NEWPORT-After years of controversy, the Pigeon River's future water quality will be determined by the upcoming renewal permit for the Blue Ridge Paper Products mill in Canton, N.C., according to a press release from Clean Water Expected in East Tennessee (CWEET).

An official notice for public comment was announced late last week by the North Carolina Division of Water Quality (DWQ). The public has been awaiting release of the upcoming permit since the mill's previous permit expired in 2006, according to CWEET.

Since the expiration of the previous permit, Blue Ridge has been allowed to continue their operations under a three-year administrative extension.

A copy of the draft permit and what DWQ characterizes as a "fact sheet" are available at: http://h2o.enr.state.nc.us/NPDES/PublicNotices.html

Established in 1908, the Canton paper mill has discharged pollution to the waters of the Pigeon River for 101 years, according to CWEET. During the 1980's, efforts by citizens groups helped to raise awareness about the "deplorable water quality" in the Pigeon River, the press release stated.

These efforts led to a challenge from the State of Tennessee, Newport, and Cocke County officials, who called for enforcement of environmental laws that had been ignored by the weak permits. The permit challenge resulted in significant improvements being made to the Pigeon's waters, reducing color pollution by more than 50 percent in four years. The cleanup of the Pigeon led to the booming rafting industry in Cocke County, which is currently the county's major source of revenue, according to CWEET.

Concerned citizens groups that have been following this permit for years take issue with several items in the draft permit's fact sheet.

The mill is referred to in the fact sheet as "the cleanest mill in the world." With no context or further information, this is completely misleading. While the Mill discharges a smaller concentration of some pollutants per ton of production, it is a huge mill with thousands of tons of production each day, on a tiny mountain river, so the total amount of pollution released is not one of the lowest in the world, the release stated. The industrial measurement of pollutants per ton is not a measure of its impact on the river or actual in-stream water quality.

During summer low river flow periods, which are likely to occur more frequently under climate change scenarios, the mill almost always exceeds the 50 color unit standard that the Environmental Protection Agency was aiming for over 20 years ago, sometimes by very large percentages. The weak limits in this permit are therefore far from protecting acceptable water quality in the Pigeon River.

In addition, the permit would call for removal of the color variance, which could lead to any additional improvements to water quality being halted completely. Amelia Taylor with CWEET, a Newport-based group, stated in the release that "the variance gives the mill permission to pollute the water until a certain standard has been met. Once the standard has been met then the variance can be removed, but over the last few years the mill has not even been meeting the standard that was set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Once the variance is removed then the mill won't have to make any further improvements. It's basically saying that they've done everything they needed to do."

CWEET states that while major improvements were made to the Pigeon's water quality during the 1990's, significant progress has not been made in nearly a decade.

"The purpose of a wastewater discharge permit is to eliminate pollution through every 5 year permit cycle. Since the 2001 permit was issued we have not seen water quality on the Pigeon improve," said Taylor.

The group is calling for the citizens of Cocke County and East Tennessee to be involved in the upcoming permitting process.

"This is about the future and health of our community and children. The quality of our water directly affects the quality of our lives. If we want to see a strong and enforceable permit that would restart the cleanup of the river, we need our citizens to stand up for this. Right now the permit as it's written could stop the clean up altogether," commented Angel Moore of CWEET. 

A public meeting on the permit will be held in Cocke County on Jan. 25 at Cocke County High School. Another public hearing is planned for the following day, Jan. 26, in Waynesville, N.C. Residents and organizations can make comments now concerning the condition of the river and permit to the N.C. Division of Water Quality at DWQ/NPDES Unit, 1617 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699.

For more information contact Clean Water Expected in East TN (CWEET) at (423) 237-5187 or visit cweet.org.