Skip to main content
MENU

June 2017 Metrics Report

Air Construction Permits
Air Operating Permits
Ag/Livestock State Permits
Ag/Livestock NPDES Permits
Construction Stormwater Permits Approved
Agency Inspections by Month with Average Days to Complete Reports

LINCOLN PREMIUM POULTRY/COSTCO

Lincoln Premium Poultry (LPP), in conjunction with Costco Wholesale (Costco), has applied for an air quality construction permit and a construction Stormwater permit to build a chicken hatchery, a poultry processing plant and a feed mill near Fremont. Area producers will utilize the Costco facilities and produce broilers for Costco. As proposed, the facility would process 104 million broilers annually. Related facts on the facilities follow.
 

  • The hatchery will hatch over 400,000 chicks per day
  • The processing facility will handle two-million six-pound broilers per week
  • Chickens will be produced at up to 200 growing sites within 60 miles of Fremont
  • LPP will need to apply for the following permits from NDEQ:
    • Water Quality Division
      • Construction storm water (received on 12/20/2016 and approved on 12/22/2016)
      • Waste Water Facilities Construction Permit for Pretreatment equipment
    • National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Pretreatment (received 3/9/17)
      • Air Quality Division
      • Air Quality Construction Permit (applied for December 23rd, 2016)
  • Air Quality Operating Permit (within 12 months of becoming operational)
  • The proposed Air Quality Construction Permit was placed on public notice June 22nd. The public comment period will be open through 7/24/2017.
  • There will be a public hearing on the Air Quality Construction Permit preliminary decision to grant the permit August 8th in Fremont. Prior to the hearing

NDEQ will hold an informational session to provide the public with an opportunity to learn more of the proposal and ask NDEQ staff related questions.

Upon conclusion of the public comment period and hearing, the NDEQ will prepare a response to the comments and the Director will issue a final decision.

Emerging Issues/Risks: NDEQ Air Quality staff held pre-application meetings with two significant new sources – Heritage Disposal and Storage and NioCorp. Heritage is located near Grand Island and will destroy Dept. of Defense smoke munitions. NioCorp is the proposed rare earth metals mine proposed near Elk Creek. The purpose of the pre-application meeting is to provide potential facilities with a better understanding of NDEQ permitting requirements and to give the facilities an opportunity to get questions answered before submitting a final permit application. The meetings have proven beneficial to both the applicant and NDEQ permitting staff.

Accomplishments: NDEQ has been working to update the Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (sMS4) permitting system. The general sMS4 permits have been on the backlog for an extended period of time. Staff in the National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) Section worked through several drafts and held meetings with permittees to build a consensus. This effort resulted in an improved sMS4 permit process. The NPDES staff achieved a better working relationship with the permittees, and both NDEQ and the permittees benefited from an increased efficiency and realized a reduction in the overall number of permits.

NDEQ announced the award of $2.6 million in Waste Reduction Grants. The grants cover a wide range of waste management programs and projects ranging from the support of local household hazardous waste collection events to funding programs related to numerous recycling programs.

Misc. Items of Note: The Environmental Quality Council met June 13th in Lincoln. The Council heard NDEQ proposals to amend Title 131 pertaining to financing wastewater treatment and drinking water facilities and Title 129 pertaining to air quality regulations. The Title 131 changes were due to recent state and federal requirements. The Title 129 changes were the result of federal requirements and needed minor corrections. The Council also heard the NDEQ and DHHS Intended Use Plan, which describes how the Departments will use and prioritize available funds. All proposals were unanimously adopted by the Council.