US Nitrogen Gets TDEC Permit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental regulators have issued a new operating permit to a Greene County chemical firm that will allow the company to continue manufacturing till April 1, 2029.
The conditional major operating permit was issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to US Nitrogen, an ammonium nitrate manufacturer located in Midway in Greene County. The action followed public hearings in which the Sierra Club,local activists and an environmental consultant all called for stricter limits and additional reporting and record-keeping requirements.
In November the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also recommended additional record-keeping and reporting requirements.
Under the revised permit the company is required to limit the emission of nitrous oxides and carbon monoxide to 100 tons each in any continuous 12 month period.
If the company exceeds those limits through required monitoring it must self report it to TDEC within 15 days of its discovery.
Limits also are placed on the opacity of emissions, set at 20 percent. Local activist Park Overall recently sent TDEC photos showing plumes of smoke emitting from the US Nitrogen plant.
The opacity limits do not apply to startup and shutdowns, but US Nitrogen must take steps to limit emissions and opacity during startups, shutdowns and malfunctions.
The permit states that if the company exceeds the agreed limits it faces the possible loss of its permit and penalties and action by the EPA.
The permit sets various deadlines for the company to submit reports including two that become due in April of next year.
Other limits in the permit include a cap of 5.8 million tons of ammonia production in any 12 month period. Limits also apply to particulate emissions and heat input. The permit also requires the use of natural gas in production processes.
The action on the operating permit follows TDEC approval of a series of related permits, some of which apply to two other companies, Praxair Inc. and Yara North America Inc., that share the same Greene County site.
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