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Bring on the biomass

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City releases SEPA determination on Solomon boiler

Adage may be out, but the Solomon Renewable Energy Company is still in the running to construct a biomass boiler in Shelton.

After months of review, the city of Shelton issued a SEPA (the state environmental policy act) Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS), on March 24 for the proposed Solomon Renewable Engergy Cogeneration Plant at Simpson Lumber in downtown Shelton.

"The purpose is to identify impacts and offset them through mitigation," said Jason Dose, senior planner at the city of Shelton. "It helps any permitting agencies make an informed decision."

The document says that the lead agency in the project, the city of Shelton, does not believe the project poses a risk to the environment, and does not plan to conduct and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

"The city of Shelton believes that the information being provided gives adequate information for the city of Shelton to identifiy potential impacts with potential mitigation measures, thus, an EIS is not required ... The lead agency for this proposal has determined that the project does not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment."

Simpson applied on behalf of Solomon last year for operating permits to build a 31 megawatt biomass cogen-eration power facility within the current Simpson plant.

According to the SEPA document, the facility "will be designed to only burn woody biomass fuel including (primarily) sawmill by-products such as sawdust, bark and shavings, as well as forest derived hog fuel from logging operations as periodic make-up fuel."

Solomon is still waiting on Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCAA) approval, through a notice of construction (NOC) approval. The company will also need Shoreline Substantial Development and Conditional Use permits and a Special Use Permit from the city, Dose said.

The proposal includes responses to citizen concerns voiced at a September informational public meeting, Dose said, as well as possible mitigation measures required by the city to address environmental concerns.

Dose said mitigation measures five through seven in the MDNS are the most substantial.

Mitigation number five says that only woody biomass and natural gas as a startup fuel can be used to run the boiler.

"Should Solomon or any subsequent operators of the facility request the use of any fuel other than those noted above, the city shall re-evaluate the proposal."

Mitigation number six states that if any changes to the facility require a new ORCAA NOC, the city will reassess the project.

Another wood fired boiler already exists at the plant. The existing 140,000 pound boiler was installed in the 1980's and produces electricity for parts of the Simpson mill and the Olympic Panel Plywood Plant.

This boiler is fueled by mill residuals from Simpson, Olympic Panel and occaisionally from other local mills, according to the MDNS document.

In previous discussions about the biomass boilers, Simpson representatives have said that occasionally both boilers will run at the same time.

Mitigation number seven addresses this issue, requiring that the two boilers run no more than 120 days a year at the same time.

"Solomon and Simpson shall submit monthly reports to the city of Shelton quantifying the number of days/hours and dates of operation of both facilities.

The city of Shelton will soon hold a public meeting on the matter, Dose said.

"The next step would be to schedule a public meeting," he said. "I don't anticipate doing that for at least another month."

"Should Solomon or any subsequent operators of the facility request the use of any fuel other than those noted above, the city shall re-evaluate the proposal."



Copyright 2011 Shelton-Mason County Journal, Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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