Stand Up Against the Asphalt Plant Proposed for East Flat Rock!

Action Expired

Update: SE Asphalt Renews Its Effort to Build an Asphalt Plant in Residential Area.

On April 15, our community successfully organized to get the Henderson County Planning Board to recommend that the County Commissioners deny the asphalt plant proposal. Thanks to everyone who turned out to make this possible!

Now we turn to the Henderson County Board of Commissioners, who will make the final decision.

What You Can Do

June 1, 6 pm: Attend the Board of Commissioners meeting where the final decision will be made!

Henderson Board of Commissioners Special-Called Meeting
Historic Henderson County Courthouse
1 Historic Courthouse Square, Suite 1
Hendersonville, NC 28792
June 1, 2021 at 6 PM
Notice of Public Hearing

More About The Asphalt Plant

SE Asphalt wants to build an industrial asphalt plant at the intersection of Spartanburg Highway (US-176) and US-25, across the street from a low-income mobile home park and surrounded by hundreds of single family homes, small farms, and the Green River Game Lands. The site drains directly to Laurel Creek, which flows into the Green River.

The developer has applied for conditional rezoning for 6.5 acres to a conditional district to construct the new asphalt plant. MountainTrue’s Green Riverkeeper and hundreds of local residents oppose this rezoning and the construction of the new asphalt plant because:

The asphalt plant is too close to residential areas, homes and businesses.
The proposed site is across the Spartanburg Highway from a mobile home park and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. The parcel is currently zoned for Community Commercial. By seeking conditional rezoning to allow for the asphalt plant, the developer is effectively trying to rezone a site — that is bordered by residential areas — for industrial use.

A study by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League (BREDL) showed 45% of residents living within a half mile of a new asphalt plant reported a deterioration of their health, which began after the plant opened.

Asphalt plants are a source of harmful air pollution.
Asphalt fumes are known toxins and contain pollutants such as formaldehyde, hexane, phenol, polycyclic organic matter, and toluene. Exposure to these air toxics can cause cancer, central nervous system problems, liver damage, respiratory problems, and skin irritation.

The asphalt plant could harm our natural environment.
The proposed site is dangerously close to the Green River Game Land and borders the headwaters of Laurel Creek. Air pollution and water runoff of pollutants from the site would impact the Game Lands and Laurel Creek, which flows into the Green River.

The East Flat Rock asphalt plant is an environmental justice issue.
The site is across the road to a low-income community that would bear the brunt of air and water pollution, dust, noise, truck traffic, and exposure to harmful toxins. Low income communities are disproportionately impacted by industrial facilities across the nation, and that’s not right.

Now is the time to stand up, speak out, and put a stop to this pollution factory before it even gets started! Join us in the fight!

Help Make the Pigeon River Healthier

Action Expired

Blue Ridge Paper Products has a long history on the Pigeon River in Canton. It has provided good quality jobs for decades, but also caused significant environmental impacts to the Pigeon River. Because of the pressure brought to bear from the public, environmental groups and the EPA, significant improvements in the amount and quality of the discharge to the river have been obtained, but we have a long way to go.

The goals of the Clean Water Act are to have all waters be fishable and swimmable. The way that regulators have tried to achieve those goals while balancing the interests and needs of industry is by slowly reducing permit discharge limits over time. The draft permit as proposed by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) takes a step backwards by weakening regulations, requiring less monitoring and allowing for more pollution to be discharged to the river.We are calling on the public to make their voice heard for continued improvements at the mill, so the Pigeon River can finally meet the goals of the Clean Water Act, almost 50 years after its passage. Attend and speak at the public hearing and submit comments to DEQ.Update: The NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is postponing the public hearing until April 14 and extending the period for public comments until April 30.

What you can do

1. Provide Public Comment via email to the Department of Environmental Quality.
  The public comment period has been extended until April 30. Take action today.
2. Speak up at the online public hearing:
  You must register by noon on April 14. Click here for registration and hearing details.
Resources
Talking Points

Temperature: Over 8,500 fish were killed in the summer of 2007 from an extremely hot discharge from the paper mill. This hot water discharge did not violate the temperature permit limits at the mill, because their limits during that time relied on a monthly average, which allows wild swings in the temperature of the discharge, and potential fish kills. Data from the NC Wildlife Resources Commission shows a substantial impact of aquatic life between up and downstream monitoring, and temperature is a likely factor in the reduced diversity and abundance of aquatic life downstream of the mill. MountainTrue, with the help of SELC and Clean Water for NC fought and won weekly monitoring limits in the last permit cycle, but those limits are being rolled back to a monthly average. We believe daily monitoring and a daily average limit for temperature is critical to understanding and protecting the Pigeon River. Now is not the time to roll back protections for the river!
Dioxin: Reduction in dioxin fish monitoring in the draft permit is being proposed. Current monitoring requires monitoring 3 times in 5 years, but the new draft permit reduces that to once every 5 years. This is problematic for two reasons. The most recent sampling conducted in 2014 still shows dioxin in fish tissue, and therefore monitoring on at least the same schedule should be continued until dioxin is no longer present in fish tissue samples. Secondly, the permit renewal cycle is many years overdue, the last fish tissue sample was taken over six years ago. That means, if new sampling is conducted only once in the next five years, that could mean that we only have one sample in 11 years. For these reasons we call on DEQ to continue the same sampling schedule of three times within every five years.
Fecal Coliform: The mill not only processes its own waste, but also serves as a wastewater treatment plant for the town of Canton. Violations for fecal coliform have been frequent in the last decade with MountainTrue documenting at least 25 permit violations, sometimes in excess of 250 times the safe limit for fecal coliform. The Mill has also commonly violated its permitted standards for total suspended solids and biological oxygen demand. There is an urgent need for significant improvements to the wastewater treatment plant to ensure the river and downstream river recreation users are protected from harmful and dangerous levels of bacteria in the river.

