By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

CONVENT — Close to 100 people packed into a courtroom at the St. James Parish Courthouse Thursday evening to offer support or express concerns regarding a proposed $2.1 billion pig iron facility to be built along the Mississippi River in Convent.

Nucor Steel Co. is seeking an air quality permit for the plant through the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection agency that outlines how much emissions the plant is allowed to release. The permit is the last of eight the company needs before moving forward with construction of the facility.

Company officials stated Thursday the state-of-the-art plant will process coal into metallurgical-grade coke, which will then be converted into pig iron thorough a blast furnace process. The plant is expected to produce more than 6 million metric tons of iron per year, which will then be converted to steel at other Nucor mills further upriver.

“This will end our company’s dependence on foreign iron that comes into the United States through the Mississippi River,” said Nucor Environmental Affairs Manager Jeff Braun. “The plant will also recycle heat from the furnaces to generate enough electricity to make the entire plant self-sufficient. Our emission control technology is the newest available. There won’t be another plant like it in the United States.”

St. James Parish President Dale Hymel praised Nucor’s involvement in the community and said their dedication to the environment and well being of the residents of the parish has exceeded expectations.

“They have always been open and honest with their plans for the plant,” Hymel said. “They have taken many residents out to other facilities in their system so that they can get a feel for operations and see what it is like for those areas. I think that our local and state economy needs this project.”

State officials have said the plant is expected to employ up to 500 workers at an average salary of $75,000. Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret said Nucor has already laid down $50.3 million to purchase all 4,000 acres the company plans to use for the facility site, and Gov. Bobby Jindal has pledged about $65 million in the state’s construction budget to go toward an incentive package to secure the plant.

The crowd that assembled at the meeting Thursday was an even mix of those in support versus those against the new facility. Some residents, like Emma Johnson of Vacherie, see an opportunity for jobs in an area that desperately needs them. Machine shop owner Daniel Louque of Convent said the company picked the right location to find good, reliable workers.

“It also gives me a new opportunity to expand my operations,” said Louque. “You may not always understand what we are saying, but we will work hard for the money.”

Other residents were not as enthused by Nucor’s promises of economic boon for the parish and were more concerned with the plant’s heavy release of pollution to an already overly polluted environment in the parish.

“There are more plants in this district of the parish than all others,” said community activist Richard Burton. “If you don’t have a job at one of these plants, what makes you think you are going to get a job at this one? This plant is not going to do anything for you.”

Others, like Haywood Martin, president of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club, were concerned about the release of particulates, lead, mercury, dioxins and other pollutants as well as the greenhouse gas emissions that he claims Nucor has failed to mention.

“There are many concerns we have about potential dangers to the environment that we have seen at other Nucor facilities,” Martin said. “I’m asking DEQ and EPA to consider an extension of the comment period.”

Braun admitted after the meeting that the permit process can be scary to some because DEQ and EPA require a listing of potential emissions as opposed to actual numbers. He said the EPA uses information based on 1970’s technology.

“We are expecting that our actual emissions to total about 3 percent of the permit limits,” Braun said. “We have remolded our plans nine times in an effort to get it right. We don’t want to impact the area more than we have to.”

Braun said the air permit is the final hurdle in the process to bring the plant to Louisiana. He said once the permit is approved, the company would be ready to construct on site.

The deadline for written comments is 12:30 p.m. Monday. Comments can be sent to Soumaya Ghosn, LDEQ, Permits Support Service Division, P.O. Box 4313, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4313. The comments should reference AI No. 157847.