State still waiting for complete application

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL Chronicle Staff Writer

from Holcim to burn tires

Holcim Inc.'s application to burn tires for fuel isn't dead, it's just been in a quiet phase lately as the state and the cement company trade paperwork.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality received Holcim's air permit application in October. After reviewing it, the department determined the application was incomplete and sent Holcim a notice asking for more information, said Dave Klemp, air permitting supervisor for the DEQ.

"We sent them a second letter on Jan. 11, telling them what we were looking for," he said.

Since then, Holcim has submitted two packets of information to DEQ addressing some of the department's concerns, but not all of them, Klemp said. The last information was received by DEQ on March 11 and it responded by sending the company another letter saying the application was still incomplete on March 14.

"We've asked for it by April 11," Klemp said. "This is a pretty large exercise. If companies don't meet the date we request, companies can extend the deadline."

On Thursday, Holcim asked for that deadline to be extended until the end of May, said Nicole Prokop, Holcim's environmental manager.

"We asked for May 31," she said. "I don't know yet what they'll give us."

Mostly, the company has failed to submit enough computer modeling data on the air emissions created by tire burning. Ralph Denoski, general manager of the Trident plant, said Holcim has an independent contractor working on the models that would show each pollutant and where it goes after it leaves the smokestack.

"That is just a general tool used to address the impacts from any pollutants coming off the stack," Klemp said. "It's used in the risk assessment. It will tell you what people are breathing out there."

Klemp said extensions are usually granted in 30-day increments, but as long is the company is working to complete the application, the department will allow as much time as necessary.

Once the completed application is received, the department has another 30 days to review it before the public hearing process begins.

"If it was easy, anybody could do it," Denoski said of the process. "You just have to be patient."

Kayley Mendenhall is at kmendenhall@dailychronicle.com