more information about this event in the coming days. Be sure to check the website!

Want to have your voice heard? The public comment period for Martin Marietta Mining’s application to renew the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit has been continued until Nov. 20. Write your letter to NCDEQ today, using our Action Alert!

Want to find out more about the Blounts Creek saga? Listen to our podcast, Sound Rivers: Riverkeeping Tales of the Neuse & Tar-Pamlico, “Story of Blounts Creek” here!