THE FINAL COMPONENT of Nippon Industries USA’s biomass cogeneration project has been approved.
The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency announced approval Monday of the company’s notice of construction application for a cooling tower for the project, which will go online later this fall.
Approval allows construction of a 5,500-gallon-a-minute water tower at the mill.
Total project cost is more than $71 million.
The addition of the cooling tower decreases total particulate emissions, ORCAA spokesman Dan Nelson said.
Project critics have expressed concern that pollution controls are not stringent enough to protect citizens from tiny nanoparticles that are not subject to state or federal air pollution laws.