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KVOS Special: Guemes Island - The View From Anacortes
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- --interests which are outstanding in their country.
- At this point, we are not at liberty
- to be any more specific than this.
- There have been some comments as to why we have picked
- Guemes Island as a plant site.
- I think the answer to that is simply
- that we employed competent engineering personnel to survey
- the area, and this plant site is the one
- which they have recommended to us as being
- the most desirable and most economic for this purpose
- and the only site usable for this purpose in Skagit County.
- The reasons involved are the availability of Bonneville
- Power, which, of course, is available to all
- of the people in the aluminum industry at the same terms
- and rates, the availability of labor, the fact
- that this is an extremely good, protected deep water
- port, and permits low cost material handling, both
- into and out of the plant, and that there
- is sufficient land that is reasonably level
- enough to provide an adequate plant site, high enough
- above anticipated high water so that there
- is no problems on that score, but not
- so high that there are problems of moving material,
- particularly alumina, from large vessels which
- will bring it to the plant site, to the storage facilities and,
- ultimately,
- to the pot rooms themselves.
- The plant is rated at approximately 130,000 tons
- per year of aluminum.
- In various press releases by others,
- figures have been used ranging from 120,000 to 140,000 tons.
- The design capacity is 130,000 tons.
- Historically, every plant has produced somewhat more
- than its design capacity.
- We expect therefore that the actual production
- will be somewhat nearer 140,000 tons, even though we
- are designing for 130,000 tons.
- We're going to use the conventional Hall
- process, the straight electrolytic reduction in which
- alumina is dissolved in a bath of fluoride and cryolite
- and reduced to aluminum with the consumption of carbon
- electrodes in the process.
- [AUDIO OUT]
- Essentially, this breaks down into three parts.
- In the process, of course, the certain relatively small
- but significant amount of materials
- used in the electrolytic bath do get
- into the air in the hoods which are over these pots.
- Our design is such that the pots will be hooded,
- and the amount of air therefore will be relatively small, as
- distinct from other approaches to the problem where the vapors
- and fume get into the air of the pot room in general,
- and therefore you have to process all the air that's
- in the entire operating plant.
- We recycle these materials back into the pots,
- and there is no effluent.
- The only other pollution problem we
- have is the same as any industrial,
- or for that matter, any community, and that
- is ordinary sanitary water, sewage problems of that sort.
- In that area, of course, we propose
- to follow the standards which are set up
- by local and state regulations.
- I believe we are the only company at present--
- although I must admit, I'm sure that as other people's power
- contracts come up for renewal, they
- will have an opportunity to do the same as we have already
- done.
- I believe, however, we're the only company at present that
- has committed in our power contract
- with the Bonneville Power Administration
- to first submit to them for their review and approval
- the detailed method of anti-pollution control
- which we plan to use.
- And secondly, to covenant--
- to continue to use this, to maintain it,
- and to use it effectively.
- If we don't comply with any of these requirements,
- they have no obligation to supply us power.
- And without power, our pots freeze up,
- and I've explained earlier the problem
- that this means to an aluminum company.
- In addition, we are negotiating and are getting to the point
- where we are ready to enter into a contract
- with Washington State University for monitoring
- the air, the soil, the vegetable growth and the animal growth
- in the area for perhaps as much as 18 months, certainly not
- less than a year, before we go into operation in order
- to establish a baseline from which we can make comparisons,
- and then continually to monitor from then on.
- This university, because of the large amount of the aluminum
- industry which exists here in the Northwest,
- is without a doubt the best equipped,
- has done more research and development in this area
- than any other group of which we have knowledge.
- And we're fortunate that in being here, being available,
- and being willing to render this service,
- we can continually keep a check on the performance
- of the system which we propose to install and not
- run the risk of being a bad neighbor through inadvertence
- or failure of equipment, or any other thing that sometimes does
- happen in industrial activity.
- Some comment has also been made as to the size of the plant
- site, the amount of the area which we proposed to use,
- the effect on the island in general.
- The plant site we now have is something
- like a little over 700 acres--
- I believe 714 acres--
- of which the facility you see there, which is a rendering,
- it's done to exact scale, uses about 140 acres.
- The economic size to which this plant might be expanded
- will probably be twice, perhaps three times the capacity.
- But by the nature of the design, the increments
- take a very much smaller amount of area
- than the initial facility, so that we'll
- use going in something less than 20% of our plant site.
- And we propose to use the balance of the area
- to provide a landscape buffering zone
- with the rest of the island.
- The plant, because of the natural contours of the ground,
- will lie in what they refer to-- the engineers refer to--
- [AUDIO OUT]
- Naturally, this breaks down into two parts.
