Blue Grass Project Submits Permit Revision, Encourages Public Involvement

Published: December 1, 2015 | Category: BGCAPP News, Environment

A program stakeholder asks a question at a Dec. 16, 2014, public meeting where Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant representatives discussed mitigation of cyanide formation in the munitions neutralization process. A public meeting similar to this one will be held Dec. 14, 2015, at Eastern Kentucky University to discuss project permitting activities.

The Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) submitted a request Nov. 12, 2015, to the Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection (KDEP) for a revision to the project’s Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) permit.

This revision will bring the BGCAPP RD&D permit format in line with the format for the upcoming Part B permit to simplify the process, and it will allow for greater public participation, said Bill Buchanan, environmental engineer, BGCAPP.

“The current application is in a format that does not specifically require public involvement,” said Buchanan. “We are requesting to put it in a Part B format because it requires specific public involvement activities, such as public notifications, meetings and comment periods to allow project stakeholders greater access to information about the Blue Grass project.

A Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Hazardous Waste permit application contains a Part A and a Part B. Part A contains required forms, maps, drawings, and photographs, while Part B contains detailed, site-specific information.

Additionally, the project submitted a separate Class 2 permit modification request. This request involves the changes necessary to modify the destruction facility to address the destruction of cyanide in the Energetics Neutralization Reactors and the removal of the munitions washout process, said Buchanan.

“We submitted the Class 2 modification request in the new format as a test case, if you will, of the revised RD&D format,” said Buchanan. “By providing this format, KDEP gets to see it right off the bat, so they can become comfortable with that revised format and know how our future modifications will look.”

A 60-day public comment period for the modification requests began Nov. 12, 2015. In addition, BGCAPP will host a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 14, 2015, at Eastern Kentucky University’s Carl D. Perkins Building on Kit Carson Drive in Richmond, Kentucky. Copies of the revised RD&D permit application and proposed Class 2 modification are available for viewing at six locations in Madison and Estill counties.