On March 11, 2013, the NC Division of Water Quality issued a draft wastewater permit for the UNC Animal Research Facility.  Thanks to input from more than fifty community members, the new draft permit includes more stringent conditions requiring increased monitoring, water testing, reporting, public notification, and safeguards in the wastewater system. 
UNC responds to DWQ DENR, doesn't include new 20 acres in Bingham Facility footprint

UNC response to DWQ/DENR 1/31/13
UNC specs for DWQ/DWQ 1/31/13
UNC drawings for DWQ/DWQ 1/31/13
UNC design manual for DWQ/DWQ 1/31/13

click on the link for the news story, audio & map:

January 31, 2013


December 6, 2012, Raleigh, NC--The North Carolina Division of Water Quality (DWQ) has issued the hearing officer's report (large file) for the August 22, 2012 hearing on a wastewater permit application for UNC 's Animal Research Facility in rural Orange County. 

Before deciding whether to issue a permit, DWQ sent a letter to UNC Vice Chancellor Karol Kain Gray requesting a response by January 5, 2013 on items including:

• Disclosing pollutants, chemicals used on site, and annual water use
• Sampling & analyzing wastewater
  
• Reducing proposed water use
• Installing groundwater monitoring wells along boundary with neighboring residences to detect contaminants
  
• Monitoring all surface waters on site upstream and downstream for contaminants
• Instituting safety and emergency notification procedures
• Increasing setbacks from bus stops

Click on links to read the DWQ hearing officer's report (large 37 MB file) and the letter from NC DWQ to UNC Vice Chancellor Karol Kain Gray.

Our deepest thanks to the dozens of citizens who attended the public hearing and sent detailed concerns to state regulators.  Your well-informed comments and requests for improved oversight of the UNC Animal Research Facility have resulted in increased scrutiny of the University's operations and plans.

By calling attention to impacts of the UNC's facility expansion plans on the environment and public health, we hold our state university accountable for its failure to uphold the public interest.





September 28, 2011        Despite UNC administrators’ stated commitment to notify neighbors and PRO of all communications with DENR and to post public documents on UNC’s Bingham Facility web page, neither neighbors nor PRO were notified when UNC submitted a permit modification application to DWQ on August 16, 2011, to rebuild and expand failed wastewater systems at the UNC Research Facility in Bingham Township .  UNC's Bingham web page has not been updated since 2010.  To make this information publicly available, PRO will scan and post UNC's application documents on the PRO website- hundreds of pages of designs, specifications and maps- we'll notify PRO subscribers as soon they are online.  ____________________________________________________ News Update - February 6, 2010 UNC wastewater system status revoked     Earlier this week Preserve Rural Orange sent a request to Dee Freeman, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), co-signed by the Haw River Assembly, Clean Water for North Carolina and the Sewage Sludge Action Network chapter of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.  Haw River Assembly Executive Director and River Keeper Elaine Chiosso also sent a separate letter supporting our request.     We asked for an investigation of the illegal wastewater discharge and series of equipment malfunctions at the UNC Research Resource Facility in 2009 and 2010, and asked DENR to revoke the animal wastewater system’s  “deemed permitted” status, requiring UNC to apply for a permit.      We heard back from Secretary Freeman that an investigation and inspection of the site are under way, and that the deemed permitted status has been revoked [5.3 MB file].  UNC has 30 days to apply for a permit.  Coleen Sullins, Director of DENR’s Division of Water Quality (DWQ) also sent a notice of intent to UNC at the end of the week to alert university officials that the state is considering an enforcement action because of the nearly two-month delay in addressing and reporting the wastewater leak that flowed into Collins Creek. Recent news articles: State looks into leak from UNC pond, Mark Schultz, News & Observer, February 6, 2010 Group asks UNC to fix animal waste lagoons, Tristan Long, The Herald-Sun, January 31, 2010 UNC says it didn't hide leak: Wastewater reached creek, Mark Schultz, Chapel Hill News, January 31, 2010 State may require UNC's Bingham Facility to get a permit, Mark Schultz, News & Observer, January 29, 2010 PRO: More Oversight of UNC's Research Farm, Elizabeth Friend, WCHL 1360 AM, January 27, 2010 Waste leak went unfixed, Mark Schultz, Chapel Hill News, January 27, 2010     UNC must come clean: Pollution from University research facility must stop; transparency and accountability are necessary, DTH Editorial Board, Daily Tar Heel, January 24, 2010 _____________________________

