Emission checks at TVRR facility spark questions
Saturday, March 17, 2007 11:47 PM PDT
Larry Meyer Argus Observer
ONTARIO
Air contaminant discharge and water pollution control measures for Treasure Valley Renewable Resources planned bio-refinery generated a number of questions during the recent Malheur County Planning Commission site review hearing for the plant.
The permits for air contaminant discharge and water pollution control facilities for the facility are available for public review at the Malheur County Planning Department in Vale.
The air contaminant discharge and water pollution control permits will be the subject of a public hearing July 13 in the Weese Building at Treasure Valley Community College. An informational presentation will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the formal hearing at 7 p.m.
Pollutants of concern include particulate matter and fine particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds and other hazardous air pollutants as listed in the federal Clean Air Act Amendments.
Scott Fairley, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, said the proposed plant site emission limits for TVRR have been set below the significant federal emission rate.
“When they get to the SER’s they have to start adding more equipment,” Fairley said. “You can get up to the numbers (established limits). You can’t surpass them. That is just the maximum.”
However, he said, TVRR officials expect to be under the emission rate set by the DEQ in the air contaminant discharge permit.
TVRR’s bio-refinery will not be a real big source of emissions in comparison with other permit holders in the county, Fairley said.
In an earlier public meeting to explain the DEQ permitting process, Thane Jennings, DEQ environmental engineer, said the DEQ will not be monitoring emissions directly.
However, at the site review hearing Tuesday, Fairley said all emission sources will be monitored.
Fairley’s comments left some at the meeting wondering: Is the TVRR bio-refinery going to be monitored by the DEQ or not?
Jennings did not attend the site hearing and was not available for comment.
Fairley, though, asserted he believes Jennings was saying there will not be regular visits by DEQ staff.
“We don’t just monitor Malheur County,” Fairley said.
Most of the monitoring is done by the company, with periodic inspections by DEQ staff to check the records to see if the company is in compliance, Fairley said.
“We do unannounced inspections,” Fairley said.
He said DEQ staff can tell by how much product is processed and how much end product is shipped out if the TVRR emission figures are correct.
“It is much harder to fix the numbers,” he said.
One of the special conditions of the air permit is TVRR will not vent any gas or emission from the gasification units directly to the atmosphere.
Fairley explained the synthetic gas generated in the gasification process is turned into ethanol, and C02 is separated out.
Any excess syngas not used in the product will be burned in the gasification burner, he said.
The primary focus of the wastewater disposal permit is on the wastewater treatment plant.
According to the DEQ staff report, wastewater will be generated by “various” operations and the permitted wastewater sources are a cooling tower, equipment and production area floor cleaning, the CO2 recovery process, chiller water from the gasification process and condensate from the ethanol recovery process.
The wastewater treatment system includes a membrane filtration unit, which Fairley said is one of the best systems available.
“It is very expensive,” he said.
TVRR officials said June 7 they will either use the reclaimed water in their facility or will use it for irrigation on their on-site crop test plots, which the permit will allow March through October.
In being able to use the water for irrigation, Fairly said “They will have to show they are not contributing to the groundwater problem.”
The bio-refinery is situated in the Northern Malheur County Groundwater Management Area.
The area is designated the Northern Malheur County Groundwater Management Area by the DEQ because of groundwater nitrate-nitrogen concentrations.
The staff report said groundwater monitoring will address protection of subsurface drainage from potential impacts by the storm water basins and land application site.
