*>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. ------- |