State comes down hard on owner of Oak Valley

Robbinsville – The owner of an unused industrial site in Robbinsville – where two dogs drowned in a pit of industrial waste earlier this month – has been put on notice by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality about serious violations and has 30 days to fix problems or face mounting penalties.

Part of the fix is fairly simple and can be accomplished by a fairly small – but secure – fence to address safety issue.

The other part of the fix will be more costly and relates to the environmental issues caused by a pit filled with oily waste.

“Failure to comply with the state’s rules, in the manner and time specified, may result in the assessment of additional civil penalties and/or the use of other enforcement mechanisms available to the State. Each day that a violation continues may be considered a separate violation,” said Maura Clark, hydrogeologist with the Asheville Regional Office of N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Oak Valley Hardwoods operated a small manufacturing plant within the footprint of the much larger former Stanley Furniture Plant off Snowbird Road in Robbinsville. Within the 37-acre site is an open, unprotected pit measuring 7 feet wide, 16 feet long and 5 feet deep, containing a mixture of hydraulic fluid and water.

Back in June, Donnie Burchfield, owner of BTAC – across the road from the plant – rescued a dog from the pit after hearing its cries and two frantic searches. Earlier this month, he returned to find two more dogs in the pit, only this time they didn’t survive.

Burchfield contacted the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to complain. It didn’t take long for the agency to take action.

On Sept. 15, a notice of violation was issued via certified mail to Jimmy Lee of Oak Valley Hardwoods, Inc., of Waxhaw.

The department’s Underground Storage Tank Section of the Waste Management Division called the situation a “serious health and safety issue and an environmental issue.”

Lee could not be reached for comment.

Although the property is surrounded by fencing, it has been breached and compromised in several locations and requires repair, according to the notice, which said:

“Specifically, the open, unprotected pit is both a serious health and safety issue and an environmental issue. A residential community is located nearby that contains children that could potentially get trapped in the pit. At minimum, the area of the open pit should immediately be secured with fencing/barriers that would prohibit humans or animals from entering and falling into the pit.”

Environmental issues

The agency said that Graham County Fire Department and sheriff’s office personnel confirmed the presence of this open pit and the petroleum products it contains.

Both fire department and sheriff’s office personnel observed the presence of both live and dead dogs in the past that were trapped in the pit, according to the report.

“This office has determined that you are responsible for the release of the petroleum products observed in the open pit,” according to the notice to Oak Valley Hardwoods. “The release has resulted in specific violation(s) of North Carolina General Statute … Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substances Control Act.”

The letter explained the violations and the associated corrective actions that Oak Valley Hardwoods must take to bring the site into compliance of the Oil Pollution and Hazardous Substances Control Act.

The agency accused Oak Valley Hardwoods of being responsible for “Unlawful Discharges” of oil or other hazardous substances into or upon any waters or land within the state.

It said that anyone with control over hazardous substance discharges “shall immediately undertake to collect and remove the discharge and to restore the area affected by the discharge as nearly as maybe to the condition existing prior to the discharge.”

Oak Valley Hardwoods was ordered to “immediately notify the department of the nature, location, and time of the discharge and of the measures taken or are proposed to be taken to contain and remove the discharge.”

The agency is requiring Oak Valley Hardwoods to take the following actions to bring the site into compliance:

“You must cease discharging all ‘oil’ or other hazardous substances into or upon the waters or land of the state.

“Immediately upon discovery of the discharge, you must submit a Notification of Discharge Report, prepared in accordance with the most recent version of the Guidelines for Initial Response and Abatement, Assessment, and Corrective Action for Non-UST Releases of Petroleum, to the Asheville Regional Office of the UST Section.

“You must contain and remove free product.

“You must perform soil sampling to determine the extent of soil contamination and properly dispose of all contaminated soil” exceeding maximum allowed levels.

“You must perform soil assessment to confirm removal of contaminated soil using the procedures and analytical methods specified in the appropriate sections of the guidelines … .” The agency gave Oak Valley Hardwoods 30 days of the receipt of the notice to complete corrective actions and submit an Initial Site Assessment Report that indicates the nature and the extent of the release and describes initial response and abatement actions, including removal of free product and removal of contaminated soil and subsequent soil sampling to confirm cleanup to the Asheville Regional Office.

“Penalties may be assessed for the violation(s) described within this Notice of Violation,” the agency warned, adding that “prompt attention to the items described … is required.”