Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette Jenine Camilleri, left, enforcement officer with the DEQ, and Erin Moran, DEQ environmental quality analyst, led an informal, informational session in Allouez on Thursday, discussing its legal actions involving the Neuvokas Corp. Neuvokas, they said, has already implemented several actions to eliminate odor emissions from its manufacturing plant.

[This is the first of a two-part series on EGLE’s actions involving Neuvokas. Part Two will look at what Neuvokas does, and the steps it has already taken to eliminate the ongoing issue of odor emissions from its manufacturing plant.]

KEWEENAW COUNTY — Officials with the Department of Environmental Quality addressed a gathering of about 30 people at the Allouez Township Community Center on Thursday regarding enforcement action the DEQ is initiating against Ahmeek-based Neuvokas Corp.

Neuvokas produces industry composite rebar products for the concrete industry using its proprietary and patented, high-speed manufacturing processes, under the name GatorBar.

Over the past three years, Ahmeek residents have filed numerous complaints with EGLE regarding intense and frequent odor emitted during its manufacturing process.

At Thursday’s meeting, Erin Moran, DEQ environmental quality analyst, said that her department has been able to verify four separate occasions of Neuvokas violating air quality rules and regulations.

“Unfortunately, due to the distance from our Marquette office to Ahmeek (116 miles), it has been a challenge to be able to investigate odor complaints.”

Jenine Camilleri, enforcement officer with the DEQ, said Thursday’s meeting was an in-person information session to provide the public an opportunity to review a proposed Consent Order against the manufacturer and provide comments to the Air Quality Division of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.

Moran gave an overview of the violations cited against Neuvokas Corp., the steps that led to EGLE’s actions involving Neuvokas, and each step in the legal process.

Moran said that since January 2021, EGLE has received several odor complaints from community residents against Neuvokas Corp., located in Ahmeek.

“When we do our investigations, we’re looking to see if the odor levels are at certain levels and duration that would result in Rule 901.b violation,” said Moran.

Moran said that Neuvokas began working to eliminate the odors from their manufacturing process, but odor complaints did not stop. People in the community continued to have issues with the odor, she said.

“It was at this point that we decided to escalate those violations to enforcement for resolution.”

Moran said that under state law, EGLE is required to offer a company an opportunity to resolve the violations with the state, with what is termed an administrative settlement before the violations are sent to the Attorney General’s office.

“Most of the time in enforcement,” Moran said, “we’re going to have multiple meetings with the company, because there’s a process, there’s a lot to discuss and work out before we reach an agreement, so sometimes this process can take a while.”

Among the steps of the process is implementing a compliance plan, which has four main points:

1. Requirement to comply with DEQ Rule 901;

2. Compliance with a nuisance minimization plan for odors;

3. Requirement to install a vertical stack on one of their main manufacturing lines, which will improve its disbursal of air emissions, which will mitigate the odors, which Neuvokas already completed;

4. Required to hire a third party consultant to evaluate the entire ventilation and control system of the facility. The consultant will conduct the evaluation, then will recommend odor control solutions that Neuvokas can consider in its facility to further address the odor issues.

Moran said that, in discussions with Neuvokas officials, she has learned that a consultant had already been hired and the evaluation has already been completed.

“We’re hopeful that along with the steps the company is already taking, the results of the evaluation, and whatever additional steps will be implemented as a result of the evaluation, we’re anticipating that this will eliminate the odors,” Moran said.

Camilleri said that the source of the odor, a plastic resin material, is low enough that it poses no threat to humans or pets.

As stated by Moran, Neuvokas has already been working to eliminate the odor issue, with or without a consent order.

Chris Raymond, GatorBar’s Director of Marketing, was present at Thursday’s information session.

“It smelled bad a while ago,” Raymond said Friday. “It smells much better now.”

The perception of odor occurs at a much lower rate, and our releases are so low, as they said last night: we don’t trigger any levels of toxicity because our emissions are so low. We just have a detectable odor at very low levels (of emission).”

Raymond said the two most prominent steps Neuvokas has already taken are in the proposed consent order.

“The installation of the new stack is already done,” he said, “and the engagement of an outside consultant has already occurred.”

The company is already moving forward with the implementation of many of the recommendations that resulted from the consultant’s evaluation.

While much has already been done to mitigate the odor, Raymond says there is yet more to do. For instance, one of the suggestions from the consultant was that we go to dual scrubbing, a process of carbon filtration.

“That’s something we will be pursuing,” he added.