Press installation halted by state

Installation of a press at the Reno Gazette-Journal's new commercial printing plant in Carson City was stopped Tuesday because the company had not applied to the state for a required air-quality permit.

"One of our people was driving by this morning and saw them setting up a printing press," Colleen Cripps, chief of the Bureau of Air Quality of the Nevada Environmental Protection Division, said Tuesday. "They need a permit before they can operate it, before it is installed or placed in operation."

Eastern Sierra Publishing's Goss Community web press was being moved from the company's old plant on Gross Circle in Indian Hills, production director Kevin Johnson said Tuesday. The press printed a variety of small papers, booklets and coupon books. The Gazette-Journal itself is printed entirely on the company's larger press in Reno, Johnson said.

Once an application for a permit is submitted, it will take at least 60 days and possibly a year for the permit to be issued.

"There's an application they have to complete, then we do an evaluation based on the information provided and determine whether the installation falls under the state or federal permitting process," Cripps said. "If it's a state process, it takes 60 days to issue a permit. If it falls under the more involved federal Title V process, it can take up to a year."

The size of the press, the type of ink to be used and other specifications will be evaluated during the process and compared to standardized information about printing press installations compiled by the federal Environmental Protection Administration, she said.

In the meantime, the parts of the press cannot be assembled.

"We've given them no approvals to do any installation of the equipment," Cripps said.

The Gazette-Journal purchased Eastern Sierra Publishing in mid-1999. Eastern Sierra had previously printed the Pennysaver, but that publication had shut down before the purchase by the Gazette-Journal.

"We actually had three locations at Carson City - the Eastern Sierra plant, our news bureau downtown and a circulation distribution warehouse - and we decided to consolidate them into one building," Johnson said. The new building is on Metric Way north of the Carson City Airport.

"Apparently, last year, some new regulations came out from the EPA regarding press operation and we were not aware the permit was required to run the press," Johnson said. "We have a press erector crew we hired and they were quite surprised that we have to get an air permit to run this press.

"The folks at the Environmental Protection Division have been very cooperative in trying to help us through this process. We've also hired an environmental consultant to help us get through the process quickly.

"Worst case scenario, it will be a few months before we're up and running. In the meantime, we have a variety of folks that we resource the jobs out to.

"The Nevada Appeal will run some on their press. We have the newspaper in Yerington, so we'll move some printing and production facilities there temporarily. And a variety of commercial print houses have offered to help until we get through this."