Chloroform: DEQ is proposing to allow the mill to increase their discharge of chloroform, a possible carcinogen. This is to an internal discharge point, so we need additional information to determine how much of this discharge is reaching the Pigeon River. The goal of the Clean Water Act is to reduce pollution discharges until all waters are fishable and swimmable. In this instance, not only is the discharge not decreasing, but the mill will be allowed to discharge even more cancer causing chemicals into the Pigeon River. The 2010 permit allowed for chloroform discharge allowances of 5.1 lb/day (as monthly average) or 8.6 lb/day (daily maximum). The 2021 proposed permit ups those limits to 6.27 lb/day (as a monthly average) and 10.5 lb/day (daily maximum). DEQ should be reducing those allowance, not letting the papermill pollute more.

Call on Congress: Support Major Public Transit Funding in the Emergency COVID-19 Aid Package

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Public transit systems all over the country are at risk of laying off workers and cutting back service due to the pandemic. Will you take action below to call on Congress to include major support for public transit systems this week in its emergency COVID-19 aid package?

In Asheville and all across the country, public transit is in crisis. The pandemic has caused local and state revenue used to fund public transit to drop sharply, and new passenger limits to maintain safety on buses are causing riders to be left behind at bus stops. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), over half of transit agencies in the US reported that without federal funding they are considering laying off or furloughing staff, while 61% said they may need to reduce service.

Right now Congress has the opportunity to save transit systems that are lifelines for essential workers – who we know are more likely to depend on public transit than other workers – and to make sure public transit can keep growing after the pandemic to build more livable and climate resilient communities. We are standing with our friends at APTA and calling for $32 billion in emergency funding for public transit in the federal COVID-19 aid package. This issue can’t wait, as COVID-19 cases are only set to get worse this winter and budget deadlines for many transit systems are coming up in the next few weeks.

Tell Congress: Now is the time to provide emergency funding for public transit.

Protect The Watauga River From Another Sewage Treatment Plant

Image Description: Secondhand equipment sits on the site of the proposed sewage plant in Seven Devils.

Action Expired

The Watauga doesn’t need another faulty sewage plant. The Town of Seven Devils has been approached to consider annexing a proposed development and sewage treatment plant along the Watauga River. This is bad news for water quality, trout, and all of us who depend on the Watauga for work and play. Will you make your public comment below to oppose this proposal?

After stalling for several months, this proposal is suddenly moving very quickly. There was a surprise special hearing about it on Monday December 7, and after we pressed for it, the Town has agreed to accept written public comments about the new plant until 2 pm today.

The Watauga River cannot handle more sewage plants. There are currently 36 permitted active and expired discharges on the Watauga River, many of which fail to meet standards. Just upstream from Seven Devils, The Ponds wastewater discharge plant has been in flagrant violation of North Carolina’s water quality regulations. When our Watauga Riverkeeper program began sampling there this summer, samples were 20-40 times over the EPA’s safety limit for E. coli pollution, and at times were so high that they maxed out our water monitoring equipment. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)’s follow-up visit to that plant discovered corroded leaking pipes, inactive overflow alarm systems and uncontrolled solids buildup – all indicating a serious threat to the river we love.

Take Action: Call On the NC Utilities Commission to Approve the Woodfin Solar Landfill Project!

Action Expired

A crucial renewable energy project to build a large-scale solar farm on top of a retired landfill in Woodfin is in jeopardy. We need you to call on the Utilities Commission to approve this important clean energy project before the Utilities Commission hearing. (Note: The hearing date has been moved from November 18 to December 3.)

Background
Back in 2015, as part of closing its Asheville coal plant, Duke Energy made a commitment to build 15 megawatts of new solar energy in our community. This was an integral part of the overall deal to retire coal and begin transitioning to clean energy. The Utilities Commission supported that commitment and approved Duke’s Western Carolinas Modernization Project. The Woodfin landfill solar farm accounts for one third of Duke Energy’s solar commitment to our region and is the first step in making good on that commitment, but now the project is at risk.

The Public Staff for the NC Utilities Commission are recommending the Commission reject this proposed 5 MW solar installation for being too costly, despite this being the cheapest land available in Western North Carolina for such a project. The public staff have said that solar should be built in the eastern part of the state instead, where larger projects are easier to construct.

North Carolina should support solar energy and the jobs that come with it all over the state – not just in the east. We need all the solar power we can build, and these 15 MW of solar are a needed step to tackle climate change in our region. But if this 5 MW solar project is denied, the other 10 MW of Duke’s commitment are likely to be denied too.

Why We Support This Project

To allow Duke to make good on their 2015 commitment to our community – a commitment supported by the Utilities Commission – Duke should be given approval to build the Woodfin landfill solar farm quickly and efficiently.
Our region needs new solar energy projects right here in Buncombe County, not just on the other side of the state. This will bring the benefits of new solar energy directly to our community: new solar jobs, reducing local carbon emissions, and making real progress on our county’s goal to reach 100% renewable energy by 2042.
Building solar energy on low-value land like this landfill preserves other land for new affordable housing, tree canopy, public spaces, and other highly sought after needs in our region.
Due to high land costs and steep terrain in most parts of the region, relocating this 5 MW to a different site would cost far more than installing the system at the relatively flat, more affordable retired landfill site.

Make your public comment below and call on the NC Utilities Commission to make good on Duke Energy’s solar commitment to Western North Carolina. Now is the time to move renewable energy forward in our region. Thank you for your support!

Protect Solar Panels at Asheville City Schools. Call For The School Board To Say Yes To Solar Now.