An environmental agency plans an informational meeting and hearing in January about pollution
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
CATHERINE TREVISON
GRESHAM -- The Department of Environmental Quality will hold two more meetings on a controversial insulation plant that Owens Corning is building in Gresham.
An information meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 5 in the Town and Gown room of Mt. Hood Community College. A public hearing is set for 6:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at the same location. The agency will take written comments until Jan. 24.
Owens Corning wants to make rigid foam insulation at the plant at 18456 N.E. Wilkes Road. The gas it uses to blow bubbles in the foam, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon known as HCFC 142-b, damages the environment, according to the DEQ.
HCFC 142-b is a potent greenhouse gas, one of a group of substances associated with global warming. Owens Corning says the new plant would emit about 245 tons a year; that would have the same effect as 82,000 cars driving 12,000 miles a year, according to the DEQ.
HCFC 142-b also depletes the stratospheric ozone layer. Scientists say a depleted ozone layer allows more ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth, causing health problems such as cataracts and skin cancer. Under the federal Clean Air Act, manufacturers such as Owens Corning are supposed to find a substitute for HCFC 142-b before 2010.
Owens Corning executives have said they are trying to switch to a more environmentally friendly substance and that they don't intend to use HCFC 142-b after 2010. They also say that by saving energy, insulation lessens environmental problems caused by fossil fuels burned at power plants.
Owens Corning initially said it planned to use 283 tons of HCFC 142-b each year. At the end of November, three environmental groups sued the company in federal court, saying it should have obtained a pre-construction permit and demonstrated that it was using the best available technology to control pollution.
About a week ago, Owens Corning agreed to stop construction. By cutting the amount of HCFC 142-b it intends to use to 245 tons each year, it may be able to avoid a significant federal environmental rule.
If emissions are less than 250 tons a year, state regulators do not have to review the plant as a new "major source" of pollution and do not have to analyze whether it is using the best available pollution controls, a DEQ spokeswoman said.
More information is available on the DEQ's Web site at www.deq.state.or.us/news/publicnotices/.
Catherine Trevison: 503-294-5971; ctrevison@news.oregonian.com