HiTest Sands Dog & Pony Show

HiTest Sands Dog & Pony Show

My apologies to readers. The HiTest Sands meeting was supposed to be a dog-and-pony show, at least that's what I reasonably expected from a multi-million dollar "company", even a paper one.

Instead, what we got was a regurgitated out-of-focus slide show with missing images, that almost nobody in the audience could actually read. It was just a rip-off slap dash slide presentation taken from their pathetic website that conveys almost nothing of real substance, and did virtually nothing to appease the still rising concerns of the community.

ALL of the gymnasium bleachers, perhaps a 800 - 1000 people or so showed up - and all they received was more of the same bullshit most of us have already seen online.

Apparently, the $325 million dollar HiTest budget did not include a polished presentation of the HiTest Sands silicon smelter or their actual plans for Newport. But it did include a paid consultant named Tim Thompson who did nearly all of the talking for HiTest. Hopefully, the endless reams of bullshit this pipsqueak spouted came pretty cheap, because he did not share anything with the audience that the vast majority of us did not already know.

The only salient fact that was learned is HiTest is planning on just one smokestack to dump toxins over Newport and the surrounding community - for now.

Their plans DO include a 4-subarc furnace which in the words of Jim May, is actually "semi-closed". And the toxic emissions will be as bad as we all think, but allegedly, State Ecology is "on the job" and will ensure that these toxins being emitted into our air, water and soil meet State permitting requirements.

This is a play on word people. There are toxins and amounts that will be permitted to be dumped into your environment and into your lungs.


Like I've told everyone, the process is designed to permit. It is not designed to refuse to permit. It is a paper exercise, based upon modeling protocols (on a plant that has not been built) that are tweaked "just so" so that the smelter will be permitted. And those modeling protocols were based on bad data (which nobody challenged them on).

Now you know why they claim they will have just one smokestack. That's what the modeling protocol is going to require to get the initial air quality permit.

This is no accident, it's by design and it is deliberate. HiTest told the entire audience that they have the best quartz "in the world", and if you haven't guessed it yet - it means it's all coming to Newport to be converted into silicon and toxic emissions. Millions of tons.  Add to that the coal, wood chips, dust and harm this is going to cause.

So if you buy into their brand of bullshit that they are going to keep this area clean, safe, healthy and toxin-free, then you are a fool. They're going to design the plant and gain their toe-hold here, and then go for broke. And this community and the surrounding region is going to suffer horribly for ever allowing these industrialists to destroy this community.

We also learned, at the very last moments of the "meeting" that this new plant design has already been built - in exactly the very same locations that we have already documented as being toxic. That is to say, the toxic emissions in Norway, Germany, Niagara Falls and even Burnsville are indeed what Newport residents and the community can fully expect.

This was all supposed to make us feel better, but somehow, it didn't. Instead, the crowd was growing angrier by the minute. It was clear, early on that this "presentation" was half-baked, half-assed and run by half-wits who care nothing about this area.

But they did promise to assuage our concerns by using the Best Access Control Technology, which is in reality, a buzzword that has a very easy cop-out, it's called "cost-effective". If it is not cost-effective for the plant to use emissions control technology to eliminate or reduce emissions, they won't. And they do not have to. Yep - it's right there in the "permitting process" we've all been told to just trust (read the blog articles found here for this evidence).

In the end, it does not matter. The emissions that we are all concerned about were admitted to. They will be as bad as we think. Even with this new "state-of-the-art" plant design.

Overall, the meeting was a pathetic joke. It's pretty clear our County Commissioners are scared shitless, as they should be (because we're just getting started with these fools). We all learned that yes, there will be toxic levels of air pollutants (TAPS), including sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, along with high levels of particulate matter (PM) and very high levels of carbon dioxide and even carbon monoxide. And yes, there are actually hundreds more pollutants. That is what will be going up the smokestack and out into the open environment - and into your lungs.

