HAMLET — A state agency will be holding a public hearing next month on the latest permitting stage for a proposed industrial site in Richmond County.
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources announced Thursday that there will be a public hearing to take comments regarding a stormwater permit for International Tie Disposal.
According to the permit, ITD would be allowed to discharge into an unnamed tributary of Mill Creek, which is part of the Lumber River Basin.
DEQ received the permit application on April 28, 2023.
In a Nov. 1 letter to ITD, Brianna Young, industrial individual permit coordinator, noted that the facility would drain into an area that is home to the Red-cockaded woodpecker, an endangered species and that failure to abide by the permit “may constitute a violation of the Threatened and Endangered Species Act.”
A topographical map of the site also shows it sits near the Sandhills Game Land.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, March 18 — with speaker sign-up beginning a half-hour before — at Cole Auditorium. Potential speakers can also sign up by clicking here.
A copy of the draft permit can be viewed by clicking here.
Print copies and related documents can be reviewed at the Department’s Fayetteville Regional Office. Appointments to review documents can be made by calling 910-433-3300.
Comments can be mailed to:
Stormwater Permitting Program
Attn: Brianna Young
1612 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC, 27699-1612
Comments can also be emailed to Young at: Brianna.Young@deq.nc.gov. “International Tie Disposal” should be in the subject line of emails.
All comments received by 5 p.m. March 22, 2024 will be considered in the final determination of the permit status, according to DEQ.
DEQ granted an air quality permit to ITD in April 2021. That permit — valid until March 31, 2029 — authorizes ITD to construct and operate up to 426 biochar kilns with natural gas-fired burners.
Click here to read that story.
In 2020, the Richmond County Board of Commissioners approved a rezoning request from CSX Transportation for the biochar plant, which is proposed for a site north of Hamlet off of Marks Creek Church Road.
The plant has been opposed by several residents, the city of Hamlet and the town of Dobbins Heights, as well as the environmental groups Clean Water for N.C. and the Dogwood Alliance.
