Public Notice
Mississippi Environmental Quality Permit Board
P. O. Box 2261 | Jackson, MS 39225
515 East Amite St. | Jackson, MS 39201
Telephone No. (601) 961-5171

Public Notice Start Date: November 19, 2025	MDEQ Contact: Jeffrey Bland

Northeast Mississippi Renewables LLC (NMR), Fulton Facility, located at 150 American Cellulose Road in Fulton, MS, (256) 717-8823, has applied to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) for the following permitting action – Issuance of a Permit to Construct Air Emissions Equipment (Ref. No. 1240-00037) – in order to construct a new torrefied wood pellet mill. The applicant's operations fall within SIC Code 2499, for Wood Products not elsewhere classified. A Permit Review Summary has been prepared that contains a discussion of the decision-making that went into the development of the permit and provides the permitting authority, the public, and other government bodies a record of the technical issues surrounding issuance of the permit.  
The proposed torrefied wood pellet mill would be located at the site of the former Homan Industries (Amercian Cellulose) wood chipping facility, just north of Interstate 22 on the Tennessee-Tomibigbee Waterway. The proposed pellet mill would produce approximately 165,347 oven-dried tons (ODT) of torrefied pellets per year from approximately 551,155 tons per year of southern yellow pine. NMR proposes to chip whole logs on site and also receive green wood chips from other sources. Unlike the more common “white” pellet mills that produce pellets with as much as 10% moisture, NMR is proposing to dry the green wood chips in a rotary dryer to approximately 10% moisture and then torrefy the pellets in one of two torrefier units. Torrefaction involved heating the dried wood chips in an oxygen-starved environment, which drives off the moisture and volatile organics, but leaves much of the carbon content of the wood. 
Following torrefaction, the dried wood chips are conveyed to a hammermill to reduce the size of the chips, which are then conveyed to one of six pellet mills. With the aid of steam, the pellet mills force the torrefied material through a die to produce an energy dense “black” pellet. The pellets are air-cooled in a pellet cooler and stored in one of two silos prior to loadout via barge. To ensure emissions from the facility are below the major source thresholds set forth in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration regulations, emissions from the rotary dryer and torrefiers must be routed to the Dryer and Torrefaction Control System to remove particulate matter (PM), PM of 10 micrometers in diamter and less, and PM of 2.5 micrometers in diameter and less using a wet electrostatic precipitator (WESP) and to destroy volatile organic compounds and hazardous air pollutants in the regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO). Sources of PM from forming and transferring the pellets will be controlled by dust collectors. The proposed permit also contains facility-wide emissions limits, limits on throughput, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting to ensure the facility is not a major source of regulated air pollutants.
The staff of the Permit Board has developed this draft permit based on information submitted to the Permit Board by the applicant, appropriate State and Federal agencies and other interested parties. The staff of the Permit Board is soliciting all relative information pertaining to the proposed activity, including public comment, to ensure that the final staff recommendation on the draft permit complies with all State and Federal regulations. Public review and comment on the draft permit and supporting documentation is an important element in the staff evaluation and resulting recommendation to the Permit Board. The draft permit conditions have been developed to ensure compliance with all State and Federal regulations but are subject to change based on information received as a result of public participation.
Persons wishing to comment upon or object to the proposed determinations are invited to submit comments in writing to Jeffrey Bland at https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/bland-jeffrey/ or to the Permit Board address shown above, no later than the end of the thirty (30) day public notice (i.e., December 19, 2025). All comments received by this date will be considered in the formulation of final determinations regarding the application(s). A public hearing will be held if the Permit Board finds a significant degree of public interest in the proposed permit(s). Persons wishing to request a public hearing may do so by submitting that request in writing to Jeffrey Bland at https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/bland-jeffrey/ or to the Permit Board address shown above. The Permit Board is limited in the scope of its analysis to environmental impact. Any comments relative to zoning or economic and social impacts are within the jurisdiction of local zoning and planning authorities and should be addressed to them.
Additional details about the application, including a copy of the draft permit, are available by writing or calling the Public Records Request Officer at the above Permit Board address and telephone number or by completing the form at the following website:  https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/about-mdeq/public-records-request/public-records-request-form/. Additionally, a copy of the draft permit and statement of basis may be found on the MDEQ’s website at: https://opc.deq.state.ms.us/publicnotice.aspx. A copy of the application and other relevant information may also be found at https://www.mdeq.ms.gov/additional-information-for-permits-at-public-notice/. This information is also available for review at the office of the MDEQ at the Permit Board address shown above during normal business hours. Please bring the foregoing to the attention of persons whom you know will be interested.