ENB Region 4 Completed Applications 03/03/2004

Renewing Part 373 ( Hazardous Waste Management) permit including continued operation of the A/P Hot Oil Furnace and increasing its hazardous waste feed rate from 47 to 80.3 lb/min. The Department made a tentative determination in March 2003 to approve the renewal and modification of the Part 373 hazardous waste management facility permit for the GE Noryl plant in Selkirk, Albany County, New York.  A draft permit was prepared and public noticed on March 19, 2003 to solicit comments from the public. GE Noryl LLC provided written comments on the draft Part 373 Hazardous Waste permit. The Department reviewed these comments and has made  changes to the draft permit to address these comments. The Department believes that the revised draft permit when issued would protect human health & the environment. Today the revised draft permit is being re-noticed to solicit comments from the public.

The GE Noryl’s 700 acre facility is primarily a manufacturer of Noryl® Thermoplastic molding materials which have a wide variety of applications in automotive, electric and building industries.  Some of the hazardous wastes generated during this manufacture are burned in the on-site A/P Hot Oil Furnace to heat Exxon Caloria HT 43 oil which, in turn, is used to heat the process reactors. Other  hazardous wastes generated  are collected in containers or tanks and sent off-site for treatment and disposal.

The facility currently operates under a 6 NYCRR Part 373 hazardous waste management permit issued in December 1994 for five years which  authorized storage of hazardous wastes in tanks and containers for 90 days or greater and requires GE to perform post-closure activities and  ground water monitoring at the on-site closed landfill. Additionally, GE incinerates hazardous wastes in the  A/P Hot Oil Furnace under interim status provisions of 6 NYCRR Part 374-1.  GE submitted a hazardous waste management permit renewal application to maintain the closed landfill, conduct ground water monitoring and incinerate hazardous wastes in their A/P Hot Oil Furnace to the Department in June 1999. Since the permit renewal application does not seek authorization to store hazardous waste in containers & tanks for 90 days or greater, these storage areas will be reclassified as less than 90-day storage with a requirement in the permit to close these units as per the Department-approved closure plan in the permit at the time of  final closure of the facility; until then, GE will be required to maintain financial assurance for their closure cost and liability.

The A/P Hot Oil Furnace is currently operating in accordance with the August 1998 certification submitted as per the interim status requirements of Part 374-1.8(d).  The certification authorised the facility to feed hazardous waste to A/P Hot Oil Furnace at the rate of 47 lb/min.  As part of the permit renewal application, the  facility submitted a trial burn plan & human health and ecological risk assessment protocols.  The test plan proposed to test the furnace at a  hazardous waste feed rate of 80.3 lb/min.  The health risk assessment protocol described procedures to assess the health impacts of the furnace emissions on humans and ecology as per EPA’s recommended procedures.  The Department reviewed the permit renewal application including trial burn plan & risk assessment protocols and approved them. The facility conducted a trial burn test in November 2000 while feeding hazardous waste at the rate of 80.3 lb/min and submitted trial burn, human health and ecological risk assessment reports in 2001. The Department reviewed these reports with assistance from the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and concluded that the furnace at increased feed rate of 80.3 lb/min met all permitting standards in 6 NYCRR Part 374-1 for boilers and industrial furnaces (BIFs)  burning hazardous wastes and that the health impacts of the furnace stack emissions are within USEPA’s and NYSDEC’s acceptable guidelines.  Hence, the Department  tentatively determined to renew the facility’s permit for post-closure activities with the addition of the hot oil furnace and removal of tank and container storage for 90 days or greater.  A draft permit with conditions for the operation of the furnace and closure of all hazardous waste storage and incinerator was prepared and noticed in March 2003 by NYSDEC.

A draft permit noticed now is the revised version of the draft permit noticed in March 2003 with changes made by NYSDEC to address GE’s comments on the latter.  The additional information on list of changes made,  facility description, corrective action, legal references and basis for the tentative determination for renewing the permit with the modification is described in the FACT SHEET for this draft permit.  

A legislative public hearing is also tentatively scheduled to be held on April 26, 2004  in the Bethlehem Town Hall, Room 101, at 7:00 pm. In lieu of or in addition to written comments, interested parties may also present their comments during the legislative hearing.  However, if no written requests for a hearing on the draft permit are received by the Department on or before the April 20, 2004 deadline for written comments,  the public hearing will be cancelled with a press release and a newspaper notice from NYSDEC.

SEQR Lead Agency: NYSDEC Region 4

SEQR Determination: The proposed action is divided into two parts:

The renewal of the Part 373 HW Permit which has no material changes in the scope of permitted activity and therefore is determined to be a Type II action.  The inclusion of the A/P Hot Oil Furnace in this permit is likewise part of this renewal and a Type II action as this activity is currently authorized under Part 374 Interim Status.

The feedrate of the A/P Hot Oil Furnace is proposed to increase from 47 lbs./min to 80.3 lbs./min.  Based upon the trial burn and health risk assessment described above it is determined that this unlisted action will not cause a significant environmental impact and a negative declaration has been prepared.

State Historic Preservation Act (SHPA) Determination: Not applicable as no historic structure or archaeological resource will be affected by this permit renewal.

Coastal Management: N/A

Deadline for public comment & request for legislative hearing: Comments on the draft permit are to be submitted  on or before April 20, 2004 to:

    Mr. William J. Clarke

     Regional Permit Administrator

     NYSDEC Region 4

    1150 North Westcott Road

     Schenectady, NY 12306.

