PORT ANGELES — Nippon Paper Industries USA won’t be fined for breaking ground on its biomass energy project without a permit, and opponents of the project are calling foul.
The paper mill on Marine Drive at the beginning of Ediz Hook recently completed the foundation for a new truck dumper that will be used as part of its $71 million cogeneration project.
The construction work needed a permit, said Nathan West,
city economic and community development director, and the mill’s management told the city it was unaware the requirement applied to the structure.
Multiple requests for comment to mill Manager Harold Norlund and Biomass Project Coordinator Gary Holmquist were not returned.
West said the city is not issuing any fines since Nippon has applied for a permit after being told of the violation and is not continuing construction of the structure, which would tilt a truck trailer to quickly dump woody biomass.
Shirley Nixon, an environmental law attorney and critic of the mill’s biomass energy project, said the city should enforce its building code and accused it of giving Nippon special treatment.
“It’s scoffing at the law,” said Nixon, of Port Angeles, on Wednesday.
“It’s scoffing at the entire environmental permit process.”
Nixon objected to the city not fining the mill during the public comment portion of the Port Angeles City Council’s Tuesday meeting.
Duff Badgley, a Seattle activist who runs No Biomass Burn, said in a written statement that Nippon should be fined and prosecuted.
“Its arrogance is amazing,” he wrote. “And the city’s complicity is despicable.”
West said the city isn’t doing anything unusual by not seeking fines.
He said typically, penalties will be waived if construction ceases and a permit is sought.
West said he considers the matter to be resolved.
“As soon as they complied, the violation is no longer an issue,” he said.
Violations of the city’s building code can come with a fine of up to $500 for each day the violation occurred.
The mill applied for the permit Aug. 10.
West said it takes two weeks for the city to process the permit and consider its approval.
City Manager Kent Myers said Nippon is working on “large packages” of other building permit applications it will send to the city within the next 30 to 60 days.
The new biomass boiler will produce up to 20 megawatts of electricity by burning wood waste from logging sites and sawmills. The company could then sell credits for the electrical power.
It is expected to be completed in early 2013.
No Biomass Burn is one of seven environmental groups that in July filed an appeal of the biomass project’s construction permit with the state Pollution Control Hearings Board.
The appeal — filed against the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency, the state Department of Ecology and Nippon — challenges the notice of construction the Clean Air Agency issued June 21.
The other appellants are Protect the Peninsula’s Future, Port Townsend AirWatchers and the North Olympic Group of the Sierra Club, World Temperate Rainforest Network, Olympic Forest Coalition and the Olympic Environmental Council.
Five of those groups also have requested a court review of a state Pollution Control Hearings Board ruling in May that favored the Port Townsend Paper mill’s $55 million biomass expansion project, which would crate up to 25 megawatts of electrical power for which credits could be sold.
Port Townsend AirWatchers, No Biomass Burn, the Olympic Environmental Council, the Western Temperate Rainforest Network and Olympic Forest Coalition filed a petition for review by the Thurston County Superior Court in June.
The state pollution control board effectively denied in May an appeal of a permit issued by Ecology in October for the upgrade of the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill’s biomass facility, which is to be built this year.
The groups said the biomass expansion projects will have detrimental effects on forests and human health.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
