NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL

April 4, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 130

For further information, contact Elena Tkacz, Resource Planner, 302-739-9909, or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Tapeta Footings Receives Coastal Zone Act Permit
for the Manufacturing of Horse Track Surface Material 

Under the authority of the Coastal Zone Act and the Regulations Governing Delaware’s Coastal Zone, Secretary John A. Hughes of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control has issued a Coastal Zone Act Permit to Tapeta Footings, Inc. to operate a new manufacturing facility at 391 Pigeon Point Road in New Castle.

Tapeta submitted a revised permit application on Nov. 20, 2007. A public hearing was held on the application on Feb. 28, 2008. The proposed operation would take a mixture of sand, polymeric fibers, synthetic rubber, wax and washed polyethylene and/or crosslink polyvinylchloride (PVC), and blend them together to produce the Tapeta product, which is used as horse racetrack surface material. The operation may generate up to 150,000 tons of Tapeta per year. 

The company estimates the facility will generate a total of 4.48 tons per year of associated air emissions, including 2.64 tons per year of nitrogen oxide and 1.65 tons per year of carbon monoxide. The company has submitted a revised offset proposal in its application in which it will more than offset these emissions with six tons per year of air emission credits from the Delaware Economic Development Office and a financial contribution assisting a local environmental enhancement project. 

Anyone wishing to appeal this decision to the State Coastal Zone Industrial Control Board must do so before Wednesday, April 23, 2008. For an appeal form or more information, please contact Elena Tkacz, Resource Planner, at 302-739-9909. There is a $100 appeal application fee.  

If no appeal is received within the appeal period, this decision becomes final.