Working to protect public lands and wildlife since 1967


Other State and Federal Permitting and Regulatory Activities Affecting Air Quality.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council regularly comments on various air pollution permits being proposed by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, and on DEQ and EPA air quality regulatory actions. Recently, we submitted comments on the proposed industrial gasification and liquefaction plant (also called the “DKRW plant”) near Medicine Bow that would convert coal to 18,500 barrels per day of gasoline. While this plant promises to sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide, it would also emit significant amounts of air pollution, including “consuming” 85 percent of the allowable incremental increase in particulate matter pollution permitted under the Clean Air Act. You can view our comments on the proposed DKRW permit here.

 

Wyoming Trona Mines

The Wyoming Outdoor Council submitted comments to the DEQ on its proposed permitting effort to require best available retrofit technology (BART) to be installed on the trona plants near Green River in order to comply with the EPA’s regional haze rule. We advocated that the permits be strengthened considerably. If you would like to view our set of four comments on BART technology, click the links below:

FMC Granger Trona.pdf

FMC Westvaco Trona.pdf

General Chemicals BART.pdf

Supplemental Trona.pdf

 

Other Miscellaneous Projects

The Wyoming Outdoor Council has also submitted comments related to air quality to:

  • The EPA, opposing its efforts to weaken protections for prevention of significant deterioration areas and to improve regulation of emissions from trains;
  • The DEQ regarding its regulation of emissions from “minor” oil and gas well emission sources such as dehydrators, and its rule changes regarding mercury emissions and “new source review” provisions;
  • The Western Regional Air Partnership regarding the need to more accurately estimate the magnitude of oil and gas development occurring in Wyoming as part of its effort to estimate emissions from oil and gas development; and
  • The State of California regarding its efforts to establish requirements that the electricity it imports increasingly be generated from renewable energy sources and not from the combustion of coal, which contributes to global warming.

[back to top]