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Friday, January 15, 2010

Environment - "Crawford County residents question biomass power project"

Interesting, especially in light of: (1) this ILB entry from Jan. 7, 2010 headed "Environment - Rules proposed again to regulate outdoor wood-fired boilers," and (2) the active opposition of Forrest Lucas, the motor oil magnate, who paid $121.5 million for the naming rights for Indianapolis' football stadium, is this long story today by Grace Schneider of the Louisville Courier Journal. A few quotes:

A crowd of Crawford County residents has urged Indiana environmental regulators to postpone action on an application to build a wood-burning power plant near Milltown and instead order a full environmental impact study.

Community members cited concerns about public health – especially at a nearby elementary school – and questioned how the Indiana Department of Environmental Management would test and monitor the so-called “biomass” plant to ensure its operators stay in compliance with emission limits.

More than 200 people, some wearing T-shirts that said “No Biomass Incinerator,” turned out Wednesday for a meeting that lasted more than 4-1/2 hours at the county’s 4H Fairgrounds, where agency officials responded to questions about a draft air-quality permit outlining proposed emission limits and other requirements for the $90 million project.

Liberty Green Renewables LLC, the company seeking the permit, has estimated its operations would emit 245 tons of nitrogen oxide and 226 tons of carbon dioxide each year, in addition to 11 tons of chemicals classified as hazardous air pollutants. Besides the air permit, Liberty Green’s partners have applied for a separate permit to disburse more than 200,000 gallons of cooling water daily across its site near the corner of Ind. 66 and Ind. 64.

The company also is seeking to build a similar power plant near Scottsburg in Scott County, and regulators have scheduled a public meeting for Feb. 3 at 5:30 p.m. at Scottsburg High School. * * *

Many of the questions raised at the session focused on the state’s oversight of the plant – about testing the wood that would be used to fuel it and about maintenance and ash disposal.

“Who’s going to be watching over what they burn?” asked Forrest Lucas, owner of lubricants manufacturer Lucas Oil Co.

Lucas, who recently hired lawyers to review the issue, told Matt Stuckey, chief of IDEM’s air-quality permitting branch, that despite Liberty Green’s claims that only “clean wood” would be burned, company executives told him during a meeting that they expect to burn wood from demolished houses – material that Lucas said would contain lead, asbestos and metals.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 15, 2010 12:18 PM
Posted to Environment