DEQ investigates need for industrial permit

By Anne Adams • Staff Writer

RICHMOND — As roadwork and excavation move ahead on Allegheny Mountain, state agencies charged with reviewing Highland New Wind Development's utility plans are in varying stages of determining whether they need to take any further actions.

The Department of Environmental Quality, for one, remains involved.

DEQ was in charge of coordinating all other state agencies when the developer applied for a state permit, gathering their comments on HNWD's proposal and compiling them for the State Corporation Commission. Once that mission was accomplished, DEQ's coordination role ended.

DEQ's Michael Murphy explained this week why a few of the reviewing agencies were confused about his agency's further involvement. Some of those believed DEQ was still in charge of pulling information together, but Murphy said part of the confusion involved DEQ's agreement to distribute HNWD's final site plans to each agency. "Nobody anticipated it would take this long for the site plan to be approved," he said. "I think some of them just forgot about (the project) over the last two years."

DEQ staff, however, did review the final site plans once they were available a couple of weeks ago. DEQ's responsibility is for looking at wetland impacts and stream crossings, and once the Army Corps again decided no federal permit was needed for those, DEQ maintained its original position that no state permit would be needed, either. DEQ's Valley Regional Office in Harrisonburg was charged with taking a second look, Murphy said. "We will have no change in our original comments," he said, adding his staff will conduct a site visit at some point. "I'm not sure how often they'll go," he added.

Keith Fowler in DEQ's regional office agreed, saying they have been reviewing the project for impacts to waters under the Virginia Water Protection program.

While he hasn't seen the final site plans yet, Fowler explained DEQ will be specifically looking at potential impacts to waters.

Some residents in both Highland County and Pocahontas County, W.Va., have raised the question about permits they believe should fall under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, a program for permitting stormwater discharges. It stems from the Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Water Act, and Virginia is a state permitted by the federal government to issue such permits under its standards.

Fowler explained there are several variations of such permits issued by different agencies in Virginia. The Department of Conservation and Recreation, for example, issued one to HNWD for coverage under the state's general permit for construction stormwater.

DEQ issues them for certain industrial activities, too, like transfer stations, hazardous treatment plants or landfills, and even certain logging industries.

Fowler said DEQ had not received an application from HNWD for an industrial stormwater general permit, and wasn't sure if one was required. "If there was something obvious that could be a contamination problem, we'd follow up to make sure (a developer) has all the corrective controls in place that are necessary," he explained.

Since HNWD's project is still in a "proposal stage," he said, "we might not know what the potential for stormwater contamination is, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't, or couldn't, issue a permit for something like this. It's just that no questions have been raised so far."

Fowler said DEQ does not go looking for problems with industries. "Whoever is responsible for a development needs to be in touch with us," he said. "They are responsible for finding out if they need a permit from us, and they should, because if we find out later they should have had a permit, they're in trouble … the owners need to take a look to see if it applies."

DEQ has a list of industrial sectors for facilities it regulates under a general permit; industrial wind generating utilities are not on the list, but Fowler agrees that's not surprising since it's a new kind of development in Virginia.

There is a sector for "industrial or commercial machinery" that could apply, however, in addition to a sector for "non-classified facilities" which covers "any facility discharging stormwater associated with industrial activity no described by any of (the other sectors)."

"This hasn't been brought to our attention as a potential problem," Fowler said, explaining anyone can bring up such an issue — owners, engineers, counties, the public, and even the press.

"You have brought it to my attention," he said, "so I'll be glad to take a look at it, and glad to find out specifically."

Tuesday, Fowler had followed up and contacted DEQ's industrial stormwater coordinator in Richmond. "At this point, we intend to get additional information from the applicant/agent to find out how their spill prevention control and countermeasure plan will control the potential for stormwater contamination from these turbines," he said. "We will then be in a better position to make a decision."