BY HARTWELL CARSON, FRENCH BROAD RIVERKEEPER
The North Toe River on a good day is one of the gems of Western North Carolina. On some days the water is so clear you can see big trout darting around, as the shadow of your boat moves down the river bottom. The river meanders by rocky cliffs and over some very fun Class II+ rapids. Several years ago a successful dam removal project was completed, and the river is now becoming a very popular paddling destination, to compliment the already top-notch fishing. The Town of Spruce Pine is bisected by the North Toe and has realized the river’s potential. The town’s river park is popular every day of the week, and the signs in town tout the potential of the natural resources of the area.
The North Toe River all has the makings of a successful river restoration and ecotourism story, if it were not for the fact that some days the river turns completely white from the area quartz and feldspar mines. This discharge coats the bottom of the river and suffocates the aquatic life in the stream. Fishermen have even been burned while wading in the river, from the toxicity of this discharge. The river is listed on the state’s impaired list; and despite some progress over the years, if you visit the river after a rainstorm, the North Toe can be so cloudy it looks like a dirty vanilla milkshake and smells like chemicals.
The French Broad Riverkeeper’s water samples have shown the river was so full of wastewater, that it was literally off the charts. The monitoring equipment could not even measure the levels. The French Broad Riverkeeper and the Southern Environmental Law Center have sued Quartz Corps for illegally burying a stream, and continue to report problems at the mines to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The permits for the mines are up for renewal, making this a great opportunity to ensure the North Toe can finally be cleaned up. However, as with Duke Energy, DEQ has yet to release a new permit. This loophole allows the facility to indefinitely work under the old permit, even if it is polluting the river. The potential of the North Toe River is there, we just need the state to do its job to meet the goals of the Clean Water Act to make the river fishable and swimmable.