PCS Phosphate, a unit of Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, is in talks to build a sulphur plant at Portsmouth Marine Terminal in Virginia, US, according to a company spokesman.
Tom Pasztor said the plant will melt sulphur pellets to form molten sulphur, which will be then transported to the company's facility in Aurora, North Carolina. Once there it will be converted into sulphuric acid and then mixed with phosphate rock, forming phosphate fertilisers and other products.
PCS Phosphate had previously tried to develop the sulphur melting plant in Morehead City, North Carolina, but withdrew its plans after a backlash from the local community.
According to state officials and media reports, North Carolina division of air quality had already approved a permit for the project in Morehead City. Spokesman Tom Mather said that the agency issued the company a permit because it believed the proposed plant posed little risks and complied with existing rules.
"While the PCS facility would have discharged sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, metals associated with fossil fuel combustion and hydrogen sulfide, the net impact would have been minimal," Mather added.
Portsmouth Councilman Bill Moody said officials from the company and J J Keever, senior deputy executive director/external affairs at Virginia Port Authority, which operated the Portsmouth Marine Terminal, briefed Portsmouth City Council members about the revised plan.
"Adding that the officials said there would be little to no impact to the community, but we still need to do due diligence, but from the way they presented it, it's pretty much self-contained," Moody said.
Keever added that the authority had tried to do the right thing by briefing community groups about the possible venture.
"The Port Authority's board is to be briefed on the proposal at its 24 January meeting," Keever added.
