Wednesday, March 31, 2021

State Wants More Data From USN

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental officials are seeking additional information from a Greene County chemical company on its plans to use a 52,250 gallon tank to produce an ammonium nitrate solution.
In an email sent today to offiicials of US Nitrogen LLC, James Johnson of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, wrote that the additonal data is needed before the agency can act on the company's request to have the new activity classified as insignificant.
If the request is granted the Midway company could begin the blending operation without a permit. US Nitrogen submitted the request on March 2.
In the email Johnson asked US Nitrogen officials to complete two agency application forms and provide the agency with the ammonium nitrate vapor pressure data used in the emission calculations for the tank.
Johnson wrote that TDEC would resume its review of the reqest after the data and forms are submitted.
In his request for the insignificant activity determination Dylan Charles, the USN plant manager said the tank was already on the company property and was being used to store storm water.
He wrote that the company planned to mix ammonium nitrate with water to produce a 57 per cent ammonium nitrate solution.
Charles said in his letter that use of the tank would produce less than 1,000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants per year.
He added that it will not emit either nitrous oxide or carbon monoxide emissions, but will emit a small quantity of ammonium nitrate."
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Thursday, March 11, 2021

US Nitrogen Reports River Use

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC drew a total of 20.8 million gallons of water from the Nolichucky River in February and on seven days of the month it drew more than one million gallons.
The report filed today with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation shows that the highest single day total came on Feb. 24 when more than !.314 million gallons were drawn from the river.
The company also reported that the totals for the water withdrawn were estimated for Feb. 1 due to an equipment malfunction.
The monthly report states that the chemical company also discharged 10.8615 million gallons back into the river in February.
The largest daily amount was 545,900 gallons of wastewater discharged on Feb. 16. Minimal amounts of water were discharged on Feb. 6 and Feb. 7.
The February totals are up slightly from the January report by the company when nearly 19 million gallons were drawn from the river. The discharges to the river in January totaled 10.8 million gallons.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

USN Says 52,250 GallonTank Use is "Insignificant"

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC has informed Tennessee environmental officials that it is planning to use an existing 52,250 gallon tank at its Greene County facility to produce a mixture of ammonium nitrate and water.
In a letter sent yesterday to Michelle Owenby of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, US Nitrogen plant manager Dylan Charles said the tank is currently being used to store storm water.
In the letter Charles said he was seeking Owenby's concurrence "that the tank constitutes an insignificant activity" with insignificant emissions, thus not requiring a permit.
The tank is located on the company's ammonium nitrate manufacturing plant in Midway.
Charles said in his letter that use of the tank would produce less than 1,000 pounds of hazardous air pollutants per year.
He wrote that the company would be blending a 57 percent ammonium nitrate solution.
The tank, Charles continued, "will not emit either nitrous oxide or carbon monoxide emissions. It will, however emit a small quantity of ammonium nitrate."
US Nitrogen informed TDEC in 2019 that it would be installing three storage tanks with a combined capacity of 128,400 gallons on the site, but those tanks were to be used in the production of a new product called RDT-8.
At that time the company said all three tanks should be considered an insignificant activity.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

TDEC Memo Details History of Emissions Error

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental officials have posted a lengthy memo explaining the history of erroneous emissions data from a Greene County firm that went undetected for over a year.
The unsigned memo was posted today in the public file for US Nitrogen LLC, a Midway chemical firm.
The memo concludes that despite the error, which was finally detected in August of last year, a recalcuation of the emissions data shows that US Nitrogen remained in compliance with the provisions of its state permit.
According to the memo the error was detected in August when a TDEC official from the Johnson City office visited the US Nitrogen plant.
"It was noted by the inspector that the company had made a calculation error in reporting emissions data from the nitric acid plant," the memo states, adding that the data was being calculated as a three hour average rather than the stated one hour average.
In addition the data wrongly included periods when the plant was in start up and shutdown conditions.
Noting that the company acknowledged the error, the memo states that TDEC then instructed US Nitrogen to recalculate the data, which first went askew in the first quarter of 2019.
The company also was asked to recalculate the data back to the plant's start up in 2017.
According to the memo the recalculated data had a minimal effect on the reported data and it showed that the company remained in compliance with its permit limits.
"The foregoing represents the basis for the Feb. 12, 2021 acceptance of the recalculated US Nitrogen emissions data as the basis for demonstrating continual compliance with the applicable nitrogen oxide emission limits," the memo concludes. Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com