Up In A Plane To Fight For a River

The Pigeon River could be a beautiful river if it was not smelly, unhealthy, and full of a chemical soup from the Evergreen Packaging Canton Mill. Its not called the "Dirty Bird" by boaters because it is clean. Above the Canton Mill the Pigeon is pristine as it runs down from the Parkway. I live about 2 miles from the Pigeon River and I cannot take advantage of its beauty because the water is simply toxic, did I mention how badly it smells? Nor can the thousands of other people that come to Western North Carolina to take advantage of its beautiful rivers.

Clean Water for North Carolina along with seven other groups are determined to fight the incredulous wastewater permit issued earlier this year. You can read more details about this issue at www.cwfnc.org. Basically the new permit allows the Mill to pollute more and not do anything to clean up the river. Thank you NC Department of Natural Resources for completing forgetting about your mission to protect and preserve NC rivers and resources.

On Tuesday, October 12th, 2010, I was invited to take pictures of the Pigeon River and paper mill by Hope Taylor the Executive Director of Clean Water for North Carolina. Thank to Southwings (www.SouthWings.org) for providing the flight. I feel lucky that we have Hope Taylor, Katie Hicks, and the staff at Clean Water for North Carolina on our side to fight to keep the Pigeon healthy.

The Pigeon River (below the mill) at ground level:

The giant mill versus the Pigeon River:


The plane:



More Pictures:

Bootlegger Enduro

Photo Highlights from the 2010 Bootlegger Enduro