TDEC Approves USN Exemption

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental regulators have given swift approval for US Nitrogen to install additional diesel fuel storage capacity without obtaining a special permit.
In a letter sent this week to the Greene County chemical company, James P. Johnson of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation wrote that the proposed 12,000 gallon diesel fuel storage tank would be exempt from permitting requirements.
US Nitrogen's plant manager, Dylan Charles, had written to the agency on Jan. 14 informing officials of the plant to install the storage tank and seeking the agency's acknowledgment that a permit would not be required.
In the same letter Charles notified TDEC that it also intended to install a 275 gallon storage tote which will be filled with a mixture of urea and water.
Johnson wrote in his letter that the tote would be considered an "insignificant activity," thus exempting it from permitting or other requirements.
The exemption is based on US Nitrogen's estimate that the tote will have emissions of less than five tons per year.
"All applicable air pollution regulations must still be met by your facility," Johnson wrote in the two-page letter.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com