Pocatello-The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) has issued a permit effective Nov. 5 for the J.R. Simplot Co. to construct and operate a 10-acre decant pond at the company’s Don Plant near Pocatello. Simplot’s integrated phosphate fertilizer manufacturing complex produces phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, ammonia, and several grades of solid and liquid fertilizers, plus other commercial chemical products. Simplot applied for the permit on April 22, requesting that it be incorporated into a Tier I operating permit renewal that IDEQ is processing. The permit will expire if construction has not begun within two years or if construction is suspended for a year. “This permit does not release J.R. Simplot Company from compliance with all other applicable federal, state or local laws, regulations, permits or ordinances,” according to Mike Simon, IDEQ’s stationary source program manager in its air quality division. The decant pond will be north of an existing lower gypsum compartment as part of a phosphogypsum stack lining project. The pond is designed to contain gypsum, associated stack system process waters, and any runoff from an active gypsum storage area within the lined limits of a vertical stack expansion, minimizing future ground water impacts. IDEQ reports no increase in fluoride emissions is expected as a result of the project because no increase in process throughput has been proposed. Actual cooling tower fluoride emissions are expected to decrease in direct relationship to any actual increase in fluoride emissions observed in the 10-acre decant pond. The plant’s cooling towers have been the largest source of airborne fluoride, contributing more than 86 percent of allowable and actual point source total emissions. The decant pond is needed to fully isolate decant water from the cooling tower system.
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