Joshua Vissers/Daily Mining Gazette, File L’Anse Warden Electric Company during a snowfall in 2019.

The L’Anse Warden Electric Company is still in the process of renewing their Renewable Operating Permit, required to be held by major emitters of air pollutants because of the Clean Air Act of 1990.

LWEC’s permit for the plant in L’Anse expired in 2015, but the plant has continued operating under a shield clause in their permit.

At an information session in September, several community members, including Friends of the Land of Keweenaw board member Catherine Andrews asked questions of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy personnel reviewing the permit.

“There is a lot of confusion surrounding this Permit, not the least of which is that neither Mr. Lancaster nor any other EGLE official knew who owned LWEC,” Andrews said after the session.

While the plant is owned by L’Anse Warden Electric Company, LLC, the ownership of that LLC has changed several times and is currently unclear in the paperwork. EGLE staff at the meeting couldn’t answer who owned the plant. Ed Lancaster, district supervisor for EGLE, pointed out that air permits stay with the equipment, regardless of the owner.

“There also seems to be confusion over the current use of engineered fuel pellets which is apparently related to a lawsuit initiated by Convergen Energy vs. LWEC. It may be prudent to postpone the ROP process until after these issues are resolved,” Andrews said.

Fran Whitman asked about an incident at the plant where a loud noise or explosion was heard, followed by large amounts of dark smoke.

Lancaster said there was a follow-up investigation, which found the smoke was at 8.6% opacity, “well below” the 20% that requires an incident report with EGLE. The investigation found the loud sound was a breaker on the boiler being tripped. He said LWEC usually operates at 1-2% opacity in their emissions.

“You know the incident was kind of shocking with the appearance of the smoke and the noise,” Whitman said. “Is there a possibility of lowering the incident report level, that they have to report at 5% instead of 20?”

EGLE staff explained that the opacity limit is controlled through a different permitting process, and can’t be changed through the ROP renewal process.

The public hearing will take place online Wednesday, where citizens will be able to give formal comments and questions that will be added to the public record and responded to by EGLE as part of the permit. The meeting starts at 6 p.m., a link to the Zoom meeting can be found at bit.ly/2T8xCxK or the meeting can be joined by phone by calling 213-787-0529 and using access code 881478#.

Links to the ROP application and other information from EGLE is available at the bottom of page two at bit.ly/34cRfuE.

Written comments can also be sent, by Oct. 21, to Ed Lancaster, Marquette District Office, EGLE, AQD, 1504 West Washington Street, Marquette, Michigan 49855.