News Update--January 23, 2010 UNC Research Facility Wastewater Spill in Collins Creek        Over the past week we have learned increasingly alarming details about animal wastewater spilling into Collins Creek from a 1.6 million gallon storage lagoon at the UNC Research Resource Facility in Bingham Township.  Despite community members’ requests over the past several years for meetings, public records and proactive communication about facility safety and expansion plans, UNC representatives have responded with delayed communications, misrepresentations and only partial information long after incidents occurred.         Since October 2009, equipment at the facility has repeatedly failed: there was an incinerator fire and malfunction, an ongoing animal wastewater lagoon liner leak reported in December that spilled into Collins Creek in unknown volumes, a 630-gallon wastewater leak in November from pipes that were never bolted together, and a leak last week due to cracked valves (see DENR documents and photos of leaking wastewater).        We are concerned about UNC’s lack of transparency and accountability, delay in reporting an illegal discharge to state authorities (see UNC correspondence), failure to alert neighbors who have repeatedly expressed concern precisely about these hazards, and construction and use of faulty equipment without a permit. These actions endanger public health and the watershed, and result in costly repairs.        Earlier this week Preserve Rural Orange sent a Proposal to UNC administrators, with copies to Orange County commissioners and staff, outlining a series of steps to improve communications, transparency and protection of environmental and human health with regard to current operations and the $27 million expansion underway at the site.         This week the animal wastewater system was shut down to drain about 400,000 gallons from the lagoon and haul it offsite to OWASA, in order to find and repair the liner leak. UNC will pay OWASA more than $2,000 for handling the wastewater, and according to NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) estimates, hauling more than fifty truckloads of wastewater could cost UNC up to $30,000. Click here for the full update on the UNC wastewater spill   What you can do: Please join us in contacting UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp, asking university leaders to engage in the public process suggested in our Proposal to UNC, and to take the following additional measures: Cease animal wastewater lagoon operations at the UNC Research Resource Facility until DENR concludes its investigation of the illegal discharge into Collins Creek, determines the system’s compliance and permit status, and confirms the safety of continued use Apply for a permit for the animal wastewater treatment and disposal system to ensure oversight and safeguards at the facility Provide neighbors, PRO and county officials with timely copies of communications and reports about this and future incidents News articles: UNC's wastewater worries Lisa Sorg, Independent Weekly, January 20, 2010 UNC warned after leak Mark Schultz, News and Observer, January 21, 2010 
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UNC Research Facility Expansion in the News    The November 11, 2009 Independent Weekly features an article, "UNC research facility flies under the radar: What are they building in there?"-- following an investigation by editor Lisa Sorg into UNC-Chapel Hill's plans for a $27 million expansion of the UNC Research Resource Facility in Bingham Township.  The article raises questions about the lab animal facility's operations, its  impacts on neighbors and the environment and the status of our public records request which is largely unfulfilled five months after it was submitted to the university.     In June 2009 we submitted a public records request about the facility to UNC to learn more about expansion plans and past, present and future activities.  We also asked for the same records on UNC's Francis Owen Blood Research Lab which is planned to move from its current location in the University Lake watershed to the Bingham Township facility in the Haw River watershed, along a tributary of Collins Creek.      Five months later, there are still more questions than answers.  After nearly three months of delays, the response to our request from UNC's Office of General Counsel was that we would need to pay $1,000 in advance and sign an agreement to pay up to $5,000 in additional costs to receive copies of records going back only five years (note: expansion plans were developed at least seven years ago).  When we modified the request and asked to look at records first before copying, the response was that we would have to pay the same $1000 and sign the same agreement, just to inspect the records.     While we do not plan to pay to inspect state university records that belong to the public, we are pursuing our request for access to these records on issues of concern to immediate neighbors and the surrounding community.  We hold UNC accountable for providing records before construction is complete and new operations begin.     Neighbors have legitimate concerns about environmental and human health impacts of air and water-borne toxins, pathogens and pharmaceuticals resulting from incineration and wastewater spraying, and impacts on wells, the aquifer and the regional water supply.  Instead of creating obstacles for citizens seeking answers while moving ahead with construction, we believe the university should share our concerns, communicate with Orange County officials and citizens, and immediately provide records of its activities.  Only with full, ongoing and timely disclosure of relevant information will we be assured that every possible precaution will be taken to protect the community from irreparable harm.     We will keep you informed as we learn more, and continue to post documents from the state, county and university in the right hand column of this page.
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UNC LAB ANIMAL FACILITY RESEARCH RESOURCE FACILITY in Bingham Township Community members, along with Preserve Rural Orange researchers are gathering information on the $27 million expansion of  UNC’s animal research facility, the Research Resource Facility (also called “The Farm”) at 1907 Orange Chapel Clover Garden Road.      Phase III funding of $8.6 million for the  facility was approved in the same July 2008 NC Senate Bill 1925 that created the airport authority.  The approximately 50 acre property sits directly adjacent to the southwest end of the Site H airport map.  The university has owned and run the facility for decades to raise lab animals for research. There are already dogs on site and there will be pigs and rodents as well in the new buildings.     There is a new animal waste lagoon, with plans to treat up to 10,000 gallons of waste per day and spray with 800 spray heads into the woods above a tributary which runs into Collins Creek.  There is also a human waste lagoon which has been expanded and an incinerator with a record of emissions including mercury and  propylene oxide.  The facility is planning to use 1000 gallons per day of  well water.     We are contacting federal, state, county and university officials as well as environmental groups to learn more about the facility, and to raise awareness of its current and potential impact which most of us were unaware of  until now.  If you have any additional information or would like to join in our efforts, contact us at: info@preserveruralorange.org  (from FPC UNC web page listed below) "The  University has a master plan for the development of the Research Resource Facility, which will accommodate several species of animals in multiple buildings. The site for the facility is located in Orange County and site plan approval from the county has been obtained. The University now wants to implement the master plan in phases. Coordinate the development of site infrastructure elements such as water supply and sewage disposal, fencing, security and roads, as well as roughly a dozen buildings planned to be constructed in a number of phases." (From UNC Facilities Planning and Construction on the Research Resource Facility Waste and Waste Water)

