*>EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
For more information
For questions, comments or more
information about EPA's tentative
non-waste decision for the
Blandin/Allete MN Power, contact
these EPA team members:
For technical questions
Carol L. Staniec
Project Manager
Land and Chemicals Division
EPA Region 5
312-886-1436-fax 312-692-2058
Staniec.Carol@epa.gov
For community involvement
questions contact
Rafael P. Gonzalez
Public Affairs Specialist
Land and Chemicals Division
EPA Region 5
312-886-0269
Gonzalez.rafaelp@epa.gov
EPA toll-free: 800-621 -8431,
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., weekdays
On the Web:
For the signed tentative decision and
administrative record, go to
www.epa.gov/...
Official documents
For local community information
concerning this non-waste
determination, view official
documents by visiting the repository
at Grand Rapids Area Library,
140 NE 2nd St. Grand Rapids MN.
218-326-7640.
EPA Proposes to Approve
Non-Waste Petition
Blandin/Allete/MN Power
Grand Rapids, Minnesota	March 2019
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to approve the
Blandin/Allete MN Power petition requesting a non-waste determination
regarding the paper roll fiber cores to burn as fuel at its Rapid Energy Center in
Grand Rapids, Minn. Under the Non-Hazardous Secondary Material (NHSM)
Rule, or Blandin/Allete must meet the three legitimacy criteria and five factors
required in federal law.
The three legitimacy criteria are:
(1)	The NHSM is managed as a valuable commodity;
(2)	The NHSM has a meaningful heating value and used as a fuel in a
combustion unit that recovers energy; and
(3)	The NHSM must contain contaminants at levels comparable to traditional
fuels.
The five factors identified in the rule are as follows:
(1)	Market participants treat NHSM as a product, not a waste;
(2)	Chemical and physical identity of the NHSM is comparable to commercial
fuels;
(3)	The NHSM is used in a reasonable timeframe;
(4)	Constituents in the NHSM are released to air, water, and land from
point of generation up until combustion at levels comparable to traditional
fuels; and
(5)	other relevant factors.
For this petition, the NHSM consists of butt ends, fiber core dust compressed into
plugs, and whole fiber cores from defective rolls. The manufacturers of paper roll
fiber cores ship the cores to Blandin, which is the generator of the of the fiber
core materials for the purposes of Blandin's non-waste determination petition.
The NHSM is then transferred from the generator to Allete/Minnesota Power for
use.
Comments welcome
Before EPA makes a final decision on Blandin/Allete MN Power's non-waste
petition, the Agency will hold a 30-day comment period from March. 11, 2019, to
April. 11, 2019. EPA will consider reasonable requests to hold a public hearing
on the issue. To make a comment, email Project Manager Carol Staniec at
staniec.carol@epa.gov or mail to Carol at U.S. EPA Region 5, Land and
Chemicals Division (LM-8J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3590.
You can also comment on EPA's website www.epa.gov/...
Second action under Secondary Materials Rule
This is EPA's second "non-waste" determination under the Non-Hazardous
Secondary Material Rule and it would allow Blandin/MN Power to burn the fiber
cores in the Rapid Energy Centers boilers as a fuel that is comparable to its
current fuel of wood and coal. The NHSM is replacing a traditional fuel that
could be burned (coal) and therefore potentially reducing a greenhouse gas
emission. The fiber core materials were historically combusted in the REC boilers
for many years. The cores are already a permitted fuel in the Title V air permit.

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