RALEIGH — A company that wants to build and operate a wood pellet manufacturing facility in Lumberton has been issued an air permit by the state.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality issued the permit for Active Energy Renewable Power, the NCDEQ ammounced Monday. Active Energy plans to build a facility at 1885 Alamac Road in Lumberton.
The permit includes added requirements to address the concerns of people in the community.
The conditions are:
— Stack testing of hazardous air pollutants, toxic air pollutants, and volatile organic compounds;
— Stack testing to be conducted 90 days after startup instead of 180 days;
— Facility-wide emissions to be reported every six months;
— Feedstock to be limited to 50% softwood.
“The testing and reporting conditions will be used to confirm the facility is operating as represented in the permit application, meeting the thresholds of the small facility permit category and in compliance with the terms of the permit. Stack testing data will be made publicly available,” a DEQ release reads in part.
The final permit, final permit review, hearing officer’s report, director’s memo, and environmental justice report are available on the department’s webpage at https://deq.nc.gov/Active-Energy.
The permit was issued in the wake of a June 22 digital public hearing. The permit was challenged by residents concerned the operation would damage the surrounding environment and leak pollutants into the Lumber River.
Active Energy Group PLC acquired a 415,000-square-foot on building on Alamac Road in Lumberton that will be the U.S. base of its biomass processing operations, according to an April 2019 posting on the company’s website.
“The United Kingdom-based forestry management company will create 50 jobs at the facility, which will house production of its CoalSwitch™ brand fuel products. AEG acquired the building and surrounding acreage from Alamac Holdings as part of a $50 million investment AEG anticipates making in Robeson County,” the posting reads in part.
