By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

BATON ROUGE – State environmental officials have granted a two-week extension of the public comment period on an air operating permit for a proposed pig iron plant in St. James Parish after opposition to the project expressed concerns there wasn’t enough time to review documentation.

Anyone wishing to make a comment for or against Nucor Corp.’s plans to construct the facility now has until May 3 at 12:30 p.m. to review documents and offer comments to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality. The company wants to build the plant on a six-square-mile site near the Sunshine Bridge in Convent.

Various community groups, including the Sierra Club, have expressed concerns about the release of particulates, lead, mercury, dioxins and other pollutants as well as other greenhouse gas emissions that 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,” said Haywood Martin, president of the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club. “We are not getting the full story.”

Although the permit figures estimate the plant will emit 700 tons of particulates and 82 tons of toxic organic compounds, Nucor officials say the numbers are potential emissions based federal benchmarks that use older technology figures.

“We are expecting that our actual emissions to total about 3 percent of the permit limits,” Nucor Environmental Affairs Manager Jeff Braun said at an April 15 hearing. “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.”

The state-of-the-art plant will process coal into metallurgical-grade coke, which will them be converted into pig iron through a blast furnace process. Opponents are asking Nucor officials to consider using natural gas to fuel furnaces, but company officials have said that doing so would deprive the plant of the ability to generate its own electricity from the excess heat from the furnace.

Residents can continue to submit comments the LDEQ, Permits Support Service Division, P.O. Box 4313, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-4313.

The comments should reference AI No. 157847.쇓