US Nitrogen Submits Test Plans

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A Greene County chemical firm has submitted a 15-page document detailing how tests will be conducted to determine if the Midway facility is operating in compliance with permits issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
US Nitrogen LLC, which manufactures ammonium nitrate and related products, submitted the details of how tests will be conducted to show compliance limits for emissions of ammonia and visible emissions. The tests will be conducted by a third party, AMP Cherokee Environmental Solutions.
The US Nitrogen submission also provides a detailed description of the three step process of manufacturing nitric acid, a key component in the process.
According to the filing the test will determine if the company's pollution control equipment including a selective catalytic reduction unit adequately controls nitrous oxide and related emissions.
The testing document states that the process produces nitric acid by combining nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen tetroxide with water.
Under the permit US Nitrogen is limited to the production of 600 tons of nitric acid per day. Under the test protocol a minimum daily production level of 451 tons.
A series of charts and diagrams show where AMP Cherokee will collect samples to determine compliance.
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US Nitrogen Water Use Report

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC pumped only 13 million gallons of water from the Nolichucky River in the month of April, according to a report filed by the Greene County chemical firm with Tennessee environmental regulators.
The one-page monthly report filed with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation also shows that on nine days, including April 13-15, during the 30 day period only a minimal amount was withdrawn. In the prior month the company reported taking 18.65 million gallons from the river.
Operating under a series of special state permits the Midway company is able to draw millions of gallons of water per year for use in the manufacture of ammonium nitrate and related projects.
The report shows that on four days during the month the company drew more than one million gallons from the river. The highest single day total was 1.19 million gallons drawn on April 28.
According to the report the company discharged 5.4 million gallons of waste water back into the river. On 10 of those days only a minimal amount was discharged. The highest single day discharge was 486,000 gallons on April 1. That compares with 9.4 million gallons discharged into the river in March.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

TDEC To Check USN NOX Emissions

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental officials have told a local activist that they will consider the results of recently performed performance tests at a Greene County chemical firm to ensure that it is operating within specified emission limits.
In an email to Park Overall, James Johnston of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said that while the purpose of the recent performance tests was different from the initial 2016 performance test at US Nitrogen LLC, the agency will review the test results from tests performed from April 13-15 and determine if those results indicate the company is in compliance with limits on nitrous oxide emissions.
The email to Overall comes just one day after TDEC approved an amendment to US Nitrogen's operating permit. The company had requested approval for an alternative method of determining compliance with emission limits.
The permit was initially issued late last year. It will not expire until April 1, 2029.
Under the permit US Nitrogen is limited to emissions of .38 pounds per ton on ammonia produced. The permit also sets limits on emissions from two ammonia trains the facility utilizes.
US Nitrogen had requested a change in its permit on March 24 and Overall had responded on April 7 requesting that the recently completed performance tests be considered in determining compliance.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

US Nitrogen Seeks Nolichucky Permit Renewal

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC, the Greene County chemical firm, is seeking to renew the permit that allows the company to discharge some 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day into the Nolichucky River.
The 45-page submission, including several appendices, lists dozens of pollutants, some of which the application states, are believed to be present when the wastewater is pumped into the river.
The permit is one of two highly controversial to be granted by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
The permit that allows the company to draw some 1.9 million gallons of water per day from the Nolichucky was renewed last year following a sparsely attended public hearing.
The discharge renewal application was submitted along with a one-page cover letter from Dylan Charles, US Nitrogen's plant manager. The current permit expires Oct. 31.
As the application states, the company's primary product is ammonium nitrate, which is used by US Nitrogen's parent company, Ohio based Austin Powder, in the production of explosives. The explosives are manufactured at a different site.
According to the application some 573,000 gallons of wastewater per day will be pumped from US Nitrogen's Midway manufacturing facility to mile marker 20.8 on the Nolichucky. In its latest monthly report to TDEC, the company reported discharging 9.4 million gallons into the Nolichucky in March
Among the chemicals the company says it believes to be present in the wastewater are bromide, fecal coliform, chlorine and molybdenum.
Copper, according to the application, is believed to be present because it is used as a treatment chemical.
In a past report the company reported that it believed that thallium was present in the water. A subsequent investigation by TDEC, however, found no trace of the chemical.
The application states that the company had two different tests performed by an outside laboratory for acute or chronic toxicity. The tests were submitted on April 30, 2017, but the application does not indicate the outcome.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

