By George Olsen
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/pre/local-pre-815062.mp3
New RiverKeeper named for the White Oak River basin
New Bern, NC – INTRO - After about nine months without, the White Oak River basin has a new watchdog. George Olsen has more.
Tess Sanders moved to Onslow County about 10 years ago when her Marine husband was stationed at Camp Lejeune. For the South Florida native, coming to coastal North Carolina was a good fit. As a child, her grandfather would run her through the South Florida waters on his airboat. Now, as a mother, she wants a similar experience for her children.
01:57 "The importance of knowing you can go to the creek with your child and throw a line in and catch a fish that's safe to eat that's how I grew up and how I want my children to grow up."
Toward that end, Sanders started volunteering with environmental advocacy groups, and has progressed to the point she was named this month as the Riverkeeper for the White Oak River basin by the White Oak-New Riverkeeper Alliance. She starts the job in what could be a crucial period for the river basin's future. She says the current water quality of the White Oak River basin is "pretty good," but Jacksonville the largest of three municipalities in the sub-basin, according to the Alliance website is preparing for the influx of upwards of 60,000 people spurred by the arrival of several thousand additional Marines to Camp Lejeune. That means development sometimes to the detriment of nearby waters.
04:01 "We're putting developments in far away from the already existing infrastructure. It's cheaper, easier for the developer to put in a package plant which is a little, tiny sewage plant. Often, once the development is over and they've sold all their homes, they turn these package plants over to the homeowner's association, and I don't know about you, but running a sewage treatment plant is not one of my particular skill sets. So often those plants are neglected."
The White Oak-New River Alliance also says the river basin is home to over 100 concentrated animal feeding operations. While there haven't been any major spills with those operations in recent memory, Sanders notes recent events that underscore the inherent risk that comes with the current most prevalent method of waste removal the lagoon and spray-field system.
09:27 "We've seen from the coal ash disaster over in Tennessee building an earthen hole in the ground and filling it with toxic material is inherently unstable. It's going to fail."
One of her first tasks will be keeping an eye on what happens during the upcoming session of the state legislature. She said environmental advocates will be watching
closely to make sure that the Swine Farm Siting Act doesn't attempt a comeback the bill would remove the consent of adjacent properties if an operator wants to re-build or modify a non-conforming structure. They'll also watch the rule-making procedure for standards to eliminate odor and ammonia emissions for new or expanded operations.
13:00 "The lagoon moratorium was made permanent and so now they're saying if you're going to build or expand a hog farm, you're going to have to substantially eliminate which is legalese for totally get rid of the odor, ammonia emissions. The industry wants mushy rules that are open to interpretation. The environmental committee is looking for very strict rules to protect people living near those farms."
Beyond the lobbying, a lot of her time will be spent on the water. Sanders says she receives a lot of calls from citizens about current conditions questions along the line of why is this particular creek running muddy. Some times it's a construction project not following run-off best management practices and all she needs is a phone call to the contractor alerting them to the problem and asking them to rectify it. But, sometimes, that may not be enough, so while she hopes she can do enough education to allow the points to make themselves, she also says she stand by ready to "rattle chains" if need be.
18:36 "Those laws matter. They're there for a reason. They're there to protect the public's right to clean water. They carry the same weight as any other law, and people who would never be caught dead stealing from your pocketbook, kind of wink and shrug at environmental laws, and that's not ok. These are our waters and polluting them is not right, and I'm there to let you know."
Tess Sanders has just been appointed as the Riverkeeper for the White Oak River Basin by the White Oak-New Riverkeeper Alliance. I'm George Olsen.