- In the first place, if we don't get a building permit,
- since we intend to be good citizens wherever we may be,
- we can't build on the site for which we've made application.
- We do not have any other alternative sites under option,
- nor are we negotiating for any.
- We have every reason to believe that since our application is
- a normal routine, reasonable application,
- that it will be treated fairly and that approval
- will be given.
- But we certainly have no assurance from anyone
- to that effect.
- Mr. Meissner, Duane Trecker from Channel 12.
- You're from outside of the area.
- I would like your reaction to the effort
- by the people who would like to save the San Juan Islands.
- Well, as you say, I'm from outside the area.
- I've visited here, I've studied the maps,
- and I've seen from the air and, of course,
- from across the water from driving some of the San Juan
- Islands.
- Naturally, since we expect to have 900 people initially,
- and ultimately, we hope to expand and have
- more people employed here, we want
- to do everything we can to continue to make the Pacific
- Northwest as desirable a place in which
- to live and work as we possibly can.
- Without trying to be an expert, it seems to me
- that most of the islands that I've seen from the air
- are essentially not of any interest from the point of view
- of industrialization because they're relatively rugged
- and they just simply don't offer enough flat land in which
- to put an industrial activity.
- Furthermore, they have no utilities at all,
- and bringing utilities to them would
- be tremendously expensive.
- Guemes Island, on the other hand, in Skagit County,
- not in San Juan County, where most of the San Juan Islands
- are, is about the same as Manhattan to Jersey City.
- It's true that it's an island.
- I guess we're on an island now, for that matter.
- But it doesn't seem to me to fall into the same category
- as the other islands.
- Personally, I like to fish and I like to sail
- and I like to get out in the woods,
- and I would certainly do everything
- I could to preserve the rest of the islands--
- the San Juan Islands, as I regard it.
- I don't really know how much access the public has to them.
- In other words, I don't really know
- for whom they're being preserved because they are relatively--
- [APPLAUSE]
- --relatively inaccessible and, I understand, very largely under
- private ownership with therefore limited use
- by the average citizen.
- Dr. Meissner, Don [INAUDIBLE] of KBRC in Mount Vernon.
- Will there be any problems of the company receiving
- enough power to operate this plant on this site?
- We have a power contract from Bonneville Power
- Administration, which is typical of the contracts given
- to the aluminum industry.
- And we have what is termed firm or not interruptable power
- in an adequate amount to take care
- of the operation of this plant.
- We also have the right, sometime in the future when Bonneville
- completes its program of expanding water storage and so
- forth, to amend our contract for additional power
- so that the plant can be expanded.
- At this time, it would not be possible to build a larger
- plant on firm power.
- It would be possible to build a larger plant using the firm
- power we have, which is 240,000 kilowatts plus a percentage
- of interruptable power.
- And frankly, most of the companies in the area
- do use a mixture of firm and interruptable power.
- There is adequate power under contract for this facility.
- Who are the owners of Northwest Aluminum?
- How is it structured?
- Well, as I said at the beginning, basically,
- Bell Intercontinental owns 100% of the stock
- of Northwest Aluminum.
- Bell, to give you a little background,
- has a net worth of something like $54, $55 million.
- In turn, slightly over 50% of its stock
- is owned by the equity corporation,
- which is controlled by American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines.
- The combined net worth of the family
- is of the order of a quarter of a billion dollars.
- The Bell Intercontinental equity and American
- Export-Isbrandtsen, of course, are all public companies.
- We're listed on the New York Stock Exchange,
- equity is listed on the American exchange,
- American Export is on the New York--
- the big board.
- So that everything we do, including all our operating
- figures, our financials and whatnot,
- are a matter of public record, and we'd
- be very happy to provide any reports, balance sheets, and so
- on and so forth of the family.
- And there is also complete disclosure
- of the relationships of the family of companies that exist.
- Dr. Meissner, McDonald again from Channel 4 in Seattle.
- Following under your power and your ownership answers,
- the report that another aluminum company wanted
- to build a plant in Ferndale, but the Northwest got
- the power of commitment from BPA,
- and that those two operations have since
- merged and will build four, not two plotlines on Guemes.
- Is that correct?
- It's the first I've heard about it.
- Dr. Meissner, Reynolds ran into some pretty big lawsuits
- in Oregon over the emission of fluoride.
- Do you anticipate that your operating here
- might face the same fate?
- We do not because of the system that we propose
- to use to prevent the emission of fluorides
- in any significant quantities.
- Dr. Meissner, you mentioned bringing the alumina
- off the barges or cargo ships on a conveyor belt.
- Is this an enclosed system?
