Disputed Permits Defended by TDEC

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Citing decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Tennessee environmental officials have issued two official responses defending the issuance of disputed permits in Greene County.
The two nearly identical five page documents were in response to objections to the permits raised at public hearings held in June in Greeneville. The permit applications were submitted by Praxair Inc and Yara North America, two firms operating from the same site in Midway, Tenn.
Praxair's facility produces liquid carbon dioxide for use of the soft drink industry. The Yara facility has yet to be built, but it will produce calcium nitrate, which is used in fertilizer.
That same site is the location of U.S. Nitrogen which recently had its permit applications approved.
Objections to all three permits were raised in person and in writing by the Sierra Club of Tennessee and Park Overall, an environmental activist who lives near the Greene County industrial site.
Scott Banbury of the Sierra Club wrote to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation objecting to the permits questioning the decision to issue separate permits to the three companies. Previously they operated under a single permit.
In the five-page response, TDEC cited a decision by the EPA involving two Pennsylvania firms, Meadowbrook Energy LLC and Keystone Sanitary Landfill. In the April 30, 2018 decision the agency concluded that two firms could be combined for certain permits only if they were under "common control."
EPA, TDEC stated, determined that common control exists when "one entity has the power or authority to restrict another entity's choices."
Applying that ruling to the Greene County firms, TDEC concluded that US Nitrogen, Praxair and Yara, were separate corporations and not under common control.
"The division has concluded that US Nitrogen, Yara North America and Praxair are separate sources," the TDEC document states.
Banbury also challenged TDEC's decision to exempt the three firms from permit restrictions based solely on estimates of greenhouse gas emissions.
TDEC, however, cited a June 23, 2014 U.S. Supreme Court decision that barred environmental agencies from being declared as a "major source"of pollutants for permitting purposes solely on the basis of greenhouse gas emissions.
TDEC also cited a March 11, 2015 declaration by the Tennessee Air Pollution Control Board directing Tennessee environmental officials to comply with the Supreme Court decision.
Referring to the Praxair permit, TDEC concluded, "The facility is a true minor facility."
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No Fine for US Nitrogen Violation

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee regulators say they will not impose a fine on a Greene County chemical firm despite the fact that the company violated a condition of its permit for four months in a row.
In a two-page letter to US Nitrogen, Amanda Davis, a division manager for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, wrote that she had elected to "take no further action at this time."
But, she continued, "Be advised that the technical secretary may be less lenient of any future violations."
In the letter to US Nitrogen plant manager Dylan Charles, Davis indicated the violation surfaced in an annual compliance visit to the Midway facility. While the state permit limits the amount of natural gas used for the company's steam boiler to 380 million cubic feet in any 12 month period the cap was exceeded in April, May, June and July.
The monthly totals in that period ranged from 392 million cubic feet to 446 million cubic feet, Davis noted in the letter.
Davis did note that a re-check of the data did slightly lower the amounts, but not enough to eliminate the violations. She also acknowledged that US Nitogen had requested that the fuel cap be eliminated from the permit altogether.
Citing the revised data, Davis wrote, "Based on this information the division believes that no serious environmental or health impacts likely occurred to the general public as a result of the natural gas fuel usage exceedance for the steam generating boiler."
"By failing to comply with Condition 7, you have violated the Tennessee Air Pollution Control regulation," the letter states.
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US Nitrogen Issued Five Permits

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Acting on the eve of a long holiday weekend Tennessee regulators have issued five key permits to a Greene County chemical firm assuring its continued operation for two more years.
The permits were issued late Friday to US Nitrogen LLC by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The agency largely refuted or ignored more than a dozen suggested changes to the permits submitted by an environmental consultant and the Sierra Club.
Calling one of the changes neither necessary or required the state agency also issued a 23-page summary of the proposed changes and the agency response.
TDEC did agree to a handful of small changes including requiring US Nitrogen to submit photographs demonstrating that a boiler at the Midway plant actually had been disconnected.
The permits were the subject of sparsely attended June public hearings at which the Sierra Club, Park Overall and her consultant, D. Howard Gebhart, testified. Gebhart also submitted written comments.
The permits cover US Nitrogen's plant, an ammonia nitrate plant, cooling towers, flares and a steam generating boiler. They are categorized as conditional major permits and they replace a series of construction permits issued when the ammonium nitrate manufacturer first went into operation.
By agreeing to the limits the company avoided stricter regulations under a major source operating permit.
A key element in the new permit scheme is that US Nitrogen is now operating under its own permits and two other firms on the same site, Praxair Inc and Yara North America, are operating under their own separate permits. The initial construction permits covered all three operations.
The Sierra Club had argued against the permit separation, but TDEC, citing the fact that the three firms are under separate control, rejected that argument.
Under the permits US Nitrogen agrees to operate within certain set limits on annual emissions.
For instance nitrous oxide emissions cannot exceed 3.4 tons per year and carbon monoxide emissions are capped at 2.54 tons per year. The annual emissions limit for volatile organic compounds is set at 1 ton.
Gebhart, who submitted written comments, argued that the proposed permits did not include adequate requirements to ensure the company was complying with the agreed emission limits. He also argued for monitoring of air quality in the community.
TDEC did agree to include a requirement that US Nitrogen certify on an annual basis that it was operating within the prescribed limits.
The agency also added a provision "to make it clear" that emissions of nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide are less than five tons per year each.
TDEC acknowledged that under the new permit US Nitrogen will be allowed to increase its natural gas use in the steam boiler by 18 percent. The company recently disclosed that it had exceeded the current limit in four successive months.
TDEC said that under the new limits the annual limit on particulate matters is 16.35 tons per year, .56 tons for sulfur dioxide, 90.82 tons of nitrous oxide and 69.2 tons of carbon monoxide.
"Thus even with the slight increase in allowable emissions, the facility is still a non-major source for all pollutants," the TDEC document states.
Though Gebhart had argued that further modeling was required before allowing any increases, TDEC said modeling done before the initial permit, which also included the Praxair and Yara operations, was more than adequate.
TDEC said it did add a requirement that US Nitrogen conduct "performance testing" to assure compliance with carbon monoxide limits.
As for ambient air monitoring, TDEC asserted it was "neither required or necesary."
Also rejected was the proposal that additional monitoring be required during the start-ups of the nitric acid plant, which have been the source of community complaints.
In rejecting the request for community monitoring, TDEC cited US Nitrogen's recent disclosure of a "process change that significantly improved the startup opacity levels."

