News Release No. 135

DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ISSUES
OPERATING AIR PERMIT TO DOE RUN

Volume 34-135

Contact: Renee Bungart

(For immediate release)

573-751-4465

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, APRIL 12, 2006 -- The Missouri Department of Natural Resources issued an operating air permit on April 10 to Doe Run Company for its lead smelter in Herculaneum.

The smelter has the potential to produce regulated quantities of air pollutants, therefore, the Title V air pollution operating permit addresses the operating requirements for the facility.

The public comment period for the permit closed on June 6, 2005. In addition to accepting written comments, the department held a public hearing on May 26, 2005, in Herculaneum. The department has prepared a document that incorporates both written comments and oral testimony from the hearing, and any changes made to the permit based on the comments. The permit and response to comments are available on the department's Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/env/apcp/air_permits.htm.

Missouri Air Regulations allow any aggrieved party to appeal this permit decision. Appeals to this permit or any of the listed special conditions should be made to the Administrative Hearing Commission (AHC), P.O. Box 1557, Jefferson City, Missouri 65102. A petition for appeal must be filed with the AHC within 30 days of the permit issuance date, April 10.

The Doe Run-Herculaneum facility is the largest primary lead smelter in the United States. EPA designated Herculaneum as nonattainment for lead in 1991 following Amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990. Missouri developed State Implementation Plans to outline control measures for Doe Run to implement to bring the area back into attainment for lead.

Doe Run reached compliance with the lead standard for 10 consecutive calendar quarters until 2005. Doe Run reported exceedances of the standard in the first three calendar quarters in 2005. Doe Run has implemented all control measures, as well as the contingency measures, contained in the 2001 SIP. Therefore, the Department of Natural Resources will work with Doe Run to develop a new SIP for the area to bring the facility back into compliance with the lead standard.

In a related matter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a federal register notice Dec. 19. The notice was to evaluate if the Missouri State Implementation Plan (SIP) for lead is substantially inadequate to meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. The 30-day comment period on this proposal ended Jan. 18. EPA will make a decision on its proposed finding after considering all public comments. If EPA finds the state's and Doe Run's measures to be inadequate, the Department of Natural Resources will revise its SIP to correct the deficiencies. The department will incorporate any necessary changes into the operating permit once the SIP revision is final.

For more information concerning the permit process, please call the department's Air Pollution Control Program at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-4817.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

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