Public hearing dates set for January 27 on Wolverine landfill permit application

by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor

While Wolverine Power awaits word on its major permit, the permit to install or air quality permit, the cooperative has received word on another permit in the works. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) received Wolverine?s landfill permit application on October 22 and the agency determined it was ?administratively complete? November 17.

According to permit engineer Phil Roycraft, the final decision on the Type III landfill permit is due by March 15, 2010. In order to receive input on the proposed landfill, a public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010, at the Rogers City High School gymnasium. A legal notice of the hearing will be published in the Advance in January. AS THE DEQ has done previously with the air quality permit, an informal information session is planned from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the day of the hearing where staff from the Waste and Hazardous Materials Division (WHMD) of the DEQ will be available to answer questions.

The agency is charged with enforcement of Part 115 of the Solid Waste Management plan, part of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act of 1994. The DEQ permits two types of solid waste landfills. They are licensed as either Type II or Type III landfills. A Type II landfill, or municipal landfill, can accept virtually any non-hazardous solid waste for disposal. A Type III landfill can be a construction and demolition landfill or a special-use landfi

ll for a particular waste. Wolverine officials have stated they will use their Type III landfill as a disposal facility for combustion by-products from the coal-fired power plant. It will not be open to the public.

EARLIER THIS fall, Wolverine sought and received approval from the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners for an ?application for a determination of consistency with the Presque Isle Solid Waste Plan.? Once that was obtained, Wolverine applied to the (DEQ) for a permit to construct the landfill nearly one mile east of the proposed power plant in a mined out-portion of the Calcite quarry.

The county board?s approval meant that Wolverine?s application for a landfill permit had met all requirements of the county?s 13-point solid waste plan. Wolverine applied for the permit to install (air quality permit) for the 600-megawatt (MW) power plant in September of 2007. DEQ officials said no decision is expected this week but a decision is planned by the end of the year.