PCS Mining Proposal: Fact vs. Myth
A total of approximately 900 acres of wetlands are destroyed each year in North Carolina. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (PCS) Phosphate, Inc. has applied to the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for a permit to destroy 4,000 acres of wetlands as well as five miles of streams immediately adjacent to the already threatened Pamlico River. And they’ve asked the state to relieve them of responsibility to mitigate this unprecedented impact, knowing the challenge would be too great.
Mining at this site could permanently damage important commercial fisheries in the region. The Albemarle-Pamlico Sound is one of the most productive North American fisheries, generating thousands of jobs and over $1 billion dollars annually and $3 million of that in Beaufort County alone. The area the company seeks to mine will permanently damage primary fishing habitat, where both economically important commercial and recreational fish species spend all or part of their life cycle. Destroying these important fisheries will impact this region long after PCS has left the area, and there are no mitigation measures that can reverse this damage. This is to say nothing of the impacts the destruction of wetlands and tidal creeks will have on the region’s tourism and housing industries, other important, rapidly growing economic engines of the area.
PCS, a foreign company, has stated repeatedly that the future of the phosphate mining industry is so tenuous that such extreme mining is paramount to its future. Mining, by its very nature, is a relatively short-term endeavor. PCS will eventually run out of phosphate to mine in Beaufort County. When it does, Beaufort county residents deserve for its other economic engines – fishing, tourism and housing industries to be preserved.
The Corps of Engineers should require PCS to mine the extensive upland it owns before allowing it to destroy sensitive wetlands, streams and tidal creeks. Furthermore, PCS should be required to mitigate all impacts of its mining in a way that is both reasonable and meaningful. And the state should not let the company out of its obligation to replace the creek-side buffers by restoring buffers on other nearby creeks.
We all want PCS to continue to be the economic presence it has been for 40 years in Beaufort County. This mining can be done in a way that allows us to preserve our culture, our economy, and our future, without sacrificing the bottom line, or the employment rolls, of PCS.
Myth: PCS reclaims the wetlands it destroys
- Since PCS began operations at the Beaufort County site it has only reclaimed 14% of the wetlands it has destroyed.
- Reclaimed wetlands are not restored wetlands. They are only “filled in” wetlands and do not do anything to restore the functions of wetlands, which protect water quality and important fisheries.
- These reclaimed areas will be permanently surrounded with 60 ft. dikes, eliminating any possibility that the mined areas could return to a natural state.
- When it reclaims those wetlands it fills them in using a blend that is high in cadmium, which hurts plants and animals, including humans, which can develop symptoms ranging from fevers and headaches, to lung and prostate cancer.
Myth: PCS plans on mitigating the impact to wetlands it will have under this permit
- Because they plan on destroying an unprecedented number of streams and will be unable to repair them as would normally be required, PCS has asked the state to let them out of their obligation to replace the stream buffers it will destroy by simply restoring buffers on other streams. The state agreed and allowed the company's mining plan to move forward.
- Several federal and state agencies agree that the company’s self-proclaimed “ambitious” mitigation plan will not be successful in replacing the functions of the wetlands that would be destroyed.
- In the EIS, PCS repeatedly asks to mitigate less than the Corps and EPA standard and fills those requests with qualifiers and stipulations.
- Regardless, state and federal scientists agree that mining at this site will permanently destroy these wetlands beyond hope of mitigation. The EIS even acknowledges a complete destruction of habitat in the mine areas.
Myth: PCS can’t afford to mine at any other site.
- PCS owns a site just six miles away that, while admittedly containing less phosphorus than its preferred site, has all the phosphate they need to meet their projected demand.
- In fact, even though the company currently claims that this site can’t be mined now, it is a part of the company’s long term plans.
Myth: The proposal will not greatly affect marshes and creeks
- Most of Whitehurst, Jacks, Jacobs, Drinkwater and Tooley Creeks would be destroyed, including almost all of their surrounding drainage areas.
- These areas are essential for commercial fisheries production, including blue crab, penaid shrimp, Atlantic Croaker, and bay anchovy.
- In all, about five miles of streams will be destroyed
