PCS Phosphate Mine

The Complete Story

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The Tar-Pamlico River is North Carolina's fourth largest river system. The river starts its 200 mile journey to the Pamlico Sound in Person County. Along the way, over 400,000 residents call the river basin their home, relying on the river and its tributaries for drinking water, jobs, recreation and food. The river feeds the Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, the second largest estuary in the United States and home to one of North America's most productive fishing grounds, generating $1 billion annually to the economy of the state.

Mine Expansion

PCS Phosphate, Inc., a subsidiary of PotashCorp of Saskatchewan Inc., is seeking to mine 11,000 acres including 4,000 acres of wetlands and about five miles of tidal creeks and streams bordering the Pamlico River.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Pamlico River and its tributary creeks are critical parts of an essential nursery habitat for most commercial and recreational fish and shellfish in the North Carolina coastal area and important habitat for waterfowls, shorebirds and other migratory birds. The Tar-Pamlico River basin feeds an estuary that is a nursery for more than 90 percent of all the commercial seafood species caught in North Carolina.

Because of these impacts, both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries recommended denial of PCS Phosphate’s proposed mine expansion. The National Marine Fisheries Service, the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission, and the N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission have also publicly declared that the mine expansion would do long-term damage to fisheries in this estuary system.

What's at Stake?

The wetlands that would be destroyed maintain the water quality, fisheries and wildlife in the Pamlico River in addition to protecting the area from storm surges. They also provide crucial habitat for commercial and recreational fisheries and are a major attraction for the housing industry, two vital economic engines in the region.

In addition to providing habitat, natural wetlands improve water quality, buffer hurricanes and storms, and act as freshwater reservoirs when water is scarce. These benefits are ever more vital for North Carolina as the climate changes.

Timeline: Myth vs. Fact

We recognize that eight years appears to be a long time for a permit decision, but looking beneath the surface shows that any delay in this process has been caused by the company and not resource agency staff. From the start, state agencies warned that the company’s plans violated state law, but PCS ignored those warnings and stood by its initial proposal for almost eight years. PCS continued to push for an alternative that state agencies repeatedly told the company could not be permitted, claiming that anything less would result in shutting down the mine. When it became clear from the very first scoping meeting in 2001 that any mining through public waters would require analysis and a permit, PCS sued the state to challenge the definition of navigable waters. The litigation did not end in settlement until 2006.  As recently as December 2007, the company argued that it would go out of business if forced to mine the plan it currently seeks to have permitted. 

To provide additional perspective on the timeline of this permit, it is important to review the permit application process for PCS' current permit, completed in the 1990's. The current permit for PCS is a 20-year permit. The evaluation and regulatory process took over 6 years to complete. The permit application request currently under review is for 37 years of mining and over 3 times the amount of impact to high quality wetlands and aquatic habitat. Other evaluated alternatives included almost 5 decades of mining and even greater impacts to our natural resources. Therefore the timeline to evaluate the alternatives has been very reasonable. All involved resource agencies have been forthright in expressing concerns and proposing alternatives that balance corporate and conservation concerns. On the other hand, PCS has moved very little.

Action

A coalition of conservation organizations are challenging a permit issued by the N.C. Division of Water Quality that illegally approves the largest destruction of wetlands in the state’s history by PCS Phosphate. The permit presumes the state will write new rules that accommodate the company’s ambitions.