Concerned over a pollution permit, neighbors challenge biomass burner

BY LEO CASHMAN

Energy Facility (where burning garbage is not proposed).

Amid concerns over high toxic emission limits in an air quality permit, concerned neighbors are mounting a challenge designed to slow down, if not stop, a proposed southside wood burning power plant. The plant, touted as an answer to our need for clean, sustainable energy, is officially called Midtown Eco Energy Facility (MEE). It would burn only waste wood and other urban "biomass," and its developers vow never to burn garbage. But some neighbors, alarmed by a seemingly lax and permissive air quality permit from the Minnesota Air Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) are seeking a Contested Case Hearing for a more public airing of concerns about the project.

The proposed wood burner would be located near East 28th Street and 20th Avenue South, in southeast Phillips neighborhood and close to Lake Street and the Powderhorn/ Corcoran neighborhood. In this Lake and Hiawatha area, many residents are still waiting for state help in remediation of the arsenic contaminated soil in their yards. Why, then, the citizen activists are asking, does the draft air quality permit for this burner allow yearly air emissions of up to 69 pounds of arsenic? Other pollutant limits are lead (up to 15 pounds), mercury (up to 5.5 pounds), benzene (up to 13,000 pounds), styrene (up to 6,000 pounds) and formaldehyde (13,000 pounds). Even the burning of wood releases fine particulate matter and the air quality permit allows up to 65 tons annually of fine particulate matter (under 2.5 microns), so small that it can go deeply into the lungs.

Faced with the seeming indifference of MPCA to the environmental impacts of this project, and seeing the laxity of the draft air quality permit, activist Nancy Hone has filed on behalf of the group Neighbors Against the Burner for a contested case hearing to challenge the permit. The group, which includes citizens in St. Paul as well as Minneapolis, is challenging the proposed biomass burner at the Rock Tenn paper recycling facility in St. Paul (where burning RDF garbage is admittedly under consideration) as well as the proposed Midtown EcoAnnie Young, a Phillips resident and longtime park board member, speaks of the trade- offs presented by the proposed facility. The proposed facility, she says, would provide renewable energy and could provide energy and heat to nearby buildings such as Abbott Northwestern Hospital, the Children's Hospital and the Midtown Exchange. On the other hand, there is the question of whether there would be enough wood chips and other clean burning fuel to keep the facility operating. Neighborhood residents need to weigh the benefits--including local job creation--against the likely impacts of trucks (hauling in the waste wood, hauling out ash), pollution and noise.

The idea of building a waste wood burning facility was first explored here by the Green Institute, which saw it as a clean and potentially valuable source of electric power and heat for nearby building. But after several years of exploration of the project, when the board decided that it was beyond the financial means of the organization and it decided that it could not be assured there would be enough clean biomass fuel for the project; the institute gave up pursuit of the project. Its executive director, Michael Krause, resigned and bought the intellectual property rights to the project plans from the institute for $75,000. Months later, Krause partnered with Kim Havey and others to form Kandiyohi Development Partners (KDP). KDP has gone on to play a role in the development of the Midtown Exchange (at the former Sears site), as well as the proposed wood burner and other local projects.

Regarding concerns over the MPCA air quality permit, MEE states: "MEE cares for the health and well-being of the people of Minnesota and will adhere to the rules and regulations of the MPCA." Regarding particulate air emissions, MEE states that its burner will be 98.8 percent cleaner than the burning of wood in a fireplace is. "The air filter system is the best applicable control technology available in the U.S." MEE does not believe that a contested case hearing is necessary at this point, since the project has had five public hearings already as well as community presentations to nine neighborhood or community groups. It emphasizes that it will not burn garbage as a fuel and it will not be permitted to do so.

Copies of the draft air quality permit for the MEE can be viewed at the East Lake and Franklin public libraries. The developer, KDP, can be reached at 612-455-2177. Neighbors Against the Burner and Nancy Hone can be reached at 651-647-9908.