Application lacks detail for Inergy project

    READING—Inergy LLC’s permit application to construct a $40 million liquid petroleum gas storage and transfer facility is incomplete for a second time, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
    In the letter dated April 2, the DEC said Inergy still needs to provide documents from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, new engineering reports, explanation of project descriptions, and an update of the facility’s storm-water pollution prevention plan.  New information was needed because Inergy made changes to the proposed project.  The first notice of incomplete was from March 5, 2012.
    One adjustment is constructing two brine ponds, instead of the original one pond.  The brine will be used to push gas out of the underground storage areas. The DEC said they need engineering design reports and drawings for the new brine ponds.
    In addition, because the total volume of the proposed brine ponds is significantly less than the volume of product storage, further operational details are needed so the state can evaluate how the ponds will interact with the existing U.S. Salt facility.
    The DEC explained they also need to see if U.S. Salt’s permit will need to be modified.  The state also wanted to know how changes would impact the facility’s storm-water pollution prevention plan.  Inergy was asked to provide information on possibly requiring coverage under the multi-sector general permit.
    The DEC added that the underground storage system described in the draft environmental impact statement is different than what is described in Inergy’s federal filings and what is on Inergy’s website.  The state said, “Please discuss these differences as they potentially present staff with a segmentation issue, if the application materials do not describe the entire project that the company plans.”
    The agency is also reviewing Inergy’s quantitative risk analysis (QRA).  The DEC said there may be additional comments from that.  All of the information is needed for the state to make a final decision on Inergy’s permit application to construct the storage and transfer facility.