The Human Touch Revealing All that is Real
The public hearing that wasn't.
By: Beaufort Observer Editorial Team ( More Entries )
Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.
Confusion reigned at the Chocowinity Town Board meeting Tuesday night. The issue was a proposed rock quarry being considered for an area southeast of Chocowinity that Martin Marietta proposes to build along the Beaufort/Craven county line. Several dozen residents of the Blounts Creek area showed up, apparently thinking there was going to be a public hearing on the proposed project. Mayor Jimmy Mobley immediately announced that there would be no public hearing because the Town of Chocowinity has no authority over the proposed project. It is located outside of the town's extra-territorial jurisdiction.
There was an agenda item that called for consideration of a resolution that was drafted by Public Works Director Kevin Brickhouse but it was quietly shelved. Instead, Mayor Mobley indicated that he had talked to Beaufort County officials earlier in the day when he heard rumors that a public hearing had been called and was told that the County Commissioners would be meeting January 9 and that people should attend that meeting and express their concerns.
That did not seem to placate those in attendance so after a brief business meeting the Mayor allowed those who wanted to speak. All spoke in opposition to the project, although some were concerned about gaining more information about the impact of the project. What was clear was that not much information is available on the details of the project.
That was essentially the position explained by a representative of the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation (PTRF), Heather Jacobs Deck. She indicated that PTRF has been seeking to find data and information, specifically related to the potential impact of the mine on Blounts Creek and on the Castle Hayne aquifer (the underground water source for the area). She explained that Martin Marietta had been working on the project since as far back as 2004 and had obtained some of the permits required but not all of them. The Corps of Engineers is now considering a permit, as is the Department of Environment and Natural and Resources (DENR). PTRF has issued an "Action Alert" that can be found on their website by clicking here.
Brickhouse told the Observer that he had drafted the proposed resolution in opposition to the quarry but stated that he did not have readily available data to support the positions expressed in the resolution.
That seemed to be the order of the day. No one seems to know very much about either the project or the permitting process. We will be working to gather more information so check back later. One thing we have determined is that Beaufort County, as with the Town of Chocowinity, has very little jurisdiction with the project except as it might affect the county's water. As Deck explained, the county has several wells located near the boundary of the ground water impact area, as does the Town of Vanceboro. But we understand no county or municipal wells are located within the designated impact area.
We'll post the video of the comments of the residents at the meeting and seek additional information from the Corps of Engineers, DENR and Martin Marietta. Martin Marietta has a number of similar projects, including one in Onslow County that also sits on the Castle Hayne aquifer. We have requested an explanation from them about what they are proposing and how they propose to mitigate the environmental impact. Check back later for more on that.
The first video is the opening of the meeting, including the announcement by Mayor Mobley that there is no formal public hearing scheduled on the rock quarry.
The next video clip begins the comments from the residents in attendance.
The third clip continues the residents' comments:
The third clip continues the residents' comments.
The fourth clip begins with comments from PTRF representative Heather Jacobs Deck. She provides more apparently solid information that we have heard from anyone else.
Commentary
Once again the public has been treated to a sorry job by the State of North Carolina. State officials are the ones responsible for the confusion about this project. There have been two crucial blunders, and no telling how many more minor ones.
The first is that there is no solid source of information about what this project entails and what the impact will be on the environment. That does not take a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement. It only takes good management by the people with DENR and the Corps of Engineers. It should be as simple as publishing a link to a website with the pertinent information.
The second major blunder is the fact that even our local leaders (i.e., mayors and county officials) have no readily apparent accurate guidance they can provide residents about how they can monitor and participate in the review process. That's unacceptable.
It is also regrettable that some of our colleagues in the media led people to believe that a municipality would be holding a public hearing on a state/Federal permitting process. The Town of Chocowinity and the County of Beaufort have no authority in this matter whatsoever. They are in the same boat as the residents who might be impacted.
We were contacted and asked about a "public hearing" and we refrained from publishing anything about it simply because we could not confirm with the appropriate state and federal officials that a public hearing was going to be held. And that is still the case as we write this. When we find out what we believe to be reliable information we will publish it. We would hope our friends in the media would do likewise. And we would also hope that local leaders would refrain from jumping to conclusions before they have solid data and information with which to form those conclusions and stir people up. That is not leadership.
But back to our original point. Governor Perdue's subordinates pulled the same kind of blunder over the sulfur melter at the State Port. She promised it would not happen again. It is happening again. It is happening with the rock quarry, the sulfur melter at Aurora and it is happening with the Wind Farm. She's batting 0 for 4 in Beaufort County. We would hope she would immediately dispatch someone to get a handle on this mess before it gets even messier.