US Nitrogen Files Fuel Use Log

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen has filed detailed data on its use of fuel in a steam generating plant and it shows the firm consumed some 2,734 million cubic feet in the first seven months of the current calendar year.
The report follows the disclosure by the company that it had violated the terms of one of its permits by using more natural gas than permitted for four successive months. The permit limits the monthly fuel use to 380 million cubic feet per month
The new company filing lists the fuel consumption for each day from Jan. 1, 2019 to July 31.
In the months that the company violated its permit limit the total for April was 392 million cubic feet followed by 415.9 million in May, 425.5 million in June and 446.4 million in July.
The January total was 341.6 million cubic feet followed by 361.4 million in February.
The highest total for a single day was a little over 2 million cubic feet on July 31. The lowest amount was on March 19 when no gas was used.
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Greeneville, County Fined on Landfill

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental officials have imposed a $2,250 fine on Greeneville and Greene County for violations of permits to operate a Class III landfill.
According to the notice posted this week on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation web site the fine was assessed due to conditions found at the facility located at 1555 Old Stage Road.
According to the notice the emissions limit allowed under the permit was exceeded as was the emission standard.
The facility serves as a county transfer station as well as a landfill for construction and demolition materials.
According to Greeneville records the site is owned jointly by the township and the county but the operation of the transfer station and landfill is run under contract by Waste Industries of Tennessee, LLC.
Solid waste brought to the site is hauled to Waste Industries landfill in Hamblen County. Construction waste is disposed off at the Class III landfill on the site. Under the state permit household waste and garbage cannot be disposed at the facility.
A copy of the notice follows.


NOTICE

A Technical Secretary's Order was issued to Town of Greenevile/Greene County Government dba Greeneville/Greene County Transfer Station & Demolition Landfill) of Greene County for a violation of emission limit, emission standard, and surrogate parameter by exceeding the VEE standard. The Order assessed a civil penalty of $2,250.

US Nitrogen Violated Permit

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Greene County chemical firm violated the terms of one of its state permits on four successive months, but only learned of the violation in August.
In a letter to officials of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Dylan Charles, plant manager for US Nitrogen wrote that the company's steam generator had exceeded the maximum allowable fuel consumption from April through July.
While the state permit set the maximum monthly consumption of natural gas at 380 million cubic feet per month, that amount was exceeded in each of the four months. The excesses ranged from 12 million cubic feet in April to 66 million cubic feet in July. The totals were: April- 392 million cubic feet, May -415 million cubic feet, June-425 million cubic feet and July- 446 million cubic feet.
According to Charles letter to TDEC's Michelle Owenby, the violations were not noted until Aug. 18.
The letter does not provide any explanation for why the overages occurred or why they weren't noticed until mid-August.
The steam boiler permit is one of several granted by TDEC to the Midway firm to operate an ammonium nitrate manufacturing facility.
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US Nitrogen Used 23 Million River Gallons

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen, the Greene County Tennessee chemical company, used a little over 23 million gallons of water from the Nolichucky River during the month of July, according to a report filed with state officials.
The monthly report filed with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation showed that the company withdrew more than 1 million gallons from the river on 11 separate days including July 27 and July 28.
That compares to a little under 20 million withdrawn by the ammonium nitrate manufacturer in June. On seven days in June US Nitrogen pumped more than a million gallons of water.
The Midway firm also reported it discharged 10.75 million gallons of waste water back into the Nolichucky during July. Both the withdrawal and discharges took place at a company pumping station at mile marker 20.8 of the Nolichucky.
On six days during July no water was discharged to the river. The highest amount of discharge, nearly 600,000 gallons, occurred on July 31. That compares to June when more than 500,000 gallons were discharged to the river on 17 days
The company recently had its unique permit for river water use renewed.
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