Giti Tire receives air permit for SC plant

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control has issued an air permit for Giti Tire’s plant in Chester County.

The permit is the last big regulatory hurdle for the Singapore-based company to build a $560 million plant in Richburg capable of making about 5 million tires annually. Over the next decade the plant is expected to hire about 1,700 employees.

With the permit, Giti Tire has agreed to limit the amount of volatile organic compounds – gases from certain solids or liquids – to 250 tons a year and to limit the release of hazardous air pollutants to 25 tons annually to avoid a major impact on air quality,

The company also has promised to use a “cementless” process in making tires which relies on the natural stickiness of the rubbers for adhesion. DHEC said the cementless process reduces the amount of volatile organic compounds released. DHEC’s position is based on information from tire plants in South Carolina. Two plants, the Continental Tire plant in Sumter and the Bridgestone Americas plant in Aiken, use the cementless process.

The permit, issued Friday, already has been appealed. Chester County resident Dave Cole called DHEC’s action a “sham permit” because the pollution limits agreed to by Giti are just below what would be required for a major permit. He also said the permit does not consider this is phase one for Giti. Company officials have said a phase two could double production at the plant.

Cole said he has asked the DHEC board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the permit.

Cole said he is not against the jobs and would likely agree to the permit if Giti would install thermal oxidation equipment in its process, reducing the levels of volatile organic compounds, hazardous air pollutants and toxic air pollutants. The oxidation process is similar to the catalytic converter on a car, he said.

A Giti analysis included in the DHEC filing said thermal oxidation is not technically or economically feasible at the Giti plant. The cost for using thermal oxidizing in the mixing operations would cost about $30,000 a ton, according to Giti. For it to be economically feasible it would need to be about $10,000 a ton, the company said.

Cole owns a farm and operates a bed and breakfast which is about two miles from the Giti site in Richburg.

Karlisa Parker, Chester County’s economic development director, said DHEC held several meetings to hear residents’ concerns and to give them information on the plant. She said some of the initial concerns expressed by residents were based on incorrect information.

“There were concerns about health issues, and I hope (those people) feel better from the information provided by DHEC,” Parker said.

She said Giti has been sensitive to residences near the site, agreeing to create “white areas” that will not be developed with the goal of reducing air, noise and light pollution to adjacent properties. Giti has graded 250 acres of the 1,152 acres it owns for the plant.

The air permit covers six steps used to build tires – raw material handling, rubber mixing, rubber processing, tire building, curing and finishing – as well as the plant’s three boilers, its cooling towers and its emergency engines.

Pollution controls will be installed in the raw materials handling area and the rubber mixing area, according to the permit.

Giti officials were not available for comment Wednesday.

This story was originally published September 3, 2015 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Giti Tire receives air permit for SC plant."