Edgar Miller, Riverkeeper and Executive Director
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) will hold a public hearing on March 16 on a draft Colonial Pipeline wastewater permit (#NC009000). Colonial has applied for the permit to discharge treated wastewater from its 2 million gallon gasoline pipeline leak. The National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Wastewater Discharge permit requested by Colonial will allow the discharge of pumped and treated groundwater contaminated by the spill into North Prong Clark Creek in the Yadkin-Pee Dee River basin.
The permit relates to fuel recovery and groundwater remediation efforts required by the Department’s Division of Waste Management following the August 2020 fuel release by Colonial Pipeline in the Oehler Nature Preserve near Huntersville in Mecklenburg County. The state has fined Colonial nearly $5 million for groundwater contamination caused by the spill.
For the past two-and-a-half years, Colonial has been pumping contaminated groundwater, treating it on site and shipping it to an offsite treatment/disposal facility. The permit would allow them to build a larger on-site treatment facility that would discharge treated wastewater into the North Prong of Clark Creek, which flows into the Rocky River and eventually the Pee Dee River. Colonial officials have briefed the Catawba Riverkeeper and YRK to share details of the new permit and proposed treatment. It appears the permit limits proposed by DWR are NOT based on the best available technology standard required by the federal Clean Water Act.
In response, YRK submitted comments and signed onto detailed comments submitted by our partners at the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) on the draft NPDES permit, both of which highlighted the need for technology-based effluent limits for carcinogens like benzene and toluene and disclosure, monitoring and treatment of PFAS know to be in the groundwater. YRK, SELC and Sen. Natalie Marcus, who represents the area, all called for a public hearing to make the public more aware of what is being proposed and its potential impact on the community and Yadkin Pee Dee watershed. Unfortunately, this appears to be the only feasible approach to deal with the ever-spreading plume of petroleum product that has contaminated the groundwater and threatens surface waters in the area.
YRK will be preparing information on the public hearing and encourages our members and other concerned citizens to comment on the draft permit.
Hearing details:
WHEN:
March 16, 2023, 6:00 p.m.
WHERE:
Central Piedmont Community College – Merancas Campus
Claudia Watkins Belk Center for Justice – Auditorium
11920 Verhoeff Drive, Huntersville, NC 28078
Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/HnqU4ya8Di997gHbA
Speaker registration opens at 5 p.m., onsite via sign-up sheet.
WHAT:
View draft permit and related documents
View public notice
Written comments will also be accepted by email at publiccomments@ncdenr.gov. Please include COLONIAL PIPELINE in the subject line. Written comments may also be mailed with a postmark through March 17, 2023 to:
Wren Thredford, Wastewater Permitting
Attn: Colonial Pipeline Permit
NC Division of Water Resources
617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617