Mosheim, Tenn.—U.S. Nitrogen Co. LLC was granted a five-year extension of its existing National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit on Oct. 3 by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. This follows a public hearing held June 9 (GM June 17, p. 14) and a comment period through July 25. TDEC said it has determined that the activity will not cause degradation above a de minimis level of an Exceptional Tennessee Water. USN is allowed to use two 12-mile pipelines to pump up to 1.9 million gallons per day of water from the Nolichucky River and send 500,000 gallons back to the river. Opponents have argued that the USN plant has not even become operational, yet it is getting a five-year extension of its permit to send wastewater to the Nolichucky River. And since USN recently sent a large plume of orange emissions into the air due to startup malfunctions (GM Sept. 2, p. 13), they are less confident of its wastewater. They have 30 days to lodge an appeal.
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