A clash between business proponents and environmental advocates is underway about a proposed copper smelting plant in south Augusta.
In November 2021, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced that Aurubis, the German-based one of the leading recyclers of copper, precious metals and non-ferrous materials will be opening a copper smelting plant in south Augusta. Groundbreaking is set for June 17.
The Savannah Riverkeeper has issued a statement decrying the proposed smelting operation.
“Our kids don’t need it, the south Augusta community doesn’t need it, and Augusta’s future doesn’t need known polluters like Aurubis as our neighbors,” the statement read.
However, city leaders say the plant is a “vital project” for Augusta, adding that Aurubis has an excellent track record with the Environmental Protection Agency. The company also operates a factory in Buffalo, N.Y. Any talk about the plant destroying the air quality in Augusta is simply fear mongering by people who are not scientists, they said.
More: German company plans $340 million recycling and smelting operation
“The regