ASHTABULA, Ohio -- Ashtabula Energy has applied for a permit from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that would allow it to discharge treated water into Lake Erie as part of the company's plan to construct a natural gas-to-liquids conversion plant.

Ashtabula Energy is a division Velocys plc, a British company that in 2013 moved its operations to Houston to enter the U.S. market. The company wants to spend $200 million to construct a 2,800 barrel-a-day gas-to-liquids plant on an 80-acre site that was once part of the Union Carbide complex on the south side of Lake Road.

If approved, the wastewater discharge permit would allow 1.6 million gallons of wastewater per day to be discharged into Lake Erie, the Ohio EPA said Monday. The discharge water would consist of noncontact cooling water, water treatment plant residuals, sanitary wastewater, and processed waste streams. The wastewaters would be sent through a treatment process before being discharged into the lake.

According to the Ohio EPA, the discharge is "expected to have minimal impact on the water quality of the lake" because the project would discharge less than 10% of what Lake Erie can safely accept. The approved discharge might result in a change from the current quality of Lake Erie but no discharge can violate Ohio's water quality standards, the agency said.

A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thurs. Jan. 22, at Ashtabula campus of Kent State University.

Last year, Pinto Energy announced it would move forward with the $200 million gas-to-liquids project. Then, in June, Pinto was acquired by Velocys.

The Ashtabula Energy plant would convert natural gas obtained from the Utica and Marcellus shale plays in Ohio and Pennsylvania to diesel fuel, according to the Ohio EPA.

Pictured: Google map shows site of plant posted at Velocys website.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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