Ohio, Renergy settle over biodigester emissions case

“We’re happy that the Greene County Court docket of Widespread Pleas entered the consent order, which represents a negotiated settlement between Renergy and the Ohio EPA,” Renergy COO Cari Oberfield mentioned. “Renergy has already began the method of making ready the air allow utility and appears ahead to returning to full compliance.”

It’s at the moment unclear what steps can be required, Ohio EPA consultant James Lee mentioned Tuesday. Renergy should first analysis their choices to manage air emissions, and embody a suggestion of their allow utility. The Ohio EPA makes the ultimate determination on what measures have to be applied.

The present Renergy facility has an air allow that covers the entire air air pollution sources — the digester with a flare, emergency engine and biogas engine — apart from the digestate lagoon.

“The air emissions from the digestate lagoon had been thought to have too few emissions to require a allow,” Lee mentioned. “New data not too long ago offered by Renergy signifies the emissions are larger than anticipated, such {that a} allow is required.”

Oberfield added that ranges of ammonia emitted from the tank are estimated to be a lot lower than the ammonia from a typical hog manure lagoon, which is exempt from air allowing necessities.

The town of Fairborn and Bathtub Twp. have additionally filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the businesses, in addition to the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Safety Companies, alleging violations of the Clear Air Act. The lawsuit was filed within the U.S. District Court docket for Southern Ohio in Dayton.

The Ohio Lawyer Normal’s workplace filed its lawsuit on the request of the Ohio EPA director 9 days previous to the settlement.

“Fairly than litigating its violations of the Clear Air Act, the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace and the corporate entered right into a consent order on phrases that addressed each previous violations and future compliance,” the AG’s workplace mentioned in a press release Tuesday.

The power at 1156 Herr Highway has been a supply of controversy for years, as neighbors have complained of odors, and Bathtub Twp. officers have pursued zoning controls. The biodigester, positioned between Fairborn and Yellow Springs, is an natural waste processing facility that makes use of anaerobic digestion to supply methane fuel that may be burned to supply electrical energy. It was inbuilt 2013-14.