The West Virginia Division of Air Quality has officially denied an air quality permit for Morgan County Potting Soil Manufacturers, LLC. The decision to deny the company an air quality, made late last month, is a setback for the company, which also saw its permit from the state’s Department of Environmental Protection be denied.
Adding to the setbacks, the Morgan County, W.V., Solid Waste Authority is expected to discuss whether to rescind its approval, which was granted in February, 2001.
The project, announced more than two years ago, aimed to take in and process engineered wood from new residential construction sites. However, one of the problems that cropped up was the question about the company’s use of a boiler to burn some of the non-recyclable wood. According to local press reports, the company originally applied for the permit on October 1, 2001. Two weeks later, they were informed the application was incomplete.
A revised application was submitted on December 10 and, eight days later, it was also deemed incomplete.
In February, 2002, another revised application was submitted and was still found to include "numerous discrepancies."
Chris Sergent, the air quality engineer reviewing the application, contacted the boiler maker directly and, within a day, received a summary of emissions based on a 1994 stack test of a wood-burning boiler.
However, the test did not verify that the wood burned included engineered wood products, the material that the company aimed to burn.
The company has until the end of this month to appeal the decision by the Department of Air Quality to deny a permit. The company also has until March 20th to appeal the earlier denial of a state solid waste permit.