Document availability:

The related permit documents are available at the NYSDEC central office, DS&HM, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY  12233-7251[contact Mr. Parag Amin at (518) 402-8609], the NYSDEC Region 4 Office, 1150 North Westcott Road, Schenectady, NY 12306 [contact Mr. William Clarke at (518)357- 2069] and at Bethlehem Public Library (at the reference Desk), 451 Delaware Avenue, Delmar, NY, 12054.  

The applicant proposes to construct a hotel on a 4.73 acre site, located at 216 Wolf Road, in the Town of Colonie. As a result of the project, 0.25 acres of federally regulated wetland will be permanently impacted. The applicant has proposed the creation of 0.36 acres of wetland and the enhancement of 0.12 acres of existing wetland.

The Department has made a tentative determination to approve an application for the modification of an existing State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for the Ceramaseal, Inc., facility on U. S. Route 20, Village of New Lebanon, Columbia County, under Article 17 of the Environmental Conservation Law .  The appplicant, CeramTec North American Corp., requests that the current 10 mg/l BOD5 limit for outfall 001, which discharges to an unnamed tributary of Wyomanock Creek, be changed to a mass limit of .42 lbs./day (approximately twice the current daily limit). This tentative determination indicates that the discharge regulated under this statute is considered to satisfy regulatory standards for permit isuance, based on information available to the Department at this time.  As a tentative determination, the Department seeks comments on the proposed regulated activity prior to making a final decision on permit issuance.  As such, this tentative determination does not signify Department approval for or endorsement of the activity for which a permit is sought or for the overall proposed project.

A draft permit is available for inspection and comment at the Region 4 office.

Refer to this application by application number listed above and SPDES number NY-019 1868.

The Department proposes issuing a new Air State Facility Permit for the Florida North, Inc. facility located on 125 Charleston Park Lane, Town of Charleston, Montgomery County.  The facility manufactures fiberglass reinforced plastics (composite) products, primarily swimming pools and spas.  The facility includes a shop area with general ventilation where open molding processes, using spray and layup application of resins, gelcoat, and fiberglass, are performed.  The facility currently has an Air Facility Registration, capped by rule, and proposes to obtain an Air State Facility Permit to allow for an increase in production. In order to remain below the applicability threshold for Title V permitting and 40 CFR 63, Subpart WWWW National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Reinforced Plastic Composites Production, the applicant has proposed restricting the potential to emit through enforceable permit conditions which will limit or cap emissions at a level which is less than 10 tons per year for individual hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and 25 tons per year for total hazardous air pollutants (HAP).  In addition, the applicant has proposed restricting the potential to emit through enforceable permit conditions which will limit or cap emissions at a level which is less than 50 tons per year, the applicability threshold for Title V permitting for volatile organic compounds (VOC).  The applicant has agreed to permit conditions which will limit individual HAP, total HAP, and VOC emissions by restricting the usage of the materials containing the noted pollutants.  By accepting the enforceable permit limits or caps, the facility will not be subject to Title V permitting or 40 CFR 63, Subpart WWWW National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Reinforced Plastic Composites Production.  The facility will be required to maintain records and report this data to verify compliance with permit conditions and limits.

Persons wishing to inspect the subject Air State Facility files, including the application with all relevant supporting materials, the draft permit, and all other materials available to the DEC (the "permitting authority") that are relevant to this permitting decision should contact the DEC representative below.  It is recommended that an appointment be made to confirm the availability of the subject files.  The DEC will endeavor to make the files available within two business days of contact, during normal business hours (8:30 AM through 4:45 PM), unless the requestor wishes to inspect the files at a later date.

The contact person is Angelo Marcuccio, NYSDEC, 1150 North Westcott Road, Schenectady, NY 12306, telephone (518)3572069.  Comments will be received for 30 days from the date of this notice.  If comments are received which raise significant issues or provide additional relevant information, the Department may modify the draft Air State Facility Permit.

The applicant proposes to renew and existing permit and modify the existing 19.6 acre life of mine to add 1.5 acres, for a new life of mine area of 21.1 acres.   The additional acreage will allow the applicant to mine a former right of way where the utility lines have been removed.  The project is located at the Town of Schodack Haight Pit, NYS Route 150, east of Route 20, Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County.  MLF #407-2-30-0244.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) has performed a review of the current State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit for Schenectady International, Inc. under the Environmental Benefit Permit Strategy (EBPS) program and pursuant to Environmental Conservation Law and NYS Codes, Rules and Regulations has made a tentative determination to modify the permit. This modification proposes several changes to the permit including the following: incorporate previously unlisted PCB limitations and monitoring, new interim flow limits of 0.35 m.g.d. (average) and 0.50 m.g.d. (maximum) are proposed for a two year period during which time the permittee must either reduce flows to the treatment system or increase the approved design treatment capacity, delete outfall 01B as it no longer exists, add previously unlisted outfall 01C which represents a discharge of zinc-bearing process wastewaters into the treatment system, add new outfall 002 for stormwater runoff from south side of plant to Mohawk River, and add previously unlisted outfalls 003-012 which are small sewage discharges to groundwater from several buildings at the facility.

This tentative determination indicates that the discharges regulated under statute are considered to satisfy regulatory standards for permit issuance, based on information available to the department at this time.  As a tentative determination, the Department seeks comments on the proposed regulated activity prior to making a final decision on permit issuance.

A draft modified SPDES permit is available for review at the Region 4 office by contacting the DEC representative listed below to schedule an appointment during normal business hours.