US Nitrogen Files Compliance Report

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC has told Tennessee officials it fully complied with the provisions of its permit in the production of tons of nitric acid at its Greene County manufacturing facility.
The massive Annual Permit Compliance Report, complete with hourly reports on emission levels, shows that on nearly 100 days between January and August in 2019, no nitric acid was produced.
In fact, the daily production report shows that in many months, there was no nitric acid production on 20 or more days.
In March of 2019, for instance, there was no nitric acid production from March 7 to March 29. In June there was no nitric acid production from June 4 to June 24.
The data was sent as an attachment to a letter from US Nitrogen Plant Manager Dylan Charles to Michelle Owenby, head of the air pollution control division of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
In the letter Charles disclosed that there was only a four period in February where emissions monitoring equipment was not in operation. The Feb. 25 gap, according to the letter, was due to routine maintenance.
According to Charles, the company complied with various limits set out in the permit, including limiting nitric acid production to 600 tons per day. Other limits include the emission of no more than 54.8 tons of nitrous oxides per year.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

US Nitrogen Tests to Begin

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

Tennessee environmental officials have disclosed key tests at a Greene County chemical firm will take place next week with state officials due to be in attendance.
According to an email from an official of the state Department of Environment and Conservation the tests will get under way on Monday with preparatory work by AMP Cherokee, the company brought in by US Nitrogen. The tests will be conducted on the company's two ammonia trains, key elements in the production of ammonium nitrate, one of the company's main products.
According to the email sent to Park Overall, a local environmental activist, actual tests on the first ammonia train will begin at mid-morning on Tuesday. Overall has been pressing state officials for details on the timing of the tests.
Tests on the second ammonia train will take place Wednesday.
A critical part of the tests will be the startups of the two trains and the level of emissions recorded during each step of that process. The company has encountered problems in some previous start ups.
In a related development Overall has challenged the methodology proposed by US Nitrogen in setting standards for the production of anhydrous ammonia, a separate product produced by the Midway firm.
In a April 7 letter to TDEC official Michelle Owenby Overall wrote that the method proposed by US Nitrogen could result in the company underestimating the projected emissions.
The company has proposed that the standard be based on the results of a test conducted on Nov. 21 and 22 of 2016.
Overall, however, proposed that TDEC should also consider the latest test results and apply the higher standard, either the 2016 test results or the latest tests.
The higher factor should apply, Overall wrote.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com

US Nitrogen Nearly Doubles River Use

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

US Nitrogen LLC nearly doubled the amount of free water it pumped from the Nolichucky River in the month of March, according to a report filed today with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
The report by the Greene County chemical firm shows a total of 18.65 million gallons were pumped from the river, nearly double the 9.9 million the company used in February.
In a related matter local environmental activist Park Overall has called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to hold a public hearing on US Nitrogen's production of anhydrous ammonia at its Midway facility.
Her request was prompted by US Nitrogen's recent request for a clarification and amendment to its permit to produce anhydrous ammonia.
In her letter Overall wrote that long after it first announced plans to build an ammonium nitrate plant in Tennessee "US Nitrogen has still not decided what it's going to make."
She said a hearing was necessary because of the increased risk to the local community from anhydrous ammonia production.
In its monthly report to TDEC, US Nitrogen reported it drew over 1 million gallons from the Nolichucky on 10 separate days. On March 9 it drew 1.9 million gallons, the highest of the month.
On six days it drew a minimal amount from the river. On March 4 and March 6 no water was withdrawn.
The company report shows a total of 9.4 million gallons were discharged back into the river in March, compared to the 5.8 million discharged into the river in February.
On 11 days of March US Nitrogen discharged more than 400,000 gallons into the Nolichucky. On four days a minimal amount was discharged to the river.
Under its state permits US Nitrogen is required to file monthly reports on its river water use.
Contact: wfrochejr999@gmail.com