Silicon Smelter Fact Sheet - Bring This To The Next Meeting

Silicon Smelter Fact Sheet

Jobs - Very few local residents will be employed (less then 40); turn-over rates are very high due to hazardous and dangerous conditions (most workers last less then 6 months); starting pay is significantly lower then promised.

Traffic – up to 170 trucks per day will clog local roads and highways; hauling wood chips, millions of tons of silica sand; and hundreds of thousands of tons of coal will also be brought in by railroad. This will have an enormous impact upon traffic and congestion.

Emissions – Toxic plant emissions will be emitted over the entire region. These emissions are significant and serious, leading to asthma attacks, bronchitis, chronic pulmonary disease and cancer.

These emissions will be found everywhere, in homes, businesses, forest and lungs of humans and wildlife. Soils will become increasingly acidic from acid rain leading to increased tree mortality and more forest fires. Water PH levels will also change affecting fish and amphibians, lowering reproductive rates.

The silicon smelter plant will emit major levels of regulated air pollutants and unregulated air pollutants.

Two enormous smokestacks 15 feet in diameter and 150 feet high are planned, with 2 more planned for future plant expansion. These stacks will emit hundreds of thousands of tons of emissions into the atmosphere every year.

The similar, recent “state-of-the-art” 4-subarc Silicon Smelter Plant in Burnsville, Mississippi was claimed to emit (tons per year) -

·      Sulfur Dioxide - 2,170

·      Nitrogen Oxide - 1,906

·      Carbon Monoxide - 1,444

·      Carbon Dioxide – 402,396

·      Particulate Matter - 104

·      PM10 - 81

·      PM 2.5 – 73

·      Volatile Organic Compounds 93.5

(Source - Application for Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Air Permit, Mississippi Silicon - http://tinyurl.com/y8ovqlqv )

HiTest Sands proposes a 4 sub-arc furnace for Newport (Phase II).

These are only the regulated pollutants, there are many more emissions not being regulated (over 187) or even measured, which are dumped into the atmosphere. Some are extremely toxic and carcinogenic. (Source - Silicon Smelting Air Quality Permitting and Measurement Issues - http://tinyurl.com/y9mt3tsf )

Silica dust emissions - Silica dust is extremely hazardous, causing silicosis (deadly and incurable) and will escape from trucks, bins, loading platforms, conveyers, silos, bag houses and smokestacks. Hundreds of thousands of tons of coal, wood chips and silica sand will be stored on site.

Best Access Control Technology (BACT) - The silicon plant design and permitting process allows for no technology, filters or scrubbers to be employed if these are not cost-effective for plant operation. HiTest is not planning on using anything to control smokestack emissions.

Air Quality - Sulfur dioxide will make our daily air quality pretty terrible. The smelter operates 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, non-stop. Winter inversions and fog will trap significant amounts of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide right over the town, making acid rain and acid fog. This will penetrate into the soil, gardens and locally produced food. Newport will be avoided by everyone who can.

Water - The Mississippi "state-of-the-art" silicon smelter uses 270,000 gallons of water per day. The HiTest smelter is sited immediately adjacent to the Little Spokane River Recharge Area.

Taxes - Will go up, to help pay for infrastructure, roads, services, fire department and law enforcement increases due to the smelter locating here. Taxes will significantly increase.

Property Values - Will go down, nobody wants to live near a toxic smelter. Values will significantly decrease due to the unpopularity of the area.

Utility Rates - Millions of dollars will be spent by the Pend Oreille Utility District (they've admitted to this) for new power infrastructure for the smelter. Nobody is confident rates won't increase to cover these costs.

Hospital and Medical Visits and Costs - Will go up, as more and more people seek medical treatment for silicon smelting emissions and their effects.

The HiTest Silicon Smelter in Newport is a losing proposal for everyone. Nobody benefits. It will kill this town, tourism and the surrounding region as a desirable place to live, work, play or visit.

The State of Washington and Pend Oreille County wants increased commercial receipt revenues from industry. The same increases could be easily met by bringing in sustainable, healthy businesses and tourism. Government officials have totally overlooked the long-term effects on how a toxic smelter will kill this town.

It gets much worse - County and PUD Commissioners clearly colluded to sell public property exclusively to HiTest Sands, Inc. of British Columbia, without public approval or knowledge (required by law). Numerous legal violations have been documented. $250,000 in Washington Grant money was given to the Pend Oreille County Economic Development Council (POEDC) and improperly spent to attack the Kalispel Tribe Class 1 Air Quality Designation Request, engage in secret meetings and withhold public information, refuse public involvement and participation, pay for a Preliminary Air Quality study using bad data, violate the County Growth Management Plan, bill for service not authorized, and abuse the public trust, over and over again.

(Sources - http://tinyurl.com/yckc2gmj - http://tinyurl.com/y7f2bgqq - http://tinyurl.com/ycogddn2 )

What You Can Do - Don't support a toxic industry in this town. Contact everyone you know. Support the legal action against Pend Oreille County, the State of Washington, Bonner County and the State of Idaho. Get involved - before it is too late.

Extensive documentation and investigation into their crimes and collusion, emissions and toxic effects of silicon smelting is downloadable from pendoreillehealth.blogspot.com