LINKS TO PUBLIC DOCUMENTS

Public Records Request to UNC-Chapel Hill 6/11/09

Large files-- 5 to 8 MB each:
UNC Public Records Documents #1
UNC Public Records Documents #2
UNC Public Records Documents #3
UNC Public Records Documents #4

UNC 2006 Master Plan map of proposed facility expansion

UNC 2006 environmental assessment of the proposed facility expansion
(16 MB file)

Comments on UNC 2006 environmental assessment
by state agencies

UNC 2002 scoping letter to state preceding environmental assessment of Research Resource Facility expansion

UNC 2002 scoping letter to state preceding environmental assessment of Francis Owen Blood Research Lab expansion

Letters 2003-2006 between UNC and Orange County Planning Dept. on proposed facility expansion (see page 5 for list of new buildings, usage and square footage)

Letter from state to UNC on proposed expansion with rodent retention facility - finding of no significant impact

Research Resource Facility Waste and Waste Water from UNC Facilities Planning and Construction

UNC “planroom”  facilities inventory
Scroll down the left “Facility ID” column to #328, there are nine structures listed, including 328XX001, an incinerator, with additional structures further down the list.

NC DENR Division of Air Quality 2006 report
Reports cite nitrogen oxide, mercury, and propylene oxide emissions for 1993 through 2006.

Chemical contamination found at UNC's Bingham Facility, Lisa Sorg, Independent Weekly, March 31, 2010

State looks into leak from UNC pond, Mark Schultz, News & Observer, February 6, 2010

Group asks UNC to fix animal waste lagoons, Tristan Long, The Herald-Sun, January 31, 2010

UNC says it didn't hide leak: Wastewater reached creek, Mark Schultz, Chapel Hill News, January 31, 2010

State may require UNC's Bingham Facility to get a permit, Mark Schultz, News & Observer, January 29, 2010

PRO: More Oversight of UNC's Research Farm, Elizabeth Friend, WCHL 1360 AM, January 27, 2010

Waste leak went unfixed, Mark Schultz, Chapel Hill News, January 27, 2010
   
UNC must come clean: Pollution from University research facility must stop; transparency and accountability are necessary, DTH Editorial Board, Daily Tar Heel, January 24, 2010

UNC's wastewater worries Lisa Sorg, Independent Weekly, January 20, 2010

UNC warned after leak Mark Schultz, News and Observer, January 21, 2010

UNC research facility flies under the radar: What are they building in there?
Lisa Sorg, The Independent Weekly, November 11, 2009