In September of this year, Arbor Hills Energy (AHE is owned by Fortistar) agreed to a settlement of the continuing environmental violations alleged by the USEPA beginning in 2016 and subsequent violations issued by EGLE from 2016 – 2020. Although there were several violations alleged, the most significant violation was that AHE has continuously exceeded allowable sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission limits since at least 2015, without taking meaningful actions to reduce the emissions. Sulfur dioxide can cause harm to human health and the environment once emitted into the air, including premature death, heart attacks, respiratory problems, and adverse environmental effects. The settlement agreement requires AHE to construct a Renewable Natural Gas Plant (RNG) to replace the Landfill Gas to Energy Plant or install equipment to remove sulfur from the existing process.
Number of RNG Projects in US, Source is the USEPA
The current AHE facility burns landfill gas and utilizes turbines and steam generators to produce electricity. The process is inefficient, there is no sulfur removal, combustion products are exhausted without treatment, and there is a high potential for community odors. A Renewable Natural Gas plant would remove impurities (H2S, CO2, O2, N2, moisture, non-methane organic compounds) and concentrate the remaining methane into a high-quality natural gas that is suitable for distribution in the natural gas pipeline distribution system. The process would significantly reduce air emissions related to processing the landfill gas.
This past week Opal Fuels, LLC (a Fortistar Company) and Green for Life both announced they had entered into a joint venture agreement to develop, construct and operate a Renewable Natural Gas production facility at the Arbor Hills Landfill. Opal Fuels will be responsible for the construction and operation of the facility. The facility will produce 2 million MMBTU of pipeline quality RNG per year and will be one of the largest RNG facilities in the nation. The RNG facility at Arbor Hills is a significant investment. Construction is planned to begin in early 2022 with production planned for early 2023.
The Conservancy Initiative has confirmed through a Freedom of Information Act request that Arbor Hills Energy has submitted the necessary permit application with EGLE and appears to be moving forward with the project. The settlement agreement requires either the RNG facility or the sulfur removal facility to be operational by March 31, 2023. We will continue to monitor and update the progress of this project.