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Saturday, August 13, 2011
Environment - New Haven copper plant plans gathering opposition
Some quotes from a long story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, reported by Vivian Sade:
Some neighbors of a proposed copper wire plant in New Haven are worried that air quality will be further diminished.Monday is the deadline to register comments about the air quality permit application for the new SDI La Farga stationary copper rod production plant in New Haven. The Indiana Department of Environmental Management will review all submissions relevant to the application before deciding on whether to grant the air quality permit.
The location of the new plant is under fire by some because neighbors have been complaining for years about the emissions from an adjacent plant, OmniSource Superior Aluminum, which is owned by the same company – Steel Dynamics Inc.
“We’ve been battling the effects of poor air quality for years with Superior Aluminum,” said Don Markley, who lives on Harper Road, just more than a mile from the site. “And no one really wants to hear what we have to say.” * * *
The proposed 85,000-square-foot factory will use recycled copper to manufacture wire rods, and company officials have said the $39 million investment will create 35 jobs.
Allen County Council members approved tax breaks on both equipment and real estate in April, and SDI officials hosted the first of two public meetings for nearby residents the following week.
According to Markley and two other neighbors, Renee and Sam Spieth, more than 200 people showed up.
Some brought photos of their homes and outbuildings – showing pitted indentations and deterioration – that they said were caused by the emissions released by Superior Aluminum over the years.
“That’s why we are so upset,” Renee Spieth said. “The meetings were slick presentations for politicians. We don’t care that there’s going to be a pond and landscaping and only one smokestack.
“We just want to know what’s coming out of that smokestack.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 13, 2011 04:52 PM
Posted to Environment