In 2010, Martin Marietta (MM) asked Onslow County for a Special Use Permit to excavate a limestone quarry in the small, eastern North Carolina town of Maple Hill. This project raises serious environmental justice concerns. The residents believe, not inaccurately, that this massive, multi-national corporation has targeted a town with few financial resources and a history of holding little to no political power. Some of their homeowners approached our organization to help them fight this battle.

In addition to threatening the lifestyles and well-being of the Maple Hill community, the proposed rock quarry site is also located in one of the most biologically significant areas of North Carolina: the Maple Hill Savannas Macrosite. The Maple Hill Savannas is a cluster of Significant Natural Heritage Areas (SNHAs), which protect many rare plants and animals and natural communities that are unique to Onslow and Pender Counties, including one of the last remaining native populations of the Venus Flytrap. The list of rare plants and animals that can be found within one mile of the project can be viewed at the following website: http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com/?p=2450. Many of these species are wetlands-dependent.

MM proposes to pump 9 million gallons per day out of the aquifer in order to dewater the quarry. Even when the ground appears dry in this area, the groundwater is often less than 12 inches from the surface. This proposal could lower groundwater levels by as much as 80 feet below ground level, drying up their wetlands and destroying what is left of the Savannas and the rare species that depend on it for their very survival.

The cone of depression (an area of lowered groundwater) from this massive project is projected to be 7.4 miles across and will not only have severe impacts on the surrounding wetlands, but could also dry up the flowers in neighboring creeks, including Sandy Run Creek and Shelter Swamp Creek, which flow into the Northeast Cape Fear, and Southwest Creek, a tributary of the New River.

As tragic as the loss of the wetlands would be for the ecology of eastern North Carolina, that’s not even considering the impact of adding 9 million gallons a day of dewatering discharge into one of these tiny headwater streams. Or the impact of wasting another 9 million gallons in a region that is already sinking an inch per decade due to over pumping of groundwater and is in the Coastal Capacity Use Area, where North Carolina has already identified serious groundwater supply issues in the deeper aquifers.

This project will dry up people’s wells and ponds, and also cause sinkholes. In addition, as there are hog farms located in this area, any sinkholes created could also create waste spills from the manure lagoons on these farms into the residents’ drinking water supply.

Mine dewatering discharges for the four currently permitted mines in Onslow County account for a permitted discharged of over 17 million gallons a day. If approved, this mine would waste another 9 million gallons a day, for a total of 26 million gallons of water wasted due to mine dewatering every day. Millions of taxpayer dollars have already been spent managing our precious groundwater supplies to guarantee our continued access to clean drinking water.

We’ve met with the community many times and they were able to hire an attorney and a hydrogeologist to testify at the Special Use permit hearing. We were also able to receive phenomenal support from Pender Watch, Cape Fear River Watch and the Audobon Society in working with the community. The Nature Conservancy, NC Dept. of State Parks and the NC Natural Heritage Program sent letters of concern to the Board of Adjustment as well. We testified before the Board about the basic incompatibility with the Onslow County Comprehensive Plan and the impacts of yet another massive water-wasting industry on our drinking water supplies.

Against all odds, and after many hours of testimony over several months, the Onslow Board of Adjustment voted to deny MM’s Special Use Permit in December 2010, which was a great success for the Maple Hill community. We believe the Board of Adjustment made a good decision to deny MM’s request but this was just the beginning of the battle, as MM has already filed a lawsuit in Superior Court against Onslow County to attempt to overturn the Board’s decision.

None of us believe that MM is going to walk away from this idea. The rock on that site is worth a lot of money. They’ve been told they can’t quarry any closer to the coast because of saltwater intrusion and have already invested heavily in nonrefundable options to buy the quarry site and highly-paid experts to tell everyone they’re worried over nothing. We plan to help organize the community to promote education about the possible effects of this proposal.