By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
After almost nine years of lobbying, PCS Phosphate (now PotashCorp Aurora) was granted a permit to expand its mine in Aurora by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 3.
“We believe that this is a very good day for PCS and a very good day for Beaufort County and our surrounding communities,” said Ross Smith, the mine-and-plant complex’s manager of environmental affairs, after the permit was granted.
The permit approval served as the final chapter in a years-long struggle between PCS Phosphate and various environmental entities. The permit’s issuance was commended by officials locally and statewide.
In a press release, Col. Jefferson Ryscavage, commander of the Wilmington district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, praised the decision, saying, “This has been a very carefully weighed decision because it exemplifies the toughest role our Regulatory program has to be prepared to address in weighing the Nation’s need for a limited resource that is important for food production and industry beside the Nation’s equally important commitment to sustaining an important ecosystem.”
The impact of the permit on PCS Phosphate was almost immediately evident, as the company announced it was adding 75 new contract workers on July 29. According to a release issued by the company, 18 contractor positions that were temporarily eliminated were reinstated and 75 new contractor positions were set to be filled.
“Some of these contract positions are to help us catch up after the permitting process,” said Smith.
Several state permits and federal permits also sought and approved authorize the company to extend its mining operations near Aurora until 2045.
Cuts in production were announced by PCS Phosphate in mid-January 2009, well before the company’s mining-expansion permit was granted in June. Some workers in the company’s processing plants were shifted from production to plant maintenance, according to Tom Pasztor, spokesman for PCS Phosphate. Pasztor said the cuts in production had nothing to do with the stalled permitting process.
Around the same time that the cuts were announced, the N.C. Division of Water Quality issued a revised water quality certification for the company’s permit bid. The certification served as a major hurdle for the company to receive its expansion permit.
“After initial review, although it’s not what we would have preferred, this 401 water quality certification issued by the Division of Water Quality appears to be acceptable,” said PCS Phosphate spokeswoman Michelle Vaught at that time. “We are pleased to have reached this milestone, and we continue to be cautiously optimistic that we will receive all permits and authorizes within the first quarter of this year.”
Beaufort County officials traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby federal officials for their support of the permit issuance.
PotashCorp Aurora is the largest employer and taxpayer in the county.