By By TED STRONG
Staff Writer
The Environmental Protection Agency’s initial reaction to the permit granted to PCS Phosphate on Wednesday was positive, but the agency hasn’t ruled out a veto.
The permit, issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allows the mine-and-plant complex to expand by more than 11,000 acres. That expansion will impact nearly 4,000 acres of wetlands, though company officials and environmentalists disagree on how effective efforts to offset that damage are.
A written statement from EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones described the EPA has having “completed” its efforts, but Jones wrote that the agency won’t rule out a veto until it finishes reviewing the permit to see if it addresses concerns the EPA had raised about an earlier draft.
“EPA is completing that assessment now. We are pleased with the progress that has been made to reduce adverse environmental impacts associated with the project,” Jones wrote.
County Manager Paul Spruill said that if the permit stands the county will have “avoided the most massive economic crisis in 50 years.”
“The county is thankful that the Corps has issued a (decision) based on a thorough study of alternatives,” he said. “Any further delay on the part of EPA or any other regulatory agency would be unfair not only to the company but also to the people of Beaufort County.”
And the EPA’s statement struck a conciliatory note, mentioning concerns raised by local and company officials.
“EPA’s action demonstrates we can protect jobs and the environment,” Jones wrote.
The Corps also cited economic factors in the permit, signed by Col. Jefferson M. Ryscavage.
“My decision reflects that national concern for both protection and utilization of important resources, as well as the relative extent of public and private need for the proposed work,” the permit reads.
Earlier this year, the EPA requested an extra review of a draft of the permit by the Assistant Secretary of the Army, moving the issue from the Corps’ office in Wilmington to its office in Washington, D.C. That extra review mostly backed the Wilmington office, but mandated negotiations about the permit that involved officials from PCS Phosphate, the Corps and other federal agencies.
According to the permit, those talks resulted in the preservation of an extra 111 acres near the head waters of several streams. The concession apparently pleased the EPA, though the land is a relatively small part of the 2,618 additional acres PCS has agreed to avoid since first proposing the expansion.
Ross Smith, PCS Phosphate’s manager of environmental affairs, wasn’t able to comment on the permit because it hadn’t yet made it to Aurora. The electronic file was too large to reach company computers, but a hard copy should reach the site today, Smith said.
Tom Walker, chief of the Corps’ Wilmington Regulatory Field Office, said the Corps’ involvement with the project is far from done.
The Corps will be extensively involved as it sets up monitoring, receives reports and performs other functions, he said.