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The Pigeon River flows through North Carolina and right here into East Tennessee. The Pigeon River got its name from an extinct bird, which migrated through the valley of North Carolina. Although, the Pigeon River looks nice, there is something extremely harmful going on inside the river. The long-polluted Pigeon River in Coke County has not been “feasible” or “assumable” for over 1 00 years due to pollution. The river’s water has turned dark brown, and has a terrible odor. The reason behind this beautiful river being polluted is the Blue Ridge paper Company.
The Blue Ridge paper Company, once part of Champion International Paper, in Canton, North Carolina, is a primary source of Dioxin and matter pollution that has been discharged into the river. Not only has the Blue Ridge paper Company polluted the water, it gets worse, a couple years ago in 2004, after Hurricane Francis and Hurricane Ivan, several storms and horrible flooding hit the area hard. The flooding, which caused the water level of the river to reach an extreme high level, and also caused part of interstate 40 to collapse into the river’s gorge.
Several trees and soil also fell into the water causing much more pollution. No one could have predicted the interstate collapsing into the river due to Mother Nature, but the Blue Ridge Paper Company could certainly do something about the pollution that they are dumping in to the river. The Blue Ridge Paper mill was established in the early 1 go’s, and has been operating for 1 00 years. Advocates challenged the North Carolina Division of Water Quality for a wastewater permit that does not require the proper reductions in thermal discharges being discharged by the paper mill.
The remit allows the paper mill to discharge waste into the river that raises the temperature of the water way beyond the standards allowed by the state water quality standards. Due to the extremely high water temperature it is very hard for fish to survive. In 2007, due to the water temperature, nearly 8,000 fish died. The wastewater that the paper mill is dumping into the river is entirely too much waste for a small waterway to handle. Thanks to the EPA permit the mill used to dump about 400,000 pounds of color a day into the river, but the permit made it to where they can only dump 45,000 pounds of lour into the river a day.
The river is slowly getting better conditions due to all the legal issues against the paper mill; they are finally starting to come to their senses. The Pigeon River flowing beside the Blue Ridge Paper Company. Personally think it is horrible that a paper mill is polluting this river. Have a couple of recommendations I would like to see in the future for some relief for this beautiful river. Would like to see this paper mill shut completely down if they do not continue to limit the waste they are putting into the river.
Another alternative that the company could try is to get different equipment that is safe for the environment or find somewhere else to dump their waste, rather than polluting a river for no reason. Although, they are tying to cut back on how much they are polluting the water there is still much more work to be done. If something were done about this river once and for all it would certainly make history. For over 100 years, it has been a constant fight tying to clean up this river, and getting the paper mill to stop polluting it.
According o the American White Water Organization, a lot has been done over the past 20 years to clean up this river. The White Water Organization also includes: It appears highly likely that additional cost-effective improvements are possible during the new permit period. The river conservation community however questions whether or not the draft permit does enough to continue restoration of one of the most polluted rivers in the region. Hopefully, one day the issue with the paper company polluting the river will be resolved.
The Pigeon River is a beautiful popular river; many people enjoy white water fating fishing, and swimming in the river. People haven’t been able to do so in many years. Its very sad that the paper company destroys one of God’s beautiful creations, and they are okay with it. Many have forgotten the small beautiful things still left in this world, and believe that if anything else the environment should be protected, because it is not mad made, and it doesn’t deserve to be destroyed because of these big careless companies trying to make money. Every river, in my opinion should be assumable and feasible by everyone who wants to do so.
It is a part of nature that l, for one certainly love to do. There is much determination in getting this beautiful river cleaned up, with determination of the community, and Government officials help; I believe there is hope for the Pigeon River.