More hurdles remain if a rezoning request for 318 acres of Scott County, USA, farmland for a proposed nitrogen fertilizer plant goes forward.
If the rezoning is approved by the Scott County Board of Supervisors and a special-use permit is issued by the Zoning Board of Adjustment this month, the project would have to go through the permitting process for air emissions, wastewater, stormwater and well drilling with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
DNR officials have met with Orascom Construction Industries and Stanley Consultants officials several times.
“What we have is (preliminary applications) for air emission construction permits,” said Christine Spackman, business assistance coordinator for the Iowa DNR.“We don’t have anything else.”
More information regarding construction air emissions is expected soon from Orascom to cover the construction period. The company also will have to apply for an air emissions permit for when it is operational.
Construction emissions information could cover multiple sites, while information for stormwater, wastewater or well drilling is site-specific, Spackman said. The air construction permit would be the first one issued, and can take about six months to complete. Other permits are issued in 60 or 90 days.
Several DNR officials said Orascom officials are still considering sites other sites along with Scott County.
The preliminary information received from Orascom shows the plant would be a major emitter of a number of pollutants, including fine particulates and silver dioxide, said Katharine Fitzsimmons, bureau chief of the DNR’s air quality division.
“They would be required to go through the prevention of severe deterioration permitting process,” she said. “You have to control things very well. You have to meet what everyone else in the United States does.”
The air in Scott County is in attainment for air quality
standards and those standards have tightened even more in recent years, so Orascom would be required to reach those standards.
Company officials have said the equipment will use the latest technology for air emissions.
The Quad-City area has been within the national ambient air quality standards for a few years and the requirements for the proposed fertilizer plant would continue to keep it that way, Fitzsimmons said.
“We don’t believe there will be any difficulties caused by a new facility,” she said. “Wherever they build in Iowa, they have to meet those standards.
“We will never issue a permit to a facility that would contribute to a negative air quality standard,” Fitzsimmons said.
The company hasn’t provided details on how much wastewater would be created or what type of system could be used, said Satya Chennupati, the DNR’s environmental programme supervisor.
“From our initial meeting, the majority of the waste stream would be captured and recycled, so it wouldn’t create a lot of wastewater,” he said. “It is up to them if they want to combine or separate for domestic wastewater.
“The rest that comes out as waste has to be disposed of like any other industrial waste plant in the state,” he said.“We’ll be having more and more meetings with the company and their consulting engineers.”
In Illinois, the Department of Agriculture permits fertilizer plants as agri-chemical facilities, Kristi Jones, a spokeswoman for the agriculture department, said. Rentech operates a nitrogen fertilizer plant in East Dubuque. The plant must go through a re-permitting process every five years.
The states act as the agents for the federal government on air and water permits such as those needed for these types of facilities, so all the states follow the same process for the same air and water standards, Spackman said.