- Yes.
- I've seen aluminum, and I know how light and volatile it is.
- It is a closed system.
- And in a closed system--
- Of necessity, it must be, that's right.
- It has to be.
- We'd never get it up to the storage tank otherwise.
- [INAUDIBLE]
- Dr. Meissner, you mentioned there
- will be some improvement of transportation
- so that you can get there.
- Presently we have a small county ferry running to the island.
- Do you anticipate a privately owned company ferry
- or to stake aid in a ferry system or what
- to provide your transportation for employees
- and other equipment?
- We do not anticipate a private transportation facility.
- We assume that either the state or the county
- will adjust the ferry service to accommodate
- the number of people or traffic that will generate.
- Historically, this is the function of state governments
- and county governments.
- Adjust the rate of service?
- Do you mean put on additional vessels
- or run this small boat that much more?
- I really don't know.
- I can't answer that question.
- [AUDIO OUT]
- The answer to that question is that the engineers
- looked at a great many sites.
- I honestly don't know whether they're all in Skagit County
- or not, although I know that I looked at five myself
- after they had narrowed them down.
- And we didn't just zero in on a residential island.
- We made--
- Shannon Point was considered--
- I don't know where that is, frankly.
- I can't answer that question because I
- don't know the location that you're talking about.
- Could you put Mr. Stripe at the podium so we could ask him?
- Surely.
- Please.
- Do you know what Shannon is?
- Would you spell the--
- Mr. Trecker from Channel 12 again.
- Was Ship Harbor Shannon Point Industrial Site
- pointed out to you?
- Well, where is Ship Harbor?
- It's right out near the state ferry dock.
- I don't think by that name it was.
- We saw one by the state ferry dock, yes.
- And we saw the one over by your airport,
- and I guess we saw 10 or 12 in the area.
- But I don't recognize it by that name.
- That name is not--
- Is that the site listed by the Bonneville Power Administration
- in its catalog of industrial sites?
- No.
- May I answer this question, and yours, too, in a sense?
- I think if you'll check the Bonneville Power
- Administration's policy, you'll find that their,
- and I think properly and appropriately, their policy
- is to provide power where industry determines
- it is most economic for industry to locate and not to try
- to direct industry into a particular county, community,
- or state.
- They would be subject to all sorts of pressures
- and criticism if they did attempt
- to use their ability to provide power to favor one area as
- distinct from another.
- Now, I have never seen this survey that you mentioned.
- Bonneville, if it has a survey, as apparently it has,
- were very careful not to attempt to influence us in any way.
- This is a policy that they've gone so far
- to encourage that they have the so-called postage stamp rate.
- [AUDIO OUT]
- --a way to avoid communicating with us,
- talking about such things as maybe you'll have a ferry.
- Isn't it time you told these people something definite?
- This is where they live.
- You're going to take away probably a fifth
- of their island.
- You'll definitely destroy what has now become
- known as their way of life.
- It would change everything for them.
- Isn't it time that you told these people where they stand?
- Mr. Woodgate, I think that from now on, yes,
- there can be and will be and should
- be communications with the peoples
- of the island and Anacortes.
- I don't think there's any question about it.
- As plans materialize, I believe from now on,
- they will be immediately informed.
- But I think you also understand, I'm sure all of you do,
- that when you're deciding on a plant location,
- you do not go around publicizing it.
- There are too many reasons and logical reasons
- that you just do not do that.
- There are too many things that can
- get started in the newspapers that are erroneous,
- probably some of them have happened up here.
- Could I follow up that question and say,
- what do you intend to do to break down
- this unfriendly attitude that now exists?
- I don't think we'll have to break it down.
- There are two or three things.
- One, I think you're wrong in the statistics you've quoted.
- We understand that over half of the residents of the island
- have signed a petition that they would like to have us there.
- I don't know what the count is or anything about it
- other than I have been informed that over half
- have signed such a petition.
- Whether that is true or whether it's now 3/4, I don't know.
- But I do know this, that once they become informed,
- that we are going to be a responsible citizen
- of the island, and in Anacortes that they'll be very happy.
- I don't see any deterioration of their way of life at all.
- If anything, an enhancement of it.
- Yes, sir?
- Duane Trecker of Channel 12, sir.
- Weren't you warned ahead of time that this
- might be like stepping on a hornet's nest to step out
- [INAUDIBLE]?
- I never was.
- I don't know.
- The only thing that I was somewhat apprehensive about
- was that an island just doesn't sound
- like the place for industry.
- And we were somewhat concerned about what
- the financial institutes might think of it,
- but they, after seeing engineering studies,
- are very happy, too, as we think the residents will be happy.