Royal Pest Solutions of New Castle, Delaware, has submitted a permit application to the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Air Quality, to use Methyl Bromide, a highly toxic gas and hazardous air pollutant, to fumigate logs in open air at the NC Port in Morehead City. Without this permit, the use of methyl bromide at the port cannot go forward.  The permit application has been submitted for immediate review by Judy Lee, an environmental engineer at the state’s Division of Air Quality.  If you care about the quality of our air and, ultimately, the water at the coast, right now is the time to let Ms. Lee know.

Methyl Bromide, the chemical that Royal wants to introduce to the Port, is so highly toxic that its use is strictly prohibited in most countries and its acceptance for use in the United States was phased out entirely in 2005 unless a special exception is received from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Despite the significant environmental and health risks associated with methyl bromide, the Port of Morehead City is negotiating with Royal to bring its business, and its fumigants, in massive numbers to the Port.

As stated by Royal’s General Counsel in her cover letter accompanying the permit application:

The enclosed air permit application seeks approval for use of the fumigant methyl bromide, which is classified as a hazardous air pollutant (“HAP”) under the Clean Air Act § 112. Royal is applying for a permit to emit up to 140 tons per year of methyl bromide. Since the fumigation operations at the port have the potential to emit over the major source emission threshold of 10 tons/year of a single HAP, the fumigation operations at the Port would constitute a major source of HAP emissions.

This 140 tons of hazardous air pollutant would exceed the federal Clean Air Act threshold by 14 times the amount permitted by law. While admitting that this much pollution brings the project under the definition of “a major source of hazardous air pollutant” under the Clean Air Act, attorneys for Royal argue that this project falls outside the protections provided by Section 112(g) of the Clean Air Act.

Royal asserts that the project is insulated from those protections of the Clean Air Act because, according to Royal, the use of methyl bromide to fumigate logs at the port is a mere extension of prior port business activities that were used in the decades that preceded adoption of the act.  As such, Royal argues, the project can go forward without its compliance with federal requirements that it document air quality safety under the Act. Royal’s initial evidence of previous methyl bromide fumigation at the port was based on an affidavit from Rex Edwards – Director of Port Operations and Business Development. In this affidavit, submitted with the permit application, Mr. Edwards recollects narratively that fumigation processes were used at the port decades ago and sporadically since then on an as-needed, intermittent basis. He does not assert that methyl bromide was used as the fumigant in those past fumigation incidents.

Royal’s attorneys also ask the Division of Air Quality to take the unusual step of reviewing its application as a two-step process: first, issuing a state permit contingent on Royal’s promise to apply later for the requisite federal permit under the Clean Air Act (Title V).  Under normal circumstances, both operating permit applications (state and federal) would be reviewed simultaneously. Long story short: the Morehead City Port business has been declining for more than a decade. If the downward trend continues, the amount of material shipped could eventually dip below 1 million tons, at which point the obligations of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to dredge annually could change.  Without a viable long-term plan for growth in place, and pressured to demonstrate economic viability, the Port of Morehead City is trading its moral and legal responsibility to develop a business plan that is consistent with the local tourist and recreation-based economy in exchange for quick fixes at any cost.

The Mission Statement for the NC Division of Air Quality states that the agency’s primary function is to “protect and improve the outdoor air quality of North Carolina.”  The agency is responsible for enforcing North Carolina air pollution laws and regulations and is also designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the lead agency for enforcing federal law dealing with air pollution in North Carolina.

Please use the red button to the right to sign the petition requesting that the Division of Air Quality, represented by Ms. Lee, protect our valuable coastal environment by enforcing the applicable state and federal regulations and denying Royal’s application for an operational permit that would allow it to introduce methyl bromide through an open-air fumigation process into the routine operations of the Port of Morehead City.  You may review the petition’s language by scrolling below the names of the individuals listed immediately below, all of whom will be copied on the petition.