There were pleas for community calm and acceptance and "trust the process" where we were once again, "promised" to be allowed to have our voices heard, but what was NOT told to the public was that your comments have virtually NO EFFECT ON THE PERMITTING PROCESS or outcome of this project. That is a fact. They claim they will "listen" and will "address your concerns" but that is not the same thing as responding to your demands that this toxic smelting monstrosity be NOT BUILT HERE. You have no say in this.

It is a play upon words, which Tim Thompson and Jason Tymko were pretty good at. You'd have to think they would be, since as it turns out, Jim May, another cohort of theirs and on the HiTest board as a director has been directly responsible for 19 of these toxic monsters being built in the world, with as it "just so happens", only 2 being built in Canada (by anyone).

So all you knee-jerk reactionary idiots that claim NIMBY (not in my back yard) is our position need to wake up to the fact that HiTest, and Jim May and all these rich industrialists are doing exactly that - NIMBY. And when the question was posed to HiTest on why they don't just build this in Canada, they pretended to "care" about Newport and were really here to "try and help us".

No, they want to dump this beast on top of our heads. And they do not care how they do it either, as evidenced by the lies they publicly pronounced (such as their claims about water usage). It doesn't matter to them and they're lying through their teeth. It's cheap power and cheap land that brought these industrialists here and complicit public officials at the County and PUD. This has been clearly documented.

Supposedly, there are going to be "spin-off" jobs resulting from industrializing the town, which actually makes almost no sense whatsoever. What they didn't bother to mention is these "other people" who do not directly work for HiTest (the latest number is just 130) is these people already have jobs, so there won't be anywhere near the new jobs created as they claim.

In order for this claim to be true, entirely new local businesses would have be created, which is very unlikely to happen. More lies.

Oh, as noted in past blog entry, only 4% of the emissions will escape and go up the smokestack. 

Doesn't sound too bad, right? This is an industry standard number by the way. But it is enough to account for all of the toxins, pollutants and even heavy metals that will escape into the environment. May claimed that no heavy metals would be released, but he's lying here too. Emissions from silicon smelters HAVE been measured for these compounds and they do get released into the environment.

Oddly, we've all heard about how we "can't compare other silicon smelters to the Newport smelter" only to find out that is exactly what we should be doing, because it is what they intend to build.

Overall, this was as we have all come to expect, a half-assed, poorly designed "presentation" regurgitating the same crap we've all already seen - and proven to be false. But it was a chance to gauge this "company" (it's not a real company, it's a handful of investors who are hiring everything out) and their great big, gigantic gamble that they're going to make another killing on another small town. 

And yes, that is a play upon words, because when one asthmatic sufferer asked HiTest, "Who is going to be responsible for my death?" because she already knows that this will kill her (only the tiniest amount of sulfur dioxide will lead to her death, she used a single firecracker for her example), she did not get an answer from HiTest.

Instead, their consultant babbled a meaningless answer which was no answer at all, just a dance around the question (something oft-repeated by these people, they could not give clear answers to almost anything) and more avoidance of responsibility.

It was pretty damn clear that when people die because of this toxic monstrosity, they will not be held accountable. Ever. That's what insurance is for, right?

HiTest has no bond, no surety, no financial guarantees that Newport and the community will not be left high and dry should "something go wrong". Which leaves me to believe that we are not dealing with competent, caring, or capable people here at all.

We're dealing with greedy industrialist who are seeking to exploit this region for their own gains and profits.

They won't allow any profit sharing either, this revealed right away that this was really only all about them and how much money they intend to make.

The majority of the audience saw right through this phoniness, but there where a few that apparently didn't. It was hard to gauge the actual "for" and "against" (I wish someone would have taken a quick raised hand vote) but I'd have to estimate that it was about 75% against and 25% for the smelter.

Still not enough. We need to strive for 100% against. We cannot allow this monstrosity to be built here under any conditions, promises or "assurances". It's not worth it, and never will be.