Big River Steel gets state’s air-permit OK

Big River Steel, which plans to build a steel mill near Osceola, had its air permit approved Friday, allowing construction on the $1.1 billion plant to begin as soon as two months from now.

The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission approved the permit, upholding a ruling by Administrative Law Judge Charles Moulton, who affirmed the air permit in a 69-page decision March 20. Moulton’s decision required approval from the commission.

The plant still awaits approval from its foreign lenders, which John Correnti, chief executive officer of Big River Steel, expects to happen in June. Construction on the plant could begin in late June or early July if financing is approved, said Correnti, who attended the meeting.

One of the lenders is the German Export Bank, Correnti has said.

“Now that this has happened, the consultants and the attorneys can begin checking the box saying the permit is there, and they can continue on with their work,” Correnti said. “I believe the German government will meet on June 12 to put their final stamp of approval on it, at least as far as our bank is concerned.”

It will take about 24 months to finish construction of the mill, said Correnti, who has had a home in Blytheville since he managed Nucor Corp.’s plants in Arkansas and later was chief executive officer of Nucor.

The plant is expected to employ about 550 workers, each with an average salary - including potential bonuses - of $75,000 a year. About 2,000 workers would be hired to build the plant.

In March, Correnti said he couldn’t move forward with construction until the plant had “a rock-solid air permit.” Friday’s ruling gave the plant the permit Big River Steel was seeking, said Correnti, who shook hands with every commissioner after the decision.

Nucor, which challenged the permit and is an owner of two steel mills in Mississippi County near Big River Steel’s proposed location, will review the ruling and make a decision about whether to appeal, said Mark Allison, an attorney representing Nucor.

If the Big River plant is built, it will compete with Nucor’s two mills.

“When they tell you it’s not about the competition, you can be sure it’s about the competition,” said Correnti. “This is not about air quality. This is about the competition. I’m glad the commissioners saw through this. In this case, the facts spoke for themselves.”

David Taggart of Shreveport, the lead attorney for Nucor, said in his arguments before the commission, “This is not Nucor trying to prevent competition. This is about fair and appropriate regulation under the Clean Air Act and Arkansas law.”

Taggart, who said in February that Nucor would appeal if it lost the case, said there were three main deficiencies in Big River Steel’s proposal for the air permit.

First, Big River’s air-permit application does not meet state and federal air-quality requirements, Taggart said.

Second, Big River Steel engaged in misrepresentation of facts to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, the public and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, he said. The Arkansas department did not have anything in writing that guaranteed the veracity of the very low air-pollutant standards proposed by the plant’s equipment manufacturer, Taggart said.

And third, the Environmental Quality Department did not adhere to EPA guidelines made in March 2013 to calculate air pollution, Taggart said.

The commission disagreed with Taggart’s assertions. In a voice vote Friday on whether to uphold Moulton’s decision, there were no dissenting votes made by the commission members.

Big River Steel is the third steel mill that has tried to locate in Mississippi County since Nucor opened its two plants in the 1980s, Dickie Kennemore, mayor of Osceola, said in public comments before the commission Friday.

One was another plant that Correnti wanted to put in Mississippi County in 2005 but later chose to build in Columbus, Miss., Kennemore said.

The other would have been built by an Ohio manufacturer, Kennemore said. Both plants were opposed by Nucor.

“This time [with Big River Steel], Nucor is opposing this air permit,” Kennemore said. “I allege it’s not about the environment, it’s not about the air permit. It’s simply [trying to eliminate] competition.”

In the four-day hearing in February, Nucor had the burden of proving that issuance of the air-quality permit to Big River Steel was improper.

In his decision last month, Moulton sided with Big River on every issue, including calling a major Nucor argument unfounded that Big River should have used an air monitor in Marion instead of one in Dyersburg, Tenn. Big River chose the Dyersburg monitor to represent the air quality near its plant, since Osceola doesn’t have a monitor.