Under proposed air permit, upgraded Noranda alumina plant near Gramercy would get nod to release ...

Under proposed air permit, upgraded Noranda alumina plant near Gramercy would get nod to release mercury into air

GRAMERCY — More than six months after the old Noranda Alumina plant emerged from federal bankruptcy reorganization, the plant's new owners are seeking state authority to become the largest emitter of mercury into Louisiana's skies, according to federal air pollution data.

The new owners, Noranda Bauxite and Alumina, want permission under a proposed air permit revision to emit up to 1,500 pounds of mercury into the air per year, up to six times more than the second-largest mercury air emitter in Louisiana between 2012 and 2015, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory.

The proposed permit, which the public will get to learn about at a state DEQ hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Lutcher, would resolve a long-standing problem at the Noranda plant by formally permitting previously unknown mercury air releases, as the new owners plan to invest $35 million to upgrade and expand capacity at the Mississippi River facility straddling the St. James and St. John the Baptist parish lines.

The plant, which will employ 460 people after the expansion and has been one of the top employers and property taxpayers in St. James Parish, converts red bauxite ore shipped from a mine in Jamaica into alumina, a precursor used to smelt aluminum and for other chemical processes.

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