Fifteen minutes out of town, down a country road in southwestern Orange County, UNC-Chapel Hill has quietly housed laboratory animals, mostly dogs now, since the 1970s.

The Bingham Facility, once called "The Farm," made headlines two and half years ago when repeated treated-wastewater spills drew sanctions from the state Division of Water Quality. The university paid a $15,000 fine after an unknown amount of treated wastewater from a leaking storage pond spilled into Colins Creek, an already polluted creek feeding the Haw River and eventually Jordan Lake.

In a rare move, UNC leaders returned a $14.5 million federal grant they had hoped to use to expand the facility, when they determined the costs to fix the system and expand to an estimated 450 dogs and150 hogs would be greater than anticipated.

Today, about 85 dogs used in hemophilia research, remain in two decades-old buildings at the facility in Bingham Township. The future of a third building is unclear after a muscular dystrophy researcher left the university, taking his dogs with him. ...

Neighbors of UNC’s Bingham Facility will meet with university officials Monday to discuss the latest plans for the animal holding center west of Carrboro.

The facility was in the news last year when UNC planned to add three buildings and expand from 85 dogs to up to 450 dogs and 150 hogs. After repeated leaks of treated wastewater, it shelved the plan and returned a $14.5 million federal grant when it determined it would need another $20 million to make the plan work.

Now UNC is rebuilding the facility’s wastewater treatment system. There are no plans to expand, the university says, but neighbors in the group Preserve Rural Orange are wary. The state last week granted their request for a public hearing on the university’s application to modify its permit, which calls for spreading treated wastewater over a larger area than before.

In an interview, Associate Vice Chancellor Bob Lowman emphasized that UNC is not expanding and that the facility's three buildings are probably all there will ever be, he said. There likely won’t ever be more than 85 dogs or any hogs permanently housed there, he said.

A building that was expected to house specially bred golden retrievers for a muscular dystrophy researcher who is now leaving the university will likely be used for mice, Lowman said.

Look for more on this story coming Sunday in The Chapel Hill News.
 

UNC Chapel Hill has bailed on a plan to expand a troubled animal research facility in Orange County.

In doing so, it will forfeit $14.5 million in federal stimulus grant funding.

The university had planned to use the money to expand the Bingham Facility, which is west of Carrboro and used for hemophilia research.

But the university says now the $20 million in funding required along with the federal grant makes the project too difficult.

Mark Schultz has the story.

A new building for muscular dystrophy research dogs will not open at UNC's Bingham Facility this summer as planned, associate vice chancellor Bob Lowman says. But this time the problem has nothing to do with leaking wastewater.

Apparently the kennel runs for the specially bred golden retrievers won't be ready in time, so the building probably now won't open until November. The dogs are currently housed in Hillsborough. UNC uses them to study Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which affects one in 5,000 male babies. Most patients are in wheelchairs by their teens and die in their 20s, according to lead researcher Joe Kornegay, a veterinarian and professor of pathology.

The building is the third of six planned at the site in Bingham Township, west of Carrboro. There are two older blood lab buildings there that house about 85 dogs, and UNC recently won a $14.5 million federal stimulus grant to build two more for dogs and hogs now at the Francis Owen Blood Center near University Lake. UNC wants to add a sixth, a laboratory building, so the researchers can follow their animals.   

Meanwhile, Lowman says 60,000 gallons of contaminated wastewater sits at the facility, awaiting a permit for the university to haul it off site for treatment. The waste, stored in tanks that look like 18-wheelers, contain toluene and ethylene glycol that may have been poured down the drain during construction of the new building. 

The chemical contamination was the latest in a string of problems, including three state notices of violation for a leak, a spill and encroachment onto wetlands. The state recently fined UNC $15,000 for leaking an unknown amount of treated wastewater into Collins Creek, an already polluted creek feeding the Haw River and Jordan Lake.   

UNC has been fined $15,000 for leaking treated wastewater at its Bingham Facility into Collins Creek, an already polluted tributary of the Haw River and Jordan Lake.

We report in tomorrow's N&O that UNC has three options: It can pay the fine, ask for a reduction of the fine or challenge it in court. Associate Vice Chancellor Bob Lowman, who was put in charge of the animal research center last winter by Chancellor Holden Thorp, said officials will discuss their options at a regular staff meeting Friday.

UNC recently got a $14.5 million grant to expand the Bingham Facility and eventually house about 200 dogs and 100 hogs used in hemophilia, heart disease and muscular dystrophy research.  

Read more about the latest development in this ongoing story here and look for a longer version in tomorrow's print N&O and Sunday's Chapel Hill News.  

State regulators have hit UNC with a third violation notice at its animal research facility in rural Orange County.

The latest notice, dated April 28, cites the university for filling in small portions of wetland to build a gravel road and a pond to hold treated wastewater. 

It also cites the university for laying a utility line and rip rap in a stream without state approval and for including a wetlands area in a field where treated wastewater is sprayed.

In an e-mail to neighbors, assistant vice chancellor Dwayne Pinkney said the university reported the problems to the state after a recent survey found development at the site in 2008 had encroached into wetlands.

"The University was already working on a plan for amelioration before the [notice of violation] arrived,” he said.

UNC recently won $14.5 million in federal stimulus money to expand the facility to house dogs and hogs used in medical research.   

We'll have more on this story in Thursday's News & Observer. 

UNC has been awarded $14.5 million in federal stimulus money to expand the Bingham Facility.

The money will build new housing for dogs and hogs usd to study hemophilia, heart disease and muscular dystrophy.

UNC will find an additional $5 million to $8 million in other money to complete a third new building for research.

The facility, which currently houses about 85 dogs, has been beset by problems in its wastewater treatment systems. There have been four discharges of treated wastewater, including a leak into Collins Creek, an already polluted tributary of  Jordan Lake. The state is considering a fine  for that leak, which was traced to a faulty liner in a partially filled 1.6 million gallon storange pond.

“I think the grant proposal offers the opportunity to do Bingham right,” associate vice chancellor Bob Lowman said a few minutes ago. “It allows us to plan for a long-term sustainable operation at minimal impact to the neighborhood.”

Look for more on this story in tomorrow's News & Observer and at www.newsobserver.com

State regulators have hit UNC with another violation notice for a treated wastewater spill at its animal holding and research facility in rural Orange County.

The  March 3 notice comes after broken pipes spilled  1,800 gallons of treated wastewater onto the ground of the Bingham Facility in late February.

It follows an earlier notice and possible fine for a December spill of an unknown amount of treated wastewater into Collins Creek, a tributary to the Haw River and Jordan Lake. In that case, the wastewater leaked from a holding pond, where treated wastewater was stored before being sprayed onto fields.

“Not as serious as the first one, but it is still a failure of their system,” said  Jay Zimmerman, environmental program supervisor with the state Division of Water Quality.

“It does seem with UNC every time we turn around, something else is happening out there,” he said.

The Bingham Facility houses about 85 dogs used in hemophilia research and is scheduled for more dogs and hogs under a $27 million expansion plan. We'll have more on this story in tomorrow's N&O.

UNC has put Bob Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research, in charge of the Bingham Facility, an animal holding facility in rural southwestern Orange County.

The facility, which houses about 60 research dogs but is scheduled for a $27 million expansion, has been best by three discharges in its wastewater treatment system. The state Division of Water Quality sent the university a notice of violation in December after a December leak of treated animal wastewater reached Collins Creek, an already polluted waterway feeding the Haw River and eventually Jordan Lake.

In an e-mail to neighbors UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp says he visited the Bingham Facility and apologizes for the problems.

"I want you to know how sorry we are for the difficulties ... the confusion we have created and the lack of attention this has received," he writes.

State regulators may require UNC to get a permit for its animal holding facility’s faulty wastewater treatment system after three discharges, including a slow leak that reached Collins Creek.

The system at the Bingham Facility was built under a “deemed permit” status. Instead of having to get a state permit, like systems treating kitchen and bathroom waste get, the Bingham Facility was exempted as an agricultural use.

Now UNC could face a fine or have the system’s “deemed permit” status revoked.

Staff at the state Division of Water Quality forwarded a recommendation today to administrators. Jay Zimmerman, environmental program supervisor, said after three leaks and other problems, a change in the permit status is possible.

“All of those things are leading us to question whether retaining the deemed permit status is the best and most appropriate thing right now,” he said this morning.

Mary Beth Koza, director of UNC’s Department of Environment, Health & Safety, had not spoken with state regulators about their recommendation.

“Whatever DENR request of us we will do,” she said.

We'll have more about the Bingham Faciliy in Sunday's Chapel Hill News.