Lincoln Awaits Hearing on Aluminum-Smelting Project

Although he reminded the public and the council about the public hearing next Monday on a planned aluminum-smelting project near the city, Lincoln Mayor Henry Buchanan chose to say little when interviewed about his opinions on the proposal.

A "draft minor air source permit" already has been approved by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality for the proposed project, to be located about two miles south of Lincoln, but the mayor recently asked for a public hearing on the matter because of concerns relayed to him.

The hearing will be from 6-8 p.m. Monday at the Lincoln Community Building. It will be a chance for the community to ask questions of the proposed owners and operators, as well as get answers from the DEQ.

Odor from the operation, traffic and contamination of the nearby Bush Creek are concerns residents near the proposed plant have voiced to Buchanan, he said Monday night.

The owner of the proposed project is Tom Smith, who also owns Roll Off Service of Springdale. The proposed aluminum-smelting operation would basically recycle large pieces of aluminum, and is called Bush Valley Recycling Inc.

It specifically would reclaim aluminum from scrap material such as gutters, windows and siding, as well as automotive parts, and use a sweat furnace, which reclaims aluminum mixed with iron and other metals.

The main emissions, said David Harsh, project manager the Bush Valley, will be diesel burned to heat the furnace.

Responding to concerns about odor, Harsh said in an interview Monday that the main smell will be exhaust coming out of a stack. He compared it to the smell of truck diesel fuel, but said people should not be able to smell it from very far away.

He said the public meeting is welcome because it will give a chance for a third party such as DEQ to inform the community about the project. "It gives them a chance to tell what they know, so all questions are out in the open," Harsh said, adding that he believes the hearing will clear up some of the concerns that the people have.

He said the proposed aluminum-smelting operation may be four to six months from opening; the company is working with the DEQ to obtain a stormwater permit for run-off concerns and will get that before opening.

Another concern is traffic, but Harsh said there will only be about two to three trucks traveling in the area a day.

He also said that only about six comments were sent to the department during the public comment period on the permit. He has sent informational brochures about the project to those people and several others.

He said the benefit of the project is to recycle some of the material or debris gathered from demolition sites. Other sources for the material will include commercial recycling centers. - Northwest Arkansas Times