The state Department of Environmental Protection has authorized the four permits needed to build a controversial wood-burning plant in Plainfield but is requiring separate monitoring of the plant's fuel supply to ensure its overall quality.

DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy issued the final decision Tuesday for the 37.5-megawatt biomass facility, which would burn various nonhazardous woods under controlled conditions to generate electricity. The facility would also use water from the Quinebaug River for cooling purposes.

McCarthy granted four key permits: air, solid waste, water diversion and withdrawal from the river, and water discharge. She also added a requirement for the developer to retain the services of an independent “fuel quality management monitor” to further ensure compliance with the purchase, storage and burning of the wood.

The developer, Norwalk-based Plainfield Renewable Energy LLC, has lost some of its financing from GE Energy Financial Services, but has applied for a $2.5 million bridge loan from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, which would be paid for by ratepayers if approved.

The additional requirement of an independent monitor for the fuel supply, which opponents contend could contaminate the air and water if hazardous construction debris is used, satisfied some critics. But a key intervenor, the Friends of Quinebaug, said it plans to appeal through the DEP and, if necessary, through the courts.

'A huge improvement'

The requirements for the fuel monitor are “a huge improvement” from the original permit, which the Friends of Quinebaug challenged, said Margaret Miner, executive director of the Litchfield-based Rivers Alliance of Connecticut. “The guarantee of the quality of the fuel in the original permit was almost nonexistent. It's an excellent idea, and I would love to see it in more permits.”

Miner, who said she spoke as a private citizen about the fuel monitor, had opposed the project because her group believes air cooling, while more expensive, would be a better way to cool the plant than using water from the Quinebaug.

Bob Noiseux, a technical adviser to Friends of Quinebaug, said he considered McCarthy's decision “a foregone conclusion” and said it mostly adopts the hearing officer's tentative approval without question.

But DEP spokesman Dennis Schain said McCarthy “carefully analyzed the record of the case” to reach her decision.

”The record of the case contained extensive data and information concerning this project and the proposed permits.”

Intervenors have 45 days to appeal the decision, Schain said.

Dan Donovan, vice president of Plainfield Renewable Energy, said he is hoping for a quick decision on the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund loan for the $160 million project.

He expects some of the financing to also come from the federal government's recently approved stimulus package.

”We're the poster child for the federal stimulus package,” he said.

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