GA Pellet Group Reaches Accord

Officials with local activist group Concerned Citizens of Cook County (4C) and Spectrum Energy Georgia LLC recently announced an agreement resolving a dispute over Spectrum’s plan to construct and operate a wood fuel pellet manufacturing facility in Adel, Ga. Spectrum is seeking to to re-purpose an Adel particleboard facility closed since 2014 into a state-of-the-art wood pellet plant.

4C opposed Spectrum’s air quality permit issued in July 2022 by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division due to its concerns about the protectiveness of the permit and the legacy of industrial development patterns in Adel and their effects on minority communities. 4C also formally challenged the permit in a petition filed with the Georgia Office of Administrative Hearings.

Under the agreement, Spectrum has committed to increase transparency to the community and increase pollution control requirements above and beyond what Georgia EPD required. Spectrum has also agreed to a range of “good neighbor” provisions unrelated to air emissions to reduce the potential impact of its operations on the community. These provisions are in many respects above and beyond what Georgia law requires.

Michael Ainsworth, Spectrum’s President, said, “We listened to 4C’s concerns, and we realized that addressing those concerns is fully consistent with our desire to construct and operate a facility that will be the gold standard in the pellet industry. Going above and beyond what the law requires is aligned with Spectrum’s core values.”