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September 14, 2007 <br />Mr. Bryan Adams <br />Elk River Municipal Utilities <br />422 King Avenue <br />Elk River, MN 55330 <br />Re: Proposal for Air Quality Services Related to the Installation and Operation of a Second <br />Landfill Gas (LFG)-to-Energy Plant at Waste Management's Elk River Landfill. <br />Dear Mr. Adams: <br />In response to your telephone request of September 4, 2007, I am pleased to submit an updated version of <br />our July 3, 2007 proposal for air quality services for the Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERML7) and the Elk <br />River Landfill (ERL). <br />Background <br />Waste Management Inc. (WMI) currently operates four Caterpillar 3516 engines in aLFG-to-Energy Plant <br />located at the Elk River Landfill. The first three engines were permitted in 2001 and began operation in <br />November 2002. The fourth engine received a moderate permit amendment in 2006 (air permit <br />141000041-004, issued January 18, 2006) and began operation in July 2006. <br />To process landfill gas expected to be generated by a significant expansion of the landfill to the south, <br />WMI intends to install a second LFG-to-Energy Plant that will initially house four additional engines but <br />will be built to accommodate up to eight engines. Each new engine will be identical to the those in place in <br />the existing LFG-to-Energy Plant. <br />There are several regulatory thresholds that could drive the air permitting of the second LFG-to-Energy <br />Plant: <br />NSR-PSD (40 CFR 52.21) <br />The federal New Source Review (NSR) -Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program requires <br />that the emissions of certain regulated pollutants from a proposed project be quantified and compared to <br />threshold values. Since (i) the existing landfill is not a "major stationary source" under NSR and (ii) MSW <br />landfills are not listed in 40 CFR 52.21(b)(1)(i)(a), the threshold of concern is 250 tons/yr of CO, NOx, <br />PM, PM10, S02, VOC, Lead, NMOC etc. The PSD rules specify the calculation methods that must be <br />used to estimate emissions for comparison to the thresholds. <br />EAW (Minn. R. 4410.1000) <br />The most likely threshold for a mandatory Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) is 250 tons/year <br />of any single air pollutant, after installation of air pollution control equipment, per Minn. R. 4410.4300, <br />subpart 15. <br />