The Moral Choice

Back in October, I broke a story about how Newport area residents were already dumping houses on the market in response to the proposed silicon smelter being located here.

A follow up check reveals some scary developments:

• Oldtown (zoom in to see all the homes listed)
• Newport (zoom in to see all the homes listed)
• Priest River (you know what to do)

There are other sources, such as Coldwell Banker and John Scott (local real estate agencies), but I'm not in the habit of giving them a free promotion, so you can look them up yourself if you are so inclined.

What you will find is HiTest Sands has already done MASSIVE damage to the real estate market in this entire area. Or rather, our County and PUD Commissioners have, by assisting and enabling HiTest Sands (multiple violations of law have occurred, but the primary point is none of these people had to help HiTest, but they did).

And they're not even here yet. They're like a deadly ghost, spooking the town and creeping around, everybody is scared, upset and concerned.

Amazing, isn't it? Our officials are worried about jobs and employment and they're already running people off who have lived here for decades. Others are more recent arrivals and they're trying to leave too.

And that "housing shortage" line of bullshit they told everyone about? Where 150 or 200 new houses were going to be needed? More lies. There are going to be plenty of houses, an abundance of houses available for the imported workers to fill up.

Which brings me to the "jobs" they're trying to promise. More dishonesty. More deception. This is their "gold standard" by the way, which everything else, including toxic emissions is being measured against. Jobs or emissions? Well, how about both?

Supposedly, there will be 150 new jobs, but the vast majority will be going to people who do not live here, due to the skilled requirements for employment. They claim that they'll hire a few high school graduates, and those that they prefer will actually have a two-year degree, but here's what will happen (because it is what always happens):

Low skilled, dangerous, dirty, toxic and undesirable positions will go to the lowest skilled, lowest educated. These will be local people for the most part. These people will hate their shifts and the work that they do, and there will be high turn-over.

The second tier jobs will only be slightly better, employing people that have more experience, a better work history and a better education. They'll still be working in a toxic smeltering plant, which will expose them to dust and fugitive emissions, which are higher in the plant (due to the concentrations inside a building) then outside the plant.

Both groups will experience a rising tide of work-related issues and illness, especially if this is projected forward several years from now. Compensation will be commensurate with your ability to withstand the working conditions and the associated health risks - and the requirement of non-disclosure (keeping your mouth shut when you see work or health or environmental violations). This is a common practice and requirement in toxic industries.

The next tier jobs will be again, slightly better, offering better pay and incentives to work in a toxic smeltering plant. And that is the real problem for every worker - they're contributing to their own health issues by choosing to work there (and yes, it is a choice, nobody has to work there) and by helping pollute the town and surrounding environment.

Above this tier, well, I won't even bother.

All of these people are "enablers", just like our corrupt Commissioners at the PUD and County, who have actively conspired to enable HiTest to show up here and industrialize this town. Unfortunately for the grunt workers and those that choose to be employed by HiTest Sands, you'll also find yourself in that unenviable position of enabling HiTest to destroy your town.

I get that. But it is important that those that want to work there, and those that support a toxic smelter get it too. In effect, they are exchanging their labor and their life for an ever-increasing risk of health issues by being anywhere near a smeltering plant, including this one.

We all just learned that it will have the same toxic emissions as the very same ones we've already singled out as being dangerous. So there is no excuse for the town's residents and the employees to "not know" if they are willing to exercise even a modicum of due diligence.

Hopefully they will - and refuse to work there. The promise of employment is a Faustian bargain, you're going to "pay" for this one way or another. We already know what this is, because the issues of silicosis, COPD and cancer are pretty well known - in the silicon industry.

So if you are willing to risk your life, your future and your family then go ahead. It is after all, your business what you do with yourself. But what is not your business, nor your right, nor the right of our Commissioners, or the right of HiTest Sands is to risk the lives and futures of everyone else. 

No company has the "right" to destroy the lives of others, or destroy the environment.  I'm well aware that this is "allowed by law", but this post is not about the law, but about the moral responsibility we all must share. HiTest Sands does not share this moral responsibility and has no intention of doing so. But we do - because we live here, and we are accountable to our neighbors and our town and most of all, our families.

They aren't accountable, they have no stake in this, no family, no roots, no community connections, nothing but a pile of money - and they told us at the meeting that they won't be held accountable either. If you missed that part, watch the video again. No performance bond. No surety. Oh, they'll get insurance, but that's not the same thing. They're accountable only to their stockholders, which is about 5 investors right now, as far as I can tell. They're using Newport to get richer - by exploiting this community.

So this entire town, and the surrounding community must now face a brutal choice. Do we accept the promise of a few jobs while abdicating our moral responsibilities to ourselves, our neighbors and our community? Or do we reject this suicidal path and demand something better for us all?

Think this through very carefully. If HiTest Sands is allowed to build here, this town will be lost to industry. It will also be lost to environmental pollutants. We will lose our tranquility, peace, tourism and traffic levels.

All those pollutants and emissions will permeate a larger and larger region, year by year, accumulating their affects on air, water, soil, forests and the quality of life here for every living being (even the trees). All in exchange for a few jobs (with high turnover, which is another way of saying more and more workers will be exposed).

That's what the Commissioners claim we want. Is it? To poison our own children as slaves in a smeltering factory?

Need I say it? That's insane. That is the action of insane people doing insane things.

The quest for profits, for production, for "development" often requires a moral choice - do we do this, or not? Are we clear on why we are doing this, or is this issue really being distorted by propaganda? What will the future of this town be if we ever allow this to happen?

The vast majority of people have already realized that this is the path of insanity. We're all asking ourselves What in God's name are these people thinking? And the only answer we're being given is that they are trying to bring about a few jobs.

But we're smart enough to understand already that this isn't what we need, it isn't what we want and it will actually make our local situation worse then it already is.

The flight of homeowners from this area is an early warning sign. We can expect the same from local businesses who will chose to leave this area too (several have already promised to do so).

So let me ask the obvious question - What jobs? What opportunities will be benefiting this community?

All I see is people wanting to ESCAPE. Including me. I'll be leaving myself. And taking family, money and skills with me. Nobody wants to live near a smelter. Or anywhere around it.

Time to escalate the "discussion" people. There is a clear moral choice here, and it is being ignored because our refusal is not a part of the "process" they're following. Don't fall for the lies that contributing "your comments" will have any effect - in reality, this is nearly meaningless (you get to vent, they get to keep ignoring us).

Residents are not a part of this process - the decision to permit is not yours to make (which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but there it is).

If NO is your answer to the smelter, then it has to be resolute, firm, uncompromising and heard.

There is a saying that everybody knows, "Over my dead body". This is the only path forward from here, because that's actually what at stake. Kill me now or kill me later, it is the same thing. But only one of these has a chance at stopping this, and the other accepts community defeat.

The failure to understand the context, and the moral responsibility and the rights of citizens is where we are today. Most of us just want to escape if we can, but that solves nothing and by abdicating our responsibilities here, we will be admitting to and accepting community defeat.

There is another choice. We stand and we fight. Whatever it takes. They do not have the right to do this like they seem to think. We have a moral obligation and a moral choice in this matter. We did not bring this fight to our doors, they did. So now they must accept the consequences of an enraged and united community that will not be pushed out to make room for a toxic industry.

Not here, not now, not ever.