The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has issued an air permit for Madison Asphalt LLC, a drum-mix asphalt plant in Marshall, NC.

Division staff thoroughly reviewed the comments received on the draft permit during the public hearing and comment period. In response to community concerns raised during the public engagement process, DAQ also conducted modeling to ensure the facility’s emissions were within the toxic air pollutant Acceptable Ambient Levels (AAL) and National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The final permit includes several conditions:

• Limiting the hours of operation and total amount of asphalt produced to comply with the AALs and NAAQS as modeled by DAQ
• Unannounced inspections which include review of operational and production records , hours of operation, control device inspection, and maintenance
• Required stack testing for particulate matter and visible emissions

The testing and reporting conditions will be used to verify the facility is operating as represented in the permit application and in compliance with the terms of the permit.  Stack testing data will be made publicly available.    

The final permit, final permit review, hearing officer’s report, Director’s memo, and modeling memo are available on https://deq.nc.gov/madison-asphalt.