“In August we started to increase production,” said Team Ten LLC President John Ferner. “When production went up so did our biochemical oxygen demand go up along with it.”
The American Eagle Paper Mill has a set monthly limit for the amount of BOD it is allowed to discharge under a permit issued by the Borough of Tyrone. A public notice appeared last month about industrial user violations involving the mill.
The notice said that discharge-monitoring data indicated that Team Ten LLC/Altoona Blair County Development Corporation exceeded their monthly average limit of pounds per day for biochemical oxygen demand. Five compliance actions were taken as a result of the violations.
Two notices of violations were issued for the month of August and September for exceeding the permitted monthly average of pounds per day allowance for biochemical oxygen demand.
A compliance order was issued for October for exceeding the permitted BOD and two supplemental compliance orders for November and December were issued for the same reason.
“It’s kind of a catch-22 situation because we are in a commodity business and the only way you can survive is to increase production,” said Ferner. “Although it made things better from an economic standpoint, it also made more BOD and put us in violation.”
Administrative fines were imposed on the mill’s operators and last month’s public notice said that the mill is taking preventative measures to correct the violation in accordance with Tyrone Borough’s enforcement response plan.
Sewer Department head Tim Nulton told Tyrone Borough Council early this month that Team Ten had installed equipment to help bring them back into compliance. Nulton told The Daily Herald he had conducted an inspection on Feb. 9. He said about half of the equipment had been installed. He said a quick chemical oxygen test showed there had been a reduction in the problem. However, the biochemical oxygen demand tests take longer to get results back.
“I’m pleased with what they have done,” said Nulton. “It looks like they have spent a lot of money to accommodate us and get back into compliance.”
Nulton indicated there was the possibility of compliance issues for January since the measures being taken to remedy the problem are still being put into effect.
The mill has put four bio towers in place to begin the process of reducing the BOD and have it returned to below the permitted monthly limit. Ferner said the mill would eventually have 10 bio towers installed. The towers are used to consume the biochemical oxygen demand as the water goes through the tower. The procedure allows the amount of BOD to be reduced when it shows up at the treatment plant. Ferner said the efforts are being undertaken at a cost of about $600,000.
Ferner was asked about environmental concerns regarding the biochemical oxygen demand.
“There’s nothing hazardous about it,” said Ferner. “It’s just that the amount increases the cost to treat it to the borough.”
He added, “We pay for every pound of BOD we send down, whether it’s under the limit or over the limit.”
Ferner said the towers that have been installed have not had any effect yet. He said bacteria or small microorganisms that he referred to as “bugs” are placed in the towers in order to reduce the biochemical demand.
He explained that because of the water temperature in the towers, the “bugs” that initially were put in place did not have the desired effect so the mill shipped in “bugs” from the warmer climate of Florida to do the job.
“We are right now in a stage where we are trying to get the most effective ‘bug’ working within the system to consume the BOD,” said Ferner.
The mill’s permit allows it to discharge 5,700 pounds a day. Ferner said the discharge has been running at 6,500 pounds. He said when all ten of the bio towers are up and running the BOD should be reduced to 4,000 pounds a day.
Ferner added some additional thoughts regarding the mill and the environment.
“We recycle here, we don’t use any trees, we don’t have a pulp mill, there’s very little outside pollution whatsoever and I think it’s one of the most (environmentally friendly) paper mills,” said Ferner. “We’ve done a lot as far as being environmentally friendly and sound at this facility and we are trying to do our part with the borough.”
The mill has been in operation for more than two years under Team Ten, LLC and now has 205 full-time employees and a total of about 220 employees.
