Public comment period for Western Wake sewage plant to end April 28
The public has less than two weeks to comment on a draft Environmental Impact Statement on a wastewater treatment plant proposed for New Hill, a primarily African-American community in unincorporated western Wake County.
The draft EIS, commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, compares the New Hill site with three site alternatives, and is available online here: http://www.saw.usace.army.mil/wetlands/projects/WW-WTP/DEIS/index.html
Go to the end of this story for information on where to send comments.
The controversial $327 million project has a long history. The towns of Cary, Apex, Morrisville, Holly Springs, and the Wake County portion of Research Triangle Park, have formed an alliance, Western Wake Partners, to determine the best site for a sewage treatment plant. In 2006, they issued an environmental impact statement determining the unincorporated town of New Hill was the best place to flush their waste—despite reasonable alternatives in other underpopulated areas near the Shearon Harris nuclear plant.
However, that EIS elicited massive public outcry, and skepticism from state regulators, for having incomplete data and a lack of public input. Citing an approach that “does not appropriately evaluate the population directly impacted” in New Hill, hearing officers for the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources wrote that the report should not be considered an “accurate, complete and adequate document.”
So in 2007, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took on the report, according to the Corps, so that it would comply fully with state and federal environmental laws.
Yet, the Corps’ draft EIS, written by a team of consultants hired by Western Wake Partners, has arrived at many of the same conclusions as the Partners’ original EIS. Though it does not explicitly argue for locating the plant at New Hill, the report appears to pave the way for the Partners’ intended outcome.
“We believe, very strongly, that the Partners’ preferred site represents the most cost-effective, and environmentally sound, alternative that meets the needs of our local communities—and it’s clearly supported by the draft EIS,” said Apex Mayor Keith Weatherly at an April 14 hearing to receive public comments on the draft report. Continue reading »