Go Back
Confusion reigned at the Chocowinity Town Board meeting Tuesday night. The issue was a proposed rock quarry being considered for an area southeast of Chocowinity that Martin Marietta proposes to build along the Beaufort/Craven county line. Several dozen residents of the Blounts Creek area showed up, apparently thinking there was going to be a public hearing on the proposed project. Mayor Jimmy Mobley immediately announced that there would be no public hearing because the Town of Chocowinity has no authority over the proposed project. It is located outside of the town's extra-territorial jurisdiction.
There was an agenda item that called for consideration of a resolution that was drafted by Public Works Director Kevin Brickhouse but it was quietly shelved. Instead, Mayor Mobley indicated that he had talked to Beaufort County officials earlier in the day when he heard rumors that a public hearing had been called and was told that the County Commissioners would be meeting January 9 and that people should attend that meeting and express their concerns.
That did not seem to placate those in attendance so after a brief business meeting the Mayor allowed those who wanted to speak. All spoke in opposition to the project, although some were concerned about gaining more information about the impact of the project. What was clear was that not much information is available on the details of the project.
That was essentially the position explained by a representative of the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation (PTRF), Heather Jacobs Deck. She indicated that PTRF has been seeking to find data and information, specifically related to the potential impact of the mine on Blounts Creek and on the Castle Hayne aquifer (the underground water source for the area). She explained that Martin Marietta had been working on the project since as far back as 2004 and had obtained some of the permits required but not all of them. The Corps of Engineers is now considering a permit, as is the Department of Environment and Natural and Resources (DENR). PTRF has issued an "Action Alert" that can be found on their website by clicking here.
Brickhouse told the Observer that he had drafted the proposed resolution in opposition to the quarry but stated that he did not have readily available data to support the positions expressed in the resolution.
That seemed to be the order of the day. No one seems to know very much about either the project or the permitting process. We will be working to gather more information so check back later. One thing we have determined is that Beaufort County, as with the Town of Chocowinity, has very little jurisdiction with the project except as it might affect the county's water. As Deck explained, the county has several wells located near the boundary of the ground water impact area, as does the Town of Vanceboro. But we understand no county or municipal wells are located within the designated impact area.
We'll post the video of the comments of the residents at the meeting and seek additional information from the Corps of Engineers, DENR and Martin Marietta. Martin Marietta has a number of similar projects, including one in Onslow County that also sits on the Castle Hayne aquifer. We have requested an explanation from them about what they are proposing and how they propose to mitigate the environmental impact. Check back later for more on that.
The first video is the opening of the meeting, including the announcement by Mayor Mobley that there is no formal public hearing scheduled on the rock quarry.
The next video clip begins the comments from the residents in attendance.
The third clip continues the residents' comments:
The third clip continues the residents' comments.
The fourth clip begins with comments from PTRF representative Heather Jacobs Deck. She provides more apparently solid information that we have heard from anyone else.
Commentary
Once again the public has been treated to a sorry job by the State of North Carolina. State officials are the ones responsible for the confusion about this project. There have been two crucial blunders, and no telling how many more minor ones.
The first is that there is no solid source of information about what this project entails and what the impact will be on the environment. That does not take a full-blown Environmental Impact Statement. It only takes good management by the people with DENR and the Corps of Engineers. It should be as simple as publishing a link to a website with the pertinent information.
The second major blunder is the fact that even our local leaders (i.e., mayors and county officials) have no readily apparent accurate guidance they can provide residents about how they can monitor and participate in the review process. That's unacceptable.
It is also regrettable that some of our colleagues in the media led people to believe that a municipality would be holding a public hearing on a state/Federal permitting process. The Town of Chocowinity and the County of Beaufort have no authority in this matter whatsoever. They are in the same boat as the residents who might be impacted.
We were contacted and asked about a "public hearing" and we refrained from publishing anything about it simply because we could not confirm with the appropriate state and federal officials that a public hearing was going to be held. And that is still the case as we write this. When we find out what we believe to be reliable information we will publish it. We would hope our friends in the media would do likewise. And we would also hope that local leaders would refrain from jumping to conclusions before they have solid data and information with which to form those conclusions and stir people up. That is not leadership.
But back to our original point. Governor Perdue's subordinates pulled the same kind of blunder over the sulfur melter at the State Port. She promised it would not happen again. It is happening again. It is happening with the rock quarry, the sulfur melter at Aurora and it is happening with the Wind Farm. She's batting 0 for 4 in Beaufort County. We would hope she would immediately dispatch someone to get a handle on this mess before it gets even messier.
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