A Beaufort County creek and the ongoing battle to protect it is one of the Washington Daily News’ Top 10 stories of 2016.

In September, Save Blounts Creek was singled out by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, awarding the group its Conservation Organization of the Year award for 2015. For nearly five years, the grassroots organization has donated time and money, backing Sound Rivers in its fight to prevent a potential ecological disaster on Blounts Creek, a tributary of the Pamlico River. Joining Sound Rivers in its petition against the state to prevent a mining company from discharging up to 12 million gallons of fresh water per day into the brackish Blounts Creek are the Southern Environmental Law Center and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

But it’s the effort of this motley group of Blounts Creek residents, marina owners, fishermen, boaters, kayakers and environmentalists that has shored up those organizations through the ongoing court hearings.

The court saga started in September of 2013, when Sound Rivers, NCCF and attorneys with SELC challenged the state’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit to Martin Marietta Materials Inc. It took several years for the challenge to get its day in court, but a hearing before state Office of Administrative Hearings Judge Phil Berger Jr. ruled the groups had no standing to challenge the state’s permit. An appeal of Berger’s decision landed the case in front of Judge Douglas Parsons in Beaufort County Superior Court last fall, where Parsons ruled that the groups did, indeed, have standing and deserved another OAH hearing, this one including evidence and testimony from expert witnesses. Parsons also ordered that he retain jurisdiction should the case show back up in Superior Court.

Attorneys for Martin Marietta challenged this decision, but in January 2016, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that Parsons could keep jurisdiction. In February, Martin Marietta appealed to the N.C. Supreme Court.

June saw environmental advocates and Blounts Creek supporters back in Raleigh for an evidentiary hearing. The judge was, again, Berger Jr. The plaintiffs again argued that the influx of so much fresh water will alter the water’s pH enough to irreparably change the ecosystem of Blounts Creek, one of many Pamlico River tributaries designated by the state as a nursery for saltwater species. The state and Martin Marietta’s counsel maintain the fresh water will not have a discernible impact on the creek and any change in pH would present opportunity for other species to thrive.

“There were folks from Blounts Creek that were here just listening to the case. They’re making the commitment to continue to be present,” said Heather Deck, Tar-Pamlico riverkeeper. “I’ve been doing this job for 13 years, and this is — of everything that’s happened — the biggest, ongoing response we’ve ever seen.”

Several days after hearing testimony from experts both within and outside of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, as well as from Jimmy Daniels and Bob Boulding, who both own businesses relying on the health of Blounts Creek, Berger asked for three months to make review the material and make a decision. In early November, he asked for another 30 days, and shortly after the Nov. 8 election, Berger again ruled against the plaintiffs.

“This state permit violates the core requirement of the Clean Water Act: to protect our waters as they exist naturally,” Geoff Gisler, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, said at the time. “We are disappointed that today’s decision ignores well-established law that protects places like Blounts Creek and gives citizens the right to defend those special places in court. The people who love Blounts Creek deserve the protection that the law provides and that the State failed to uphold — we will now turn to the superior court to provide that protection.”

The Blounts Creek saga will continue in 2017, as will the determination of the folks of, and to, Save Blounts Creek.