Photo courtesy of Jubal Roe.

Keep advocating to protect the Nolichucky! Please comment now to ensure stronger environmental requirements for CSX as they rebuild their railroad through North Carolina’s Nolichucky River Gorge.

North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality is requesting public comment on CSX’s application to rebuild their railroad through our state’s section of the Nolichucky River Gorge. You may recall that CSX’s railroad experienced extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Helene, and CSX immediately started rebuilding in a manner that was highly damaging to the Nolichucky River’s Wild and Scenic values. Your advocacy helped stop their destruction previously but unfortunately, CSX is back at it under new approvals from the Army Corps of Engineers. 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality can stop CSX’s most harmful practices and we need your help again pushing for strong environmental protections in their permit. Please use the link below to submit comments and help us protect the Nolichucky. We encourage you to make your comment your own, but the following may serve as a framework:

https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/Forms/401_Public_Notice_Comments

ID#: 20241562

Version: 2

Project Name: CSXT Emergency Track Rebuild Post Hurricane Helene

Your stance on the project: No

Comment:

I am opposed to this project without additional protections. The following provisions, if included, would allow me to support this project:

• DEQ should prohibit any harvesting, mining, or excavation of material from below the ordinary high-water mark. Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation has already prohibited the removal of material below the ordinary high-water mark in Tennessee. NC DEQ should do the same.
• DEQ should establish an ordinary high-water mark using the Army Corps’ January 2025 Ordinary High-Water Mark Manual. That analysis indicates the ordinary high-water mark should be approximately 6 feet above baseflow in the Gorge.
• DEQ must prohibit the removal of rock or any other material from any named rapid.
• DEQ should require CSX to provide for safe recreational and commercial whitewater access during reconstruction.
• The Nolichucky Gorge has been designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as critical habitat for the endangered Appalachian Elktoe. It is also habitat for the Eastern Hellbender, which the Fish and Wildlife Service recently proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. DEQ should require CSX to survey areas for Appalachian Elktoe and Eastern Hellbender presence before CSX takes any action – including operating machinery such as dump trucks and excavators – below the ordinary high-water mark.

SOS: Save Our Salamanders!

Friday, December 13 was a lucky day for eastern hellbender salamanders. Following years of advocacy from environmental organizations and conservation-minded individuals, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing hellbenders as an endangered species across their entire range. Listing this species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a huge step towards their continued existence, offering substantial federal protections that have historically been massively successful in bolstering populations of other listed species. To ensure the hellbender is officially listed, we need you to comment in support of protecting them through the ESA.

Hellbenders experience population decline as a result of sedimentation, water quality degradation, and habitat loss. Impacts from Hurricane Helene also displaced hellbender populations, severely degrading available habitat in some of the healthiest parts of their range. Since the ESA is so successful in protecting vulnerable species and bolstering declining populations, it is crucial that the hellbender be listed and protected as quickly as possible. 

Please comment now to support listing the eastern hellbender as a federally protected species under the Endangered Species Act. Remember to make your comment your own – unique comments carry more weight with agency staff. Comments are due February 11, 2025.

This action has expired

Photo courtesy of Jubal Roe.

We need you to tell North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to require railroad company CSX to apply for a permit to rebuild in the Nolichucky River Gorge. Please email Regional Supervisor Andrew Moore to request that DEQ make CSX apply for a permit.

Take Action + Tell NC DEQ: Require Responsible Railroad Build Back by CSX

Through their rebuilding work, CSX has left extensive damage in their wake on the Tennessee side of the Gorge. Fortunately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has prohibited CSX from mining rock from the Nolichucky or its tributaries until new approvals are in place. North Carolina’s DEQ can ensure that the NC stretch of the Nolichucky does not experience the same damage as the Tennessee side by requiring CSX to apply for an additional permit prior to rebuilding. This permit must prohibit removal of rock below the Ordinary High Water Mark.

The Army Corps’ mandate follows an immediate cease and desist and notice of violation issued by Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to CSX. TDEC found that CSX mined rock well below the Ordinary High Water Mark, causing significant damage to the riverbed. The damages caused by CSX will now be the responsibility of Tennessee taxpayers. North Carolina’s DEQ can prevent the same fate by requiring CSX to apply for a permit that allows the railroad to rebuild, but prevents the removal of rock below the Ordinary High Water Mark. The permit should also require that CSX remove all leftover materials and temporary access roads following completion of their work.

Please take action to protect North Carolina’s side of the Nolichucky River Gorge and ensure that CSX, not NC taxpayers, are financially responsible for rebuilding the railroad. As always, thank you for your attention and action!