Longwood Contacts DEQ, Pledges Solution

Published 5:20 pm Thursday, March 15, 2012

FARMVILLE – Longwood University said Wednesday it has told Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) about the smoke emission problems of its heating plant.

The university also apologized for the smoke that has periodically covered portions of downtown and pledged to solve the problem.

Farmville's Town Council expressed its concern with the excessive emissions during its March work session last week and the issue was raised again during council's regular March meeting Wednesday night.

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“We apologize for the recent unintentional episodes of smoke that have caused uncomfortable conditions throughout parts of town,” said Dick Bratcher, vice president for facilities management and real property. “It is our goal to be a good neighbor as we strive also to be good stewards of the state's resources.”

Longwood revealed it has alerted DEQ about the problem and has furthermore “outlined an action plan to correct the issue. In addition, consultants from two outside firms are thoroughly examining the heating plant to determine the problems that may be contributing to the smoke issue,” the university's statement points out.

“We are constantly re-evaluating our methods of operation for this new plant which is considered to be a state-of-the-art system,” said Bratcher.

Town Manager Gerald Spates told Town Council Wednesday night that he had spoken to Bratcher about the problem “and they're very aware of it. They were very apologetic about and they brought in an independent firm to look at it and see what's going on.

“And he said if they have to they'll shut it down and go back to the old boiler plant until they get something resolved from this,” Spates said.

The university's initial statement last week, in response to questions from the Herald, blamed the smoke on the burning of wet sawdust but there was no mention of wet sawdust this week.

Farmville Mayor Sydnor C. Newman, Jr., emphasized the need Wednesday night for the Town to remain vigilant and make certain the problem is solved by Longwood.

“I think the Town ought to stand behind it and make sure they are working on it because it is a nuisance,” Mayor Newman said, “and if you're walking downtown when the smoke is blowing sometimes it's kind of rough on you.”

Town Council member Dr. Edward I. Gordon, a physician, is also a member of Longwood's Board of Visitors and he said the Board is meeting at the end of the month and he was sure the smoky emissions would be discussed.

“I'll convey the Town's concern,” he promised Wednesday night.

Work Session Discussion

During Town Council's work session last week council member Tommy Pairet raised the subject by relating, “I had two customers yesterday come in who literally had their coat over their face because the smoke was so strong that they said they were having problems breathing.” Pairet's is located on Main Street.

Spates said the smoke was so bad one day that, “I had several calls about it-wanted to know if there was a fire downtown.”

Pairet, who was not the only council member to have received complaints about the smoke, added that, “I've had four people in the last week to 10 days approach me about the smoke from Longwood and wanted to know if there was anything that could possibly be done to eliminate (it). I don't know enough about it to know but there's a lot of people who are starting to get concerned.”

Dr. Gordon said during the work session that the heating plant was discussed at the last Board of Visitors meeting “because it's a state of the art system and my understanding is that (smoky emissions) isn't supposed to be happening. I talked to Gerry yesterday because I've been getting complaints…I feel like something's wrong…We probably ought to get some statement from Longwood on if that is functioning correctly, because if it is functioning correctly we've got a problem…”

“Yeah,” agreed Pairet.

Dr. Gordon said there were people in his office discussing the smoky haze downtown and also wondering if “there was a fire downtown.”

Last week, Town Council instructed Spates to contact Longwood officials about the Town's, and the public's, concern regarding the smoke.

Responding to last week's request from The Herald for a statement about the smoke, the university's first public statement on the smoke said that, “The smoke that people in downtown Farmville and on the Longwood University campus may have noticed earlier this week was the result of a batch of wet sawdust that inadvertently was mixed into the fuel stream of Longwood's heating plant. When this happens, some smoke is emitted as a result.”

That university statement added that, “Longwood has procedures in place to lower the probability of wet sawdust being introduced into the heating plant's fuel stream, and the university is continuously working to improve those procedures. However, the sawdust must be stored outdoors, where it is subject to rain and other precipitation.”

The university also noted that, “About 80 percent of Longwood's energy comes from burning sawdust, a renewable and cost-effective energy source. Annual savings for Longwood – and therefore the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Virginia – from burning sawdust instead of fuel oil are substantial, and amounted to $2.8 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year.”

Dr. Gordon said last week that the university's Board of Visitors had been previously told that smoke from the heating plant is “more or less what they want to call clean smoke.”

That statement prompted chuckles around the Town Council table during the work session.

“Vapor, of course, is a clean smoke. But that kind of smoke,” Dr. Gordon continued, regarding the complaint-producing smoke, “is going to be an irritant to the lungs of people with respiratory problems, even if it doesn't contain the sulfur and stuff like that. So it does need to have a dispersal with it. So I think we need to ask Longwood…for some kind of a statement. I am hearing quite a bit about it and I think we need to do something.

“It affects the town. You walk into town, or come into the town and it's not going to be good for the town,” Dr. Gordon said, “or the college.”

Town Manager Spates said, “I'm surprised somebody hasn't called the Air Pollution Control Board.”

Now Longwood University has, itself, contacted DEQ about a heating plant LU's statement this week noted has been toured and studied by a number of agencies and groups, since its opening in September, including the U.S. and Virginia Departments of Forestry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Virginia Tech, Radford University and others.

In addition, the technology and methods of Longwood's biomass strategies have been presented at the regional, state, national and international levels, the university noted.