Hearing set on UNC research waste spraying

Preserve Rural Orange, which has been a major player in seeking to protect the environment and rural way of life in Orange County, is teaming up with the environmentalist group Haw River Assembly in beating the drum for public turnout at a public hearing tonight to speak out against UNC’s plans to spray 1.2 million gallons of research waste in the Haw River Watershed yearly, at a cost of $14.7 million.

The hearing will be at the White Cross Recreation Center, 1800 White Cross Road, Chapel Hill, and starts at 7 p.m., with registration at 6:30. The hearing is under the auspices of the N.C. Division of Water Quality, and Preserve Rural Orange is pushing for requiring regulators to obtain an environmental impact statement to determine impacts and alternatives to more research animal waste.

Protections are needed for clean water, public health and the environment, the groups say. The UNC animal research lab has been identified as a concern and an irritant to those living in its vicinity. It has had a series of mishaps with failed waste systems and waste fluids leaking off site, and failure to notify landowners of the wastewater leaks, some of which have drawn state action such as revoking permits.

Below is a timeline that Preserve Rural Orange put out in a news release highlighting the research facility’s history and past environmental accidents:

Four decades of UNC research waste in the Haw River Watershed

UNC purchases “The Farm” from Anthony & Isabelle Jacobs in southwest Orange County agricultural residential zone

The university builds and operates 6,616 square foot lab animal research facility (species unknown)

Facility houses unknown numbers of animals whose waste is discharged directly into Collins Creek for an undisclosed period

26,000 rodents

13 buildings 

56,350 square feet (5 pig enclosures: 24,000 s.f.; 2 dog kennels: 10,000 s.f.; rodent facility: 11,000 s.f.; blood lab: 8,850 s.f; office: 1,500 s.f.; kennel & lab: 1,000 s.f.)

35 employees

49 parking spaces

No municipal water or sewer

UNC: “No wetlands” on UNC facility property

UNC: “No impacts on surface waters” from proposed project

UNC: Neighbors of the facility are “widely scattered”

New building; “Deemed permitted” wastewater system built without engineer certification

Neighbors learn of UNC plans by finding UNC surveyor’s tape on neighboring properties

NC Senate Bill 1925 empowers UNC to seize land for “airport & amusements” in Orange County, using public funds to serve primarily special interests

#1 Orange County site: 25 private properties adjoining UNC Animal Research Facility

120,960 gallons research waste in Collins Creek

1.6 million gallon failed lagoon

Multiple illegal wastewater discharges; neighbors are never notified, leaking wastewater is not sampled

PRO requests facility public records of operations; UNC asks for $5,000 advance fee to inspect (not copy) records

DWQ revokes wastewater system permit

Toxic solvents contaminate septic system

UNC shuts down failed waste systems

UNC disclosure: waste spray fields & road are built on wetlands in violation of federal Clean Water Act

NIH inquires about infrastructure failures; UNC returns $14.5 million stimulus grant to NIH

UNC hires McKim & Creed consultants

UNC pledges transparency, compliance, communication of plans with neighbors & public, testing of neighbors’ wells (none has occurred)

Facility plans shift repeatedly: hundreds of dogs; small animals only; hogs and dogs on dry bedding; dogs and small animals

UNC applies for erosion control permit, wastewater permit modification and stormwater permit

UNC fails to notify neighbors of DWQ permit applications

UNC: 10 employees to generate 1.2 million gallons “domestic” waste per year

Waste spray field acreage to double to more than 5 acres, including open pasture along main road

Projected cost to remove failed system and install new system: $14.7 million

Source of funding: undisclosed

Preserve Rural Orange (PRO): http://preserveruralorange.org/