Letter to the Beaufort County Commissioners: Martin Marietta Quarry | Eastern North Carolina Now

   I am writing this email to the county commissioners and managers. Please see that it gets distributed to the other commissioners. Most of them do not have email addresses listed. I am a native and lifelong resident of coastal North Carolina, live in Washington, and have a fishing guide service business based on the Pamlico River and adjacent waterbodies. My business is doing well so far, and there is a demand for people to travel to this area to enjoy our fisheries resources. The proposed limestone mine at the headwaters of Blount's Creek poses a serious threat to the health of fish and forage species that rely on Blount's Creek for habitat, especially those species that are more sensitive to changes in salinity such as the speckled trout (which is by far the most pursued species in this area). I have run many charters in the last few weeks in Blount's Creek and have been catching good numbers of speckled trout and striped bass in the creek. I put my boat in at Cotton Patch Landing, and my people (mostly from out of town) spend money in the store there as well as at local hotels, restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, etc. The point is that there is a "trickle" effect to other small business from my business and tourists coming to the area for other purposes.

    I am encouraging each of you to really think carefully about the potential negative effects that a major freshwater discharge (9 million gallons/day) into Blount's Creek could have on certain physical and chemical factors that support natural life in the creek. Right now, we just don't know what kind of effect this discharge might have. We at least owe ourselves to make Martin Marietta perform a more thorough assessment of potential impacts to the creek and local small businesses such as mine and many others in the area that rely on our natural resources to draw tourism income. So far, Martin Marietta has not done any significant due diligence in assessing these impacts. According to the permit file, they sampled for anadromous fish species (striped bass, shad, and river herring) on one day during the wrong time of the year. They at least need to perform a thorough assessment first, and then you all can make a more educated decision on whether Beaufort County and Blount's Creek need a major open pit mine in their headwaters.

    My stance is that we already have one of the largest open pit phosphate mines in the world and that we don't need any more heavy industry, especially the kind that threatens the very thing that brings people and $$$ to this area. Back in the 50's and 60's, this river was absolutely full of fish. Now, although much depleted from those times, we still have a viable recreational and commercial fishery, but just barely. We need to protect this resource for the future of small businesses in this county. Enough is enough!