CARLISLE - Though it will primarily use barley, the proposed ethanol plant to be built near Carlisle can also use other materials to make ethanol if need be, company officials say.
During a community meeting at the Carlisle Town Hall Monday evening, Liz Basil, permitting director for DHEC's Bureau of Air Quality Control, provided a brief review of the permit application for the proposed Congaree Bio Energy Ethanol plant. Ms. Basil said the application states that the plant will produce 68.2 million gallons of ethanol a year using barley, wheat, corn or milo.
The purpose of Monday's meeting was to allow people to ask questions about the proposed plant as part of the permitting process. Retired environmental engineer and former DHEC and EPA official Charles Jeter pointed out that the proposed facility had been publicized as being a barley plant. He said the permit application proves it will not be exclusively a barley plant and this raises questions of credibility regarding the facility.
Joel Stone, chief operating officer, and Patrick Simms, senior vice president of operations for Osage Bio Energy, the company building the facility, said barley is the company's first choice for use in making ethanol. They said the plant will be designed, however, to allow it to use barley, wheat, corn or milo. This flexibility would allow the plant to remain in operation if barley is not available in the region, such as during a drought. They said that without such flexibility the plant would have to cease operations, whereas with it operations could continue until barley is available.
Osage's plan is to use regionally-grown barley - a winter crop - to produce ethanol. Stone and Simms said that in the event of drought the company might import barley from Canada rather than corn from the Midwest until regional barley production resumed.
The issue of odors and pollution from the proposed plant was also discussed. Stone and Simms said the source of most odors is the drying process for the matter left over from the production of ethanol. They said the plant will use a drying process designed to reduce odors and that any produced will be fed into a thermal oxidizer which will burn them off.
Ms. Basil said that the plant will have to keep pollutants below levels set by state and federal law. The company will be required to monitor its handling of those pollutants and make regular reports to DHEC which will also conduct annual, unannounced inspections of the facility.
Jeter also raised questions about the amount of traffic going in and out of the proposed facility. He pointed to information provided him by an official with the S.C. Department of Transportation in Chester that shows 304 vehicles a day during peak periods. The estimate, which Jeter said was based on a study commissioned by Osage, showed that this would mean 80 trucks going in and 72 going out each hour during peak production.
Osage's permit application states that the facility will be visited by 72,664 trucks a year. Stone and Simms said that the number of trucks will depend on the percentage of deliveries made by rail and the size of the trucks involved. They said that the company prefers the facility be served by the larger hopper bottom trucks like those used in the Midwest rather than smaller dump trucks. This would reduce the number of trucks coming in and out of the facility.
As for Jeter's figures, Stone said that the number refers to trucks going in and out of the facility meaning there would actually be only half that number of trucks. Also, Stone said, the larger number refers to projections of truck traffic if the facility begins using renewable biomass to produce ethanol with cellulosic technology.
Plans are for the proposed plant to get steam, water and waste water treatment from Carlisle Finishing and its potable water from the Town of Carlisle. Mayor Radzil Thompson asked why the town was kept in the dark so long about the project. Stone and Simms said the company was bound by a confidentiality agreement requested by Carlisle Finishing and could say nothing publicly. They said this is standard procedure in negotiations where property is involved.
Carlisle Finishing President James Payne said his company had been considering this proposal for the last 18 months and was learning more about Osage and its activities. He said his company decided to move forward with it after becoming confident that Osage was committed to building a world-class facility.
When asked whether the company would hire locally or bring in its own people to operate the facility, Stone and Simms said that usually the only outside person the company brings in is the general manager. The rest of the staff will be hired from, first, the local community, and then from within a 20- to 25-mile radius of the plant.
Ms. Basil said the next step in the permitting process will be a public hearing at the Carlisle Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. She said DHEC will continue taking written comments on the proposed plant until Sept. 22.
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