The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources has released a revised wastewater discharge permit for Martin Marietta Materials Inc.’s Vanceboro Quarry. The revised permit is now open for public comment.
The previous version of the permit was approved in February 2025 after a public hearing held on November 19, 2024, in Washington, North Carolina. However, it was later rescinded following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in San Francisco v. EPA, 145 S. Ct 704 (2025). Since then, the permit has been updated to address new legal requirements.
No mining activity has taken place at the Vanceboro Quarry since the original permit was issued in 2013. The proposed permit would regulate up to 12 million gallons per day of mine dewatering and stormwater discharged from two outfalls into unnamed tributaries of Blounts Creek. This waterbody is classified as Class C, Swamp, and Nutrient Sensitive within the Tar-Pamlico River Basin.
The revised permit includes a requirement for biological integrity assessments every two years through sampling for benthos—small aquatic organisms that live in water—with the first sampling event scheduled between February 1 and March 15 after discharge begins.
Additionally, monthly monitoring will be required for pH levels, total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity—a measure of suspended material—in effluent from the mine.
“The permit includes a requirement to monitor monthly for pH, total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity – a measure of suspended material – in the discharge, or effluent, from the mine.”
Public comments on the revised permit will be accepted until October 29. Comments can be submitted by email to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov with “NC0089168 Vanceboro Quarry” included in the subject line or by mail to Wastewater Permitting (NC0089168), 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1617.
Further details about the permit and technical fact sheet are available online at DWR Vanceboro Quarry permitfile.
