US Nitrogen Names Another Manager

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

For the fourth time since locating in eastern Tennessee in 2012, a major chemical company has named a a new manager at its $200 million facility in Midway.
In a letter to officials of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation the ammonium nitrate manufacturer disclosed that Dylan Charles has been named plant manager and the "responsible person" under a series of state permits.
According to the letter dated Oct. 16, Andrew Velo, the former plant manager, now has the title of director of manufacturing. Velo replaced Justin Freeark, who left in late 2015.
Freeark became the "responsible person" after Shawn Rana left the company. Rana held a different title than Freeark, vice president.
US Nitrogen also this week responded to questions raised by TDEC over a proposal by the company to amend one of its permits to enable the company to disable a burner now used in the manufacturing process.
TDEC had asked for further information on whether the burner already had been disabled and, if not, when it was planned and how it would be accomplished.
In his written response for US Nitrogen Charles said they planned to remove part of the piping that delivers natural gas to the burner and then cap the remaining pipe.
The company said the capping had not yet taken place and would be delayed until the state acted on a modification to a pending construction permit.
In a related development, Yara International, which is constructing a facility on the same site as US Nitrogen, submitted a $50 application fee requested by TDEC before the agency will act on a request to eliminate a limit on greenhouse gases in its current permit .
The company has cited a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a related new U.S. Environmental Agency policy directive to justify the change.
Yara, US Nitrogen and a third company, Praxair LLC originally operated under one permit as a so-called "single source," but they are now seeking to operate as separate sources due to the changes in EPA policy.
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