In February 2008, Blue Ridge Paper Products in Canton, one of the region’s biggest employers and one of the region’s biggest air polluters, sought a renewed Title V air-emissions permit as required under federal standards for major emissions sources.
Title V permits apply to facilities emitting more than 100 tons per year of any regulated hazardous material. According to EPA data, Blue Ridge Paper emitted some 2.5 million pounds of such substances in 2004.
The N.C. Division of Air Quality granted Blue Ridge a Title V permit on June 15, 2005, but the company appealed the permit’s conditions. The current application incorporates details of the settlement from that appeal, and other changes that include an alternative pollution-control system, according to Brendan Davey of DAQ’s regional office in Swannanoa.
Click here to download a PDF of the state’s draft air quality permit.
