DARRINGTON – State officials are requiring the operator of a proposed power plant to take steps to limit the plants emissions and provide $50,000 to study air pollution in a nearby wilderness area.
Northwest Energy Systems Co. of Kirkland, which wants to build a 20-megawatt electric cogeneration plant in Darrington, also will help to establish an air monitoring station and support a wood stove buyback program.
Those terms are included in draft air quality permits issued late last week by the state Department of Ecology and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
The public can submit comments about the permit conditions until Aug. 16.
The permits’ most important conditions are aimed at limiting the effect of the plant’s effect on the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area about 10 miles away.
“Because in this case, they’re so close to the wilderness area, there are some mitigation efforts they have to put forth to offset the effects,” said Stu Clark at the Department of Ecology.
Northwest Energy Systems’ proposed plant would be at the Hampton Lumber mill north of town and employ as many as 26 people. The plant would burn wood waste to generate steam to turn an electricity-producing turbine.
Steam also would be piped into the mill’s drying kilns. Now oil-burning boilers produce steam for the kilns.
In a letter to the Department of Ecology earlier this year, however, the U.S. Forest Service warned that large amounts of nitrous oxide from the power plant could hurt lichen, lakes and trees in the Glacier Peak Wilderness Area.
Haze from the plant’s smokestack might also adversely affect views, the agency said.
“The airshed up there is kind of in a valley … and some folks worry about the impact of a facility like this,” said Alan Butler of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
Janice Peterson, an air quality specialist with the Forest Service, said her agency feels “pretty satisfied” that the draft permits addresses the concerns she raised earlier.
She said the key was a provision that requires Hampton Lumber to shut down its oil-fired boilers once the cogeneration plant can provide steam to the mill.
Additionally, Northwest Energy Systems agreed to federally enforceable limits on the amount of pollution the plant will produce.
The company also is putting up money. It will provide $10,000 a year for five years for additional scientific studies in the wilderness area. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency also will receive $10,000 initially and $5,000 in each of the next four years from the company to establish an air-monitoring station in Darrington.
State and federal officials have said wood smoke sources such as wood stoves or yard waste burning are probably big contributors to Darrington’s existing air pollution. With that in mind, another $25,000 from Northwest Energy Systems will support an incentive program encouraging residents to trade in their old wood stoves. Another program will be aimed at reducing outdoor burning in the area.
Butler said he was happy to see such “creative solutions” included in the permits.
Representatives at Northwest Energy Systems did not return a call for comment on the draft permits.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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