TDEC Reasserts US Nitrogen Violations

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environment officials say US Nitrogen did indeed violate multiple provisions of their permits and the company's response to the recent notice of violations did not fully address the citations.
In a 15-page point-by-point letter, an environmental manager at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said the ammonium nitrate manufacturer must submit a revised response and an implementation plan by March 14.
"US Nitrogen failed to produce all applicable documentation or provided documentation that was illegible," the letter to US Nitrogen Plant Manager Andrew Velo states.
Chris Rhodes, TDEC's environmental manager, said in the letter that US Nitrogen also must submit copies of a number of documents that were requested during the nearly one month long inspection of the Greene County facility.
While US Nitrogen had argued that some of the items included in the original inspection report were not really violations, Rhodes wrote that "any failure to comply with permit requirements is a violation."
TDEC did acknowledge typographical errors in its original report and agreed that an "operational mishap" at the Midway facility occurred in 2017, not 2016.
One of the items noted by Rhodes was the observation that US Nitrogen's own data on the biological impact of the company operations showed that both upstream and downstream readings on the Nolichucky River showed a failure to meet the target standards.
"Thus both stations showed some impact to water quality," the letter dated Feb. 27 states.
US Nitrogen, under one of its permits, draws millions of gallons of water from the Nolichucky for use in its manufacturing processes. The impact on the river has been one of the primary concerns of some local citizens opposed to the US Nitrogen project.
Rhodes letter came in response to a 25-page letter from Velo in which he disputed many of the findings in the TDEC inspection report which followed an on-site inspection ending on Nov. 15 of last year.
Later in the letter Rhodes noted that "the US Nitrogen facility is in close proximity to wetland areas and other water bodies" so spills must be reported.
Other points in the Rhodes letter, which was dated today (Feb. 27), include the failure of the company to perform checks on water flow meters at least once a year and the failure to even follow the company's own Standard Operating Procedures.
Some of those SOPs, the letter states, were inadequate to begin with.
Rhodes's letter also questions why the company says it needs some six months to complete various corrective action plans. The letter calls some of the company responses "confusing."
"Facility SOPs must accurately reflect appropriate reporting procedures," Rhodes wrote, adding that related documents requested during the inspection were not provided.
TDEC also asked US Nitrogen re-evaluate a drainage area during storm conditions "to ensure no discrete conveyance for storm-water existed. Rhodes added that the claim by the company that related data was the most current available was "fallacious."
Still other deficiencies included missing records and the failure to provide certifications and signatures of company officials on those certifications.
Along with a corrective action plan and a schedule to implement corrections, the letter instructs US Nitrogen to submit a copy of its Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan.
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