After thoroughly investigating multiple citizen complaints regarding off-site dust impacts near the Port of Wilmington, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) is requiring two facilities, Enviva Pellets and Basaga International, to adopt additional fugitive dust control measures.
State regulation requires a facility to prevent fugitive dust from extending beyond its property boundaries and causing or contributing to substantive complaints or excess fugitive dust emissions (15A NCAC 02D .0540). DAQ requires a facility to develop and implement a fugitive dust control plan after the Division observes excess dust leaving a property’s boundary or substantiates two dust complaints within a 12-month period.
DAQ has notified Enviva Pellets, LLC – Wilmington Port, the wood pellet manufacturer’s storage and shipping facility on Turtle Dove Court in Wilmington, that it will be required to develop a fugitive dust control plan after DAQ identified that facility as the source of two substantiated fugitive dust complaints. The plan must identify the sources of fugitive dust at the facility and methods to control the dust. DAQ must review and approve the plan before it will be implemented.
Earlier this year, DAQ also required Basaga International, a wood-chipping facility on Woodbine Street in Wilmington, to develop a fugitive dust control plan after identifying it as the source of multiple dust complaints from nearby residences. DAQ expects to finalize the details of Basaga’s fugitive dust control plan in the coming days.
DAQ may require updates or changes to a fugitive dust control plan after it is implemented if the control measures fail to adequately prevent off-site dust impacts.
Anyone with concerns about fugitive dust from a facility should contact the DAQ regional office that serves their county. Complaints can be provided to the Wilmington Regional Office by calling 910-796-7215.