The permit application must include samplings for emissions, including ammonia, volatile organic compounds (which are organic gases that can have averse health effects), sulfur, and methane. Renergy is also required to submit a report on the feasibility of steps that minimize emissions, up to “the physical modification and replacement of the waste tank.”
Failure to comply with these measures would cost Renergy $75,000.
Renergy’s application must be received within 60 days of the filing, records show. Renergy officials say they plan to meet that deadline.
“We are pleased that the Greene County Court of Common Pleas entered the consent order, which represents a negotiated settlement between Renergy and the Ohio EPA,” Renergy COO Cari Oberfield said. “Renergy has already started the process of preparing the air permit application and looks forward to returning to full compliance.”
It’s currently unclear what steps will be required, Ohio EPA representative James Lee said Tuesday. Renergy must first research their options to control air emissions, and include a recommendation in their permit application. The Ohio EPA makes the final decision on what measures must be implemented.
The existing Renergy facility has an air permit that covers all of the air pollution sources — the digester with a flare, emergency engine and biogas engine — except for the digestate lagoon.
“The air emissions from the digestate lagoon were thought to have too few emissions to require a permit,” Lee said. “New information recently provided by Renergy indicates the emissions are higher than expected, such that a permit is required.”
Oberfield added that levels of ammonia emitted from the tank are estimated to be much less than the ammonia from a typical hog manure lagoon, which is exempt from air permitting requirements.
The city of Fairborn and Bath Twp. have also filed a federal lawsuit against the companies, as well as the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies, alleging violations of the Clean Air Act. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio in Dayton.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed its lawsuit at the request of the Ohio EPA director nine days prior to the settlement.
“Rather than litigating its violations of the Clean Air Act, the Attorney General’s Office and the company entered into a consent order on terms that addressed both past violations and future compliance,” the AG’s office said in a statement Tuesday.
The facility at 1156 Herr Road has been a source of controversy for years, as neighbors have complained of odors, and Bath Twp. officials have pursued zoning controls. The biodigester, located between Fairborn and Yellow Springs, is an organic waste processing facility that uses anaerobic digestion to produce methane gas that can be burned to produce electricity. It was built in 2013-14.
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