A Nesquehoning power company wants to see whether shredded tires, which burn with an intense heat, would help it burn poor-quality coal waste more efficiently.

Panther Creek Power Operating, commonly known as the cogeneration plant, plans to perform a four-month test burn of tire waste, said asset manager Matthew J. Cochran.The company now burns culm, or coal waste, that is trucked in. There are also piles of lower-quality culm on Panther Creek's site.The point of the test is to see if burning the tire waste will generate enough heat to allow the company to burn the piles of low-quality culm. If it works, Panther Creek will start chipping away at the piles and eventually reclaim the land.Also, burning the tire waste would cut down on truck traffic, because less culm would need to be brought in.The state Department of Environmental Protection's air quality department met with company officials in April to discuss the plan, said DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly.She said Panther Creek proposes to replace about 20 percent of the coal waste with tire waste. The company burns up to 750,000 tons of culm per year. The culm generates 6,500 to 7,500 BTUs per pound. The tire waste would generate 14,000 BTUs per pound."That would allow Panther Creek to use culm that has a BTU per pound rating of less than 6,000," she said.The 9,000 tons of tire waste about 300 truckloads that would be used for the test burn would otherwise be destined for landfills, Cochran said. It would be trucked in from as far away as New York state and be stored on the company's land.Jeffrey Spaide, environmental engineer manager for DEP's waste management program, on May 22 replied to an April 24 letter from Cochran."The Waste Management program will not require Panther Creek Generating Facility to obtain a general permit to store the (tire derived fuel) used during the four-month test burn period. TDF storage is limited to the 9,000 tons of material that will be used for the test burn," Spaide wrote."A general permit must be obtained from the Waste Management program if Panther Creek Generating Facility intends to store or use TDF after the four-month test burn period. Please note that this letter does not approved the proposed TDF test burn, a separate approval must be obtained from the Air Quality Program prior to storing or burning any TDF."Exactly when the test will begin isn't clear. Cochran said it will take a while to get enough to start the test burn."Once we get a certain volume on site, we'll begin the test," Cochran said.The tire waste is expected to burn more efficiently, he said.Cochran said the company has pollution controls in place to make sure the test burn does not effect air quality."If anything was to go wrong, we'd stop the test immediately," he said.Cochran said the company has data supporting the test, and that burning tire waste won't change the characteristics of the ash currently produced.Panther Creek must submit the test burn results to the state Department of Environmental Protection, said DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly."If we approve the test burn, Panther Creek would then have to submit an air quality plan approval to DEP to consider," she said.Nesquehoning council recently approved the plan, he said."We'll share the results with them. Well over 100 plants across the United States are burning tire waste, including one in Northampton County," Cochran said. "We don't see this as being a dangerous thing, it's not out of the ordinary."Nesquehoning council President David Hawk, who works for the company, said he was not involved in council's decision. Hawk said a committee composed of three council members, the borough solicitor Robert T. Yurchak, borough emergency management coordinator John McArdle, and members of the Lake Hauto Advisory Committee met with company officials. After discussing the issue, the committee recfommended allowing the test burn.Hawk said council has sent a letter to DEP, asking that the agency make sure all protocols are followed, and that the reporting be accurate and available to the borough.A similar plan to burn tire waste was snuffed out in 1997, when council rejected the company's plans for test burns of tire waste.At the time, then-plant manager Dan McIntyre said he gave council technical reports, data and DEP records that showed that tire waste burned cleaner than culm.