OEPA Permit Hearing 4-17-08

The first hearing held by the OEPA in regards to the Baard CTL proposed plant was held last night at Wellsville High School. This meeting was a presentation of Baard's plans in regards to how they propose to deal with the quality of water present in wetlands and streams on that hilltop. It was an informational session for what was submitted by the company to obtain just one of the many permits required before proceeding with the construction of the plant. It was also a hearing for public comment for folks to express their concerns and questions about the water quality. Both of our local papers gave very good accounts of the proceeding last night in today's editions and they are on-line. So, instead of boring you with repeating those details I'll limit my comments to some of my impressions.

It looked like a good turn out but it could have been better. If you eliminated the elected officials you would probably be left with about a third of those present. There was Baard representatives there along with Chamber-of-Commerce people from not only our village but from other areas too. If you didn't attend you missed an opportunity to rub elbows with many of our elected officials from village level, county level, state level and some folks representing Congressman Charlie Wilson on the federal level. I was impressed with their turn out and spent the first part of the gathering putting names to many of the familiar faces I have seen in the newspapers. I was also impressed with their show of support simply by being there. On a beautiful spring evening in the ville they gave me a feeling that there is hope for this place we call home.

Overall those that signed up to comment were very supportive and appreciative of Baard's efforts with not only the permit process but the potential they are giving us by wanting to locate in our area. For the most part it was a pep rally for the company. I only heard two comments on the negative side. One was from an 18th Street Heights resident expressing his concern on dust from dirt doing the construction and later on from coal dust once the plant gets into operation. That wasn't being covered last night. There will be another hearing at a later date for the air pollution permits but from what I'm seeing so far I'm betting Baard will have that covered.

The other negative comment was from a fellow with a Youngstown address who said he represented the Salt Springs Group which is part of the nationally known Sierra Club. He offered no credentials other than that and went on to speak of the negative impact the building and operation of the plant would have as far as he could determine. He was talking of mountain top mining, windmills and solar panels. First off Baard will not be mining the coal they will be using. Baard may be getting coal from such operations but that type of coal mining is an issue of a different nature. It doesn't pertain to the proposed plant and it's something that will have to be dealt with by other entities. From what I read Baard will be buying coal on the open market. I sure they will be going for the best price. That kind of mining is the responsibility of the suppliers. The hearing last night was about water and this guy is talking about electricity obtained from windmills and solar panels. Maybe he missed the notification on the purpose of the hearing. He lost his creditability of being knowledgeable with me when he said the fuel from this plant would not burn any cleaner that what is in use today. Evidently he has either not seen or chose to ignore the studies that have been done and the results that have been published proving otherwise. I'm not a scientist by any stretch of the imagination but I recall reading those studies last summer and being convinced of their results. If I recall correctly they were conducted by independent laboratories. Me thinks Mr. Salt Club was there just to confuse the issue. The purpose of the plant is to make liquid fuel in an environmentally friendly way.

Remember me saying I think Baard is showing a willingness to bend over backwards to be our good neighbors? Brought up last night was a plan change that will add millions of dollars to their costs that Baard has made to further protect some of the wet lands. To me this is just one example proving that good neighbor observation. There have been many others.

The comment period for this hearing will be open until April 24th. I have addresses if anyone wants them. The next meeting with OEPA will be at the high school on May 27th at 6:00 once again. That meeting will pertain to the Division of Surface Water, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System draft permit. That's a mouth full. Above are pictures of a drawing of what the proposed plant will look like and of the audience listening to one of the public commentors. You can click on them to enlarge.

It's coming folks and the hearing last night seemed to me to be a good indication of that. Just hang in there.

ole nib