The Greater Fayetteville Chamber announced today its formal opposition to the Town of Fuquay-Varina's application for an Interbasin Transfer Certificate, which would allow the transfer of up to 6.17 million gallons per day of water from the Cape Fear River Basin to the Neuse River Basin.
The Chamber's Board of Directors has passed a resolution voicing significant concerns about the potential negative impacts this transfer would have on the Cape Fear region's future water supply, residential needs, industrial growth, environment and long-term economic development.
The Greater Fayetteville Chamber, representing over a thousand downstream businesses, believes maintaining local water resources is critical for the Cape Fear region and is concerned about the impact on the water supply and future development. The Greater Fayetteville Chamber leadership believes that removing this volume of water poses significant risks to the future growth of Fayetteville, Cumberland County and the region.
“Water is one of our most critical economic assets,” Greater Fayetteville Chamber President/CEO Nat Robertson said. “Taking water and not returning it to the same basin raises so many red flags. I’m proud of our organization standing up for our residents and businesses and future development downstream that this IBT threatens.”
The Greater Fayetteville Chamber highlights several key concerns:
• Threats to Long-Term Water Availability: The proposed diversion could impair current and future water supply for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses depending on the
Cape Fear River Basin.
• Economic Risk: Reallocating water away from the Cape Fear Basin without a requirement to return that supply could hinder future development opportunities for communities within the originating basin, including those in Cumberland County.
• Environmental Impact: Large-scale interbasin transfers can create adverse cumulative impacts on water quality, instream flows, and fish and wildlife habitats—which would affect communities from Sanford to Wilmington.
• Insufficient Exploration of Alternatives: State regulations require that all feasible options within the receiving basin be thoroughly evaluated and prioritized before requesting an interbasin transfer.
Accordingly, the Greater Fayetteville Chamber formally opposes Fuquay-Varina’s IBT request and urges the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission to prioritize the needs of existing and future users of the Cape Fear River Basin as it evaluates the proposal. The Chamber calls for careful consideration of both the potential harms and the available alternatives before any final decision is reached.
The Greater Fayetteville Chamber urges the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission to reject the IBT request and consider the long-term effects on the source basin. Public hearings on the draft Environmental Impact Statement are being held.
Additional information and the draft EIS are available on the NCDEQ website at https://bit.ly/4iRPCYk
For more information about the Greater Fayetteville Chamber, visit www.faybiz.com.