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Plant Near Tampa Port Plans Curbs On Chemicals

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By LINDSAY PETERSON

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

Published: November 20, 2008

TAMPA - The smelly air around a Tampa chemical plant is about to get a scrubbing.

After denying there was a problem, General Chemical has agreed to install scrubbers in the stack of its Palmetto Beach plant near the Port of Tampa.

The plant's 55-foot stack releases a sulfuric acid mist from the process of making aluminum sulfate, a wastewater treatment chemical. About a year ago, residents began complaining that the emissions smelled foul and burned their eyes and throats. It was so bad, resident Irene Rodrigues said, that she stopped her morning walks at a park near the plant.

The Tampa Tribune wrote about the problem in October after residents persuaded the county Environmental Protection Commission to investigate.

General Chemical, based in Parsippany, N.J., said it was operating within the limits of its environmental permit. But the emissions were a community nuisance, which is a violation, officials said.

The plant's five-year permit is up for renewal this month, and the environmental agency was considering denying it if General Chemical would not agree to install scrubbers or "demisters." After receiving a warning in September, the company said new equipment was expensive and it could deal with the problem by staggering its emission hours to avoid releases when people were using the park and children were going to and coming from a neighborhood school, DeSoto Elementary.

But in a meeting last week with Environmental Protection Commission officials, General Chemical officials said they had decided to install a scrubber. The device will use a water spray to turn the mist into droplets and catch them before they leave the stack.

"This is very good news," said the commission's Jerry Campbell. "They saw the article in the paper. It was the first time the people in corporate realized what a problem they had. They said they wanted to be good neighbors."

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.

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