JAY – International Paper has violated its town-issued air emission permit on two occasions in recent weeks by burning used fuel oil in its power boilers. However, the paper company didn’t violate its state-issued air permit.
IP referred to both incidents as emergency situations.
The most recent town violation occurred Saturday, when the mill had a plugged line in its supply of No. 6 fuel oil. In order to have ample power for its machines, IP spokeswoman Fiona McCaul said, “We performed a tank swap that been planned for March and burned approximately 250,000 gallons of used oil beginning on Saturday morning lasting through tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.”
The paper mill’s five machines were shut down and restarted within two hours, McCaul said.
IP’s permit from the town doesn’t allow used fuel oil to be burned in two of the mill’s three power boilers, said Jay Environmental Code Enforcement Officer Shiloh Ring.
Ring was contacted Saturday morning and alerted to IP’s decision to burn the used oil in the boilers.
McCaul said the amount of used oil burned in this incident is significantly lower than the trigger point for lead and sulfur emissions and should not cause any health concerns for the community. The used oil is a mixture that recycled from other uses.
Ring said she was also contacted on Jan. 23, when IP had to use about 50,000 gallons of used oil in a power boiler after the mill ran low on No. 6 oil.
The mill has two oil tanks that supply fuel to its power plant. The mill has a 360,000-gallon tank that stores 1.8 percent sulfur No. 6 oil, and a 1 million-gallon tank that stores low-sulfur, used oil.
The power boilers draw No. 6 oil from the 360,000-gallon tank.
During the course of a week, the mill typically receives 12 to 16 loads of No. 6 oil per day.
The mill had burned 13 loads of oil the evening of Jan. 22 and was running low on oil. It had taken precautionary measures to preserve the oil and had ordered more No. 6 oil, but a snowstorm delayed 12 trucks from delivering oil to the mill.
The mill needed to act quickly to prevent a shutdown of the power boilers that day because of extremely cold temperatures, McCaul said. No paper machines were shut down during the January incident, she said.
IP has submitted a petition to the Jay Planning Board to amend its air permit to allow the annual use of 1.35 million gallons of used oil in the power boilers if needed.
The use of used oil in the power boilers in limited quantities would allow flexibility for emergency situations, oil-tank swaps and routine maintenance on the No. 6 fuel oil tank, and fuel line and heat exchanges, according to IP’s environmental manager, Tom Saviello.
The Planning Board is expected to discuss the violations and proposed amendment at its March 8 meeting, Ring said.
IP has gone back to using No. 6 oil since Androscoggin Energy LLC voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late November and suspended providing the paper company with natural gas-fired steam to operate its power boilers.
Androscoggin Energy cited a disputed jury award of $41 million in damages to International Paper in a breach-of-service lawsuit, as well as market conditions and debt as reasons for suspending the power mill’s operations. Androscoggin Energy plans to appeal the jury’s verdict reached in November.
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