PORT ANGELES — Public comment is due Tuesday to the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency on a proposal to provide additional mercury control on a boiler at McKinley Paper Company.
The proposal is for a powdered activated carbon (PAC) injection system on a boiler at the mill at 1902 Marine Drive in Port Angeles.
The permit can be viewed at https://www.orcaa.org/category/permits/.
Comments may be submitted by mail to ORCAA, 2940 Limited Lane NW, Olympia, WA 98502; by fax to 360-491-6308; and by email to mark.goodin@orcaa.org. Include the “notice of construction number: 22NOC1581.
ORCAA Senior Engineer Mark Goodin wrote in an email that, “McKinley is currently operating a temporary PAC unit to control mercury emissions until the permanent PAC unit is approved by ORCAA.” ORCAA received McKinley’s application for the permanent PAC unit on Dec. 13 and expects to approve the application early in January, he said.
Once the permit is approved, McKinley can install the permanent PAC unit and remove the temporary one, Goodin wrote, adding it’s the agency understanding that the replacement and initial setup will take a matter of several days rather than weeks.
Goodin wrote that mercury emissions with the temporary PAC unit are at 0.003 pounds per day when McKinley’s biomass boiler is operating at maximum output.
“The amount of mercury removed is approximately 0.006 pounds per day compared to mercury emissions without using a PAC system, which would amount to a reduction of roughly 2.1 pounds of mercury per year if the boiler operated continuously at its maximum rate,” he said.
Notice of Construction (NOC) permits are required prior to the construction, installation, replacement, or modification of any air pollutant sources, emissions units, or air pollution control equipment. Once approved and issued by ORCAA, the NOC allows not only the construction but also the ongoing operation of that source or emissions unit.
The NOC is in force until the source or emissions unit is modified or replaced, at which time a new NOC permit is required.
