State environmental regulators have scheduled a public hearing for March 3 on a permit for controlling potential air emissions from proposed asphalt plant in Watauga County.
Maymead Materials Inc. – 421 Recycling Yard has applied for a permit to build and operate an asphalt plant on 5251 U.S. 421 South outside of Boone. The permit deals with the control of particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and other air emissions from the proposed plant.
The public hearing is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 3, at the Watauga County Court Room One, 842 West King St., Boone, NC 28607. Individuals may register to speak at the hearing and/or submit written comments. Written comments will be accepted until March 3, and can be submitted at the hearing or sent to: Jalal Adouli, NC Division of Air Quality, Winston-Salem Regional Office, 450 Hanes Mill Road, Suite 300, Winston-Salem, NC 27105; or emailed to jalal.adouli@ncdenr.gov
Persons wishing to speak at the hearing should plan to limit their comments to three minutes or less. The hearing officer will have the discretion to limit speaking times if necessary to accommodate the number of speakers.
Under the permit, Maymead Materials must demonstrate that it can comply with state and federal rules for controlling particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and other air emissions. Under the proposed permit, the facility would use a bag filter as the primary means for controlling emissions.
By law, the state must review air permits for compliance with air quality regulations. The state has no authority over zoning, land use, or where a company decides to locate a facility. Local governments are responsible for regulating land use. The issuance of an air quality permit does not imply that the proposed facility would comply with local ordinances and requirements
The permit contains a requirement that the facility must comply with all lawfully adopted local ordinances that apply to the facility at the time of its construction or operation, according to state law. The local zoning authority has the responsibility of enforcing all lawfully adopted local zoning or subdivision ordinances
The draft permit may be viewed on-line at http://www.ncair.org/permits/perm_draftrev/ or at the Watauga County Public Library, 140 Queen St., Boone, NC, 28607; or at the Division of Air Quality Winston-Salem Regional Office, 450 Hanes Mill Road, Suite 300, Winston-Salem, NC 27105; phone (336) 776-9800
More information about air quality issues can be found at the Division of Air Quality’s web site, www.ncair.org/
Earlier this month, the Watauga County Board of Adjustment reversed a county planning department’s decision revoking the asphalt plant permit for the Deep Gap location. See more of that decision and response from the community here.
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