The battle pitting environmental advocates and Blounts Creek residents against mining company Martin Marietta Materials Inc. and the state Department of Environmental Quality headed back to court this week. The evidentiary hearing represents a second, more in-depth attempt to determine whether the DEQ violated state and federal law by issuing the mining company a permit that would allow it to dump up to 12 million gallons of freshwater per day into the brackish headwaters of Blounts Creek.

Opening statements from both sides were made Tuesday morning at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Raleigh, before a crowd that included local stakeholders, according to Pamlico-Tar riverkeeper Heather Deck.

“There were folks from Blounts Creek that were here just listening to the case. They’re making the commitment to continue to be present,” Deck said. “I’ve been doing this job for 13 years, and this is — of everything that’s happened — the biggest, ongoing response we’ve ever seen.”

The case has been bouncing through the court system since September of 2013, when Sound Rivers (then known as the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation) and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, filed a petition with the state to take a closer look at the state Division of Water Resources’ issuance of a National Pollution Elimination Discharge System (NPDES) permit for Martin Marietta’s proposed limestone mine in southern Beaufort County.

The plaintiffs argue that the influx of so much fresh water will alter the water’s pH enough to irreparably change the ecosystem of Blounts Creek, one of many Pamlico River tributaries designated by the state as a nursery for saltwater species. The state and Martin Marietta counsel have maintained that fresh water will not have a discernible impact on the creek and any change in pH would present opportunity for other species to thrive.

In January of 2015, Administrative Law Judge Phil Berger Jr. ruled against Sound Rivers and NCCF, saying that the environmental advocacy organizations had no legal standing to question the state permit, nor were they “persons aggrieved,” meaning no personal harm had resulted from the permit’s issue. In September 2015, Superior Court Judge Douglas Parsons overturned Berger’s ruling, sending the case back to the Office of Administrative Hearings for an evidentiary hearing, in which more testimony would be given and more expert witnesses heard in order for the court to make a more informed decision on the matter.

Deck, Cotton Patch Landing owner Jimmy Daniels and Blounts Creek resident and owner of Miss Bea’s Charters Bob Boulden were all subpoenaed to testify Tuesday. While Daniels and Boulden testified for approximately two hours each, responding to questions about their businesses and the role the creek plays in supporting them, Deck’s time on the stand was shorter, though attorneys have reserved the right to call her back to testify, she said.

“They’re cross(examination) was pretty short, so I think may I wasn’t going down the path they thought I might go,” Deck said.

Wednesday, Sound Rivers board member Ernie Larkin will testify, as will NCCF Executive Director Todd Miller. On Thursday, testimony from expert witnesses is slated to start with East Carolina University professor Dr. Eban Bean, who researches hydrology and the impacts of the developed environment on environmental quality. Bean volunteered to monitor Blounts Creek’s water quality for a year’s time, measuring the natural flow of the creek, in addition to its variations in pH and salinity, to use as comparison to Martin Marietta consultants’ reports, and as a benchmark should the NPDES permit be upheld, Deck said.

“(Bean’s work) provided information that nobody else really had,” she said.

The trial is expected to last through this week and into next week. For a second time, Berger is the presiding judge.