http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060623/NEWS/606230368/1002/NEWS01

State OKs restart at Omya facility

June 23, 2006
By Bruce Edwards Herald Staff

FLORENCE — The state has given Omya the go-ahead to resume operations at its East Plant, which was shut down two weeks ago when certain air emissions exceeded acceptable levels.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation gave Omya approval this week to restart the plant after the state determined that a new procedure would cut emissions of hazardous air contaminants and odors.

Omya voluntarily ceased operations at the East Plant two weeks ago after receiving preliminary results of emissions tests on two flash dryers. The testing was part of a three-phase study of odor emissions from the East Plant prompted by complaints from neighbors.

The preliminary test data indicated emissions of formaldehyde and acrolein from the dryers may have exceeded the state's regulatory levels. Air quality modeling by Omya's engineering consultant indicated that the regulatory air quality standard for formaldehyde may also have been exceeded at the company's property lines.

Omya's plan includes modifications that the DEC said will result in lower emissions of both hazardous air contaminants, including formaldehyde and acrolein, and odors from the plant.

James Reddy, Omya president of North American operations, said Thursday "lowering the temperatures significantly" in the drying process should eliminate the odors and the emission levels.

"We're confident it's going to solve the problem," Reddy said.

According to the department, concurrent with the start of operations it will conduct comprehensive retesting of the dryers' emissions. Odor samples will also be collected.

The DEC said its approval was issued on an interim basis only.

"Our folks analyzed the change in their process and concluded that it should reduce the amount of the chemicals of concern being created there," DEC Commissioner Jeffrey Wennberg said Thursday.

Once additional test data is collected and analyzed, Wennberg said the state will know definitively whether the problem has been eliminated.

"We are highly confident that it's going to make a big difference in terms of what the analysis shows, but we can't assume that's going to actually do it," he said. "We have to base a final decision on whatever modifications are required based on actual tests."

No similar problem exists at its West Plant, the company's main plant, which accounts for 90 percent of the calcium carbonate production in Florence.

Material that comes out of the East Plant is used in food packaging, some of which is used in kosher food packaging. Because the plant is kosher certified, Reddy said vegetable-based stearic acid is used in processing and is dried at very high temperatures.

"During the odor study we did try this method because we thought this might be the problem and it did basically eliminate the odor," he said.

Before the manufacturing process was changed, however, Reddy said the company needed approval of the customer, whose packaging is used to wrap kosher food products.

Omya critic Annette Smith questioned why it took the company and the state so long to resolve the odor problem, which had bothered some neighbors of the East Plant for several years.

"The system broke down and the neighbors have been the victims," said Smith, who heads Vermonters for a Clean Environment. "It's nice that they're doing something now about it, but I really think somebody needs to investigate what went wrong here and why was this problem allowed to continue for years."

Wennberg, however, said his department determined that a comprehensive odor study was needed to pinpoint the problem before any corrective action could be taken.

"It wasn't until they got to the final phase of the three-phase study that this was discovered," he said.

Contact Bruce Edwards at bruce.edwards@rutlandherald.com.