Eldorado-area developer Joe Miller has applied to the New Mexico Environment Department for an air-quality permit for a sand, gravel and rock crushing plant in Lamy that he plans to take over from his sons.

Miller said his two sons have operated the gravel plant — on his ranch south of Lamy — off and on since the early 1990s.

Miller said his sons have taken turns operating the plant over the years but closed it down about five months ago, and he and several out-of-state partners will now operate the gravel plant under the name Ponderosa Aggregates.

Miller said he didn't know if his sons ever obtained an air-quality permit for the operation before, but that the volume of work being done at the plant will be about the same as it has been in years past.

"This is really nothing new," he said.

According to the legal notice, Ponderosa Aggregates is applying for a permit that would allow it to release up to 95 tons of nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide per year.

Miller said the amounts listed in the legal notice are the maximums allowed under the particular permit he is seeking; the actual plant, he said, produces much less air pollution.

"We're more in the single digits," he said.

Environment Department Air Quality Bureau Program Manger Richard Goodyear said most rock sorting or crushing operations do release far less pollution than the permit allows.

Goodyear said the listed contaminants are "combustion pollutants" consistent with machines such as diesel generators used in rock crushing operations.

According to the legal notice, Ponderosa Aggregates intends to submit its application for the permit Monday.

Goodyear said approving or denying the permit is an administrative decision. The Air Quality Bureau has up to 30 days to act on the application, but most permits are processed in a couple of weeks, Goodyear said.

Goodyear said the air-quality permit process does not require a public hearing. But Environment Department spokeswoman Marissa Stone Bardino said Department Secretary Ron Curry could call a public hearing if he thought public interest or other factors merited one.

Written comments should be mailed to Program Manager, New Source Review, New Mexico Environment Department Air Quality Bureau, 1301 Siler Road, Building B, Santa Fe, NM 87505-3113 or e-mail: ted.schooley@state.nm.us.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.