DEQ staff working with Wolverine to meet state and federal regulations on permit

Progress is being made on Wolverine?s application for a permit to install (PTI), according to Brad Wurfel, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Wolverine must abide by new federal regulations put into place since it first applied, as Wurfel explained. Wolverine is addressing the new National Ambient Air Quality Standard for sulfur dioxide and the federal greenhouse gas permitting requirements. The DEQ?s Air Quality Division is reviewing the sulfur dioxide demonstration and has been in discussions with Wolverine regarding the greenhouse gas submittal,? Wurfel said Monday. Although Missaukee County Circuit Court Judge William Fagerman gave the DEQ until March 31 to make a decision, there will not be a decision until June at the earliest, Wurfel said.

?Together, the parties, via respective legal counsels, have agreed to a new timeline and will propose an extension to the Court’s 60-day timeline, which currently expires at the end of March. We?ll announce it when the court agrees to and approves the proposed new timeline? Wurfel explained. A public comment period and date for a public hearing will be announced when the schedule is set. Wurfel said the state is working with Wolverine to comply with federal and state laws designed to safeguard the environment. Wolverine?s application for a permit to install (PTI) landed back in the hands of the DEQ after Judge Fagerman ruled that the state denied the permit for the wrong reasons. The state had denied the request last May.

?DEQ is working to protect human health and the environment. In this case, we get there by making sure permitted activity conforms to state and federal cl

ean air laws. That?s what we?re supposed to do in reviewing a permit application. So, if the application meets state and federal clean air requirements, we?d have no reason not to issue a permit? Wurfel said late last month. ?I think it?s fair to say the goal is to work cooperatively with the applicant to ensure that what is produced is done right,? he said. Wolverine Power announced its plans in May of 2006 for construction of a 600-megawatt power plant project, planned for land within the Calcite quarry. Wolverine?s permit application, after nearly 1,000 days of consideration, was denied by the state May 21, 2010.

When Wolverine appealed the ruling, Judge Fagerman determined the ?action of the DNRE exceeded its statutory authority by denying the PTI base upon need,? and sent the matter back to the state for reconsideration.