State yanks permit for South Georgia biomass plant

Georgia environmental regulators have revoked a permit for a wood pellet manufacturing plant in Telfair County following a legal challenge opposing the project.

The state Environmental Protection Division (EPD) approved a modification of Telfair Forest Products' air-quality permit last July without requiring the company to install legally required pollution controls or conduct air impact analyses.

The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), representing the environmental group Georgia Interfaith Power and Light, challenged the permit amendment, arguing it would double the Lumber City plant's emissions of pollutants in violation of the federal Clean Air Act.

The EPD revoked the amendment this week at the request of the company, according to a news release from the SELC. As a result, the environmental group announced it would withdraw its legal challenge filed with the Georgia Office of Administrative Hearings after the revocation is legally final.

'Telfair Forest Products was poised to be the posted child for how air quality regulations have failed communities surrounding biomass wood pellet plants,' said Jennifer Whitfield, a senior attorney in the SELC's Georgia office.

'It is troubling that it took the threat of litigation for the EPD to do the right thing,' added G Webber, director of the Sierra Club's Georgia chapter. 'Still, it is gratifying to know that the residents of Telfair County will not face such an unhealthy level of air pollution.'

The biomass industry is booming in Georgia, the nation's No.-1 state for the forestry industry. Wood pellets produced by cutting down trees are shipped to markets in Europe and Asia, where they are burned for power.

While environmental groups oppose the process because of the unhealthy air emissions, the industry's supporters say wood pellet plants create jobs in rural counties with chronically high unemployment rates.