Back in August, we reported on UNC’s application to burn fuel pellets in addition to coal in its on-campus cogeneration plant. As part of the application process, the state Department of Air Quality (DAQ) is soliciting public comment on the application through January 17. Instructions on how to comment are below.
As part of the public comment process, DAQ is offering an in-person public hearing. It’s on January 16, at 7 pm. Here’s where our eyebrows raised up to the ceiling. You may recall that there was a similar public hearing on the proposed brownfields agreement between the Town and the state Department of Environmental Quality for the 828 MLK site (where the police stations is located). That public hearing was held at Chapel Hill Town Hall, which is pretty close to the site. It was pretty convenient for all interested parties to attend.
The DAQ public hearing on the cogeneration plant? It’s taking place in Hillsborough. Hillsborough! Why Hillsborough? The be clear, we love Hillsborough. It’s a lovely small town. We mourn the closing of Radius Pizza. But it’s 15 miles from downtown Chapel Hill. You can’t get there by transit at that time of day, and it is out of reach for anyone without access to a car. To host a public hearing on a change in operations for the coal-burning power plant just outside of downtown Chapel Hill all the way up in Hillsborough is a mind-blowing decision.
They couldn’t find anyplace closer? Maybe one of the dozens of auditoriums on the UNC campus? Carrboro Town Hall? Chapel Hill Town Hall? The CURRENT Artspace+Studio downtown? One of those other downtown event sites? The Varsity Theater? Chapel Hill High School? East Chapel Hill High School? Smith Middle School? Seawell Elementary School?
I’d have offered my living room, if asked. I’m not super close to campus, but I’m a lot closer than Hillsborough.
(By the way, the byproducts of the pellet combustion will include a healthy quantity of PFAS, the much-hated “forever” chemical. The amounts in water that cause health problems are microscopic, but the hearing says the UNC facility would “not emit more than 1.2 pounds of PFAS per year” into the air where, presumably, it will precipitate out with the rain and end up in our water supply, unless of course it lodges in our lungs. Super! The general counsel of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) is, like many others, quite concerned.)
It’s such a remarkable bit of scheduling that I went ahead and emailed Shawn Taylor, the staff member listed on the public hearing press release, to try to get an explanation. We’ll report if we hear back.
Here’s what you can do.
- If, like me, you are gobsmacked by the decision to host the public hearing in Hillsborough, send an email to Shawn Taylor. Note in the subject line that you’re emailing about the decision to hold the public hearing in Hillsborough, and ask for an explanation. If it’s inconvenient for you to get up there, let him know as well. Please bcc the blog blog at [email protected].
- If you would like to make a substantive comment on the pellet proposal, email [email protected] with the subject line “UNC.24A” or leave a voicemail at 919-707-8448. You can also mail comments to NCDEQ Division of Air Quality, 1628 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1628.
- Sign our petition. We hope to collect 5,000 signatures of concerned Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents who call on the North Carolina Department of Enviromental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) to add an additional hearing on or near campus.
Here’s what I wrote to Shawn Taylor. Feel free to crib:
Mr. Taylor:
Could you explain the thinking behind scheduling the public hearing on UNC’s proposal to burn engineered pellets in its cogeneration facility in downtown Chapel Hill to take place in HILLSBOROUGH, which is about as far from a populated area as you can get from the location of the cogeneration site? There are multiple high schools, a library, and other municipal public facilities where the meeting could have been held in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, adjacent to the site, not to mention potential sites on UNC’s campus. Instead, you have chosen a site that is 15 miles from the UNC campus, that is inaccessible by transit at that time of day, and inaccessible to anyone else who walks or bikes or otherwise doesn’t have access to a car (which is a significant number of people who would be impacted by the requested air quality permit modification).
Seriously, I would very much like to understand the reasoning. It is hard to understand. When DEQ held a public hearing on a proposed brownfields agreement on land in Chapel Hill, the public hearing was held in Chapel Hill close to the site, so it is clearly possible.
Thanks.