On April 27, Steel Dynamics Inc. held an open meeting to discuss its plan for a new copper foundry to be built in New Haven, IN. It began with a short presentation about the site, giving details of the furnace, what routes trucks would use and so on. Afterwards, they opened the floor for questions. Although only a few were informed of this meeting in advance, over 150 residents came to voice their concerns over the pollution this plant will likely produce.
SDI, together with OMNI Source, has run Superior Aluminum since 1998, and has many of its neighbors worried. In April of 2010, a leak of chlorine gas forced those nearby to evacuate their homes for several days while the haz-mat was cleaned up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKcjqH26DoM. At the meeting, questions were asked about the day to day problems, like noxious odors, and blue smoke blowing for miles around the plant. One man even had video footage of this, but the members of the board refused to acknowledge these claims. Instead of attempting to answer the concerns, or giving detail how their new plant would be different then their old one, they pled ignorance of the environmental issues at hand, and couldn’t respond to something they weren’t aware was happening.
They have announced a follow-up meeting on May 17, at 7pm. It will be held at The Orchid – 11508 Lincoln Highway East, New Haven, IN. Their express purpose for this second meeting is to discuss the problems of Superior Aluminum, currently in operation. If SDI claims that it is not aware of the pollution it causes now, then it will be impossible for them to prevent worse contamination of the New Haven area with their new plant. This will have a direct impact on the greater Fort Wayne area, I urge you to come and voice your opinion on this issue.
Steel Dynamics has been busy, they also would like to build a steel mill “on the river” in southern Indiana.
http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=47670
-Les Lesser –
Save Maumee Promoter
May 13, 2011May 13, 2011
0 Comments
Categories: