U.S. EPA has determined Clean Air Act permit granted to Georgia Cellulosic Biomass Plant to be Inadequate

The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has concluded that the Clean Air Act (“Act”) operating permit for the Piedmont Green Power facility issued by the Georgia EPD in 2015 is inadequate for failure to include sufficient monitoring, record keeping, and reporting requirements to ensure that biomass burned in the plant’s boiler qualifies as clean, cellulosic biomass. Title V operating permits are issued by state and local permitting authorities, which must submit the permits to the EPA for review and approval. The operating permit includes annual hazardous air pollution remnants that the EPA determined are legally and practically unenforceable. Based on this determination, the EPA objected to the permit and ordered the Georgia EPD to revise the permit to incorporate sufficient monitoring and reporting requirements for the biomass used in the plant’s boiler. The EPA also recommended that the EPD address enforceability concerns by identifying which pollutants must be considered in determining whether the plant exceeded hazardous air pollution limits and add adequate testing, recordkeeping, and monitoring requirements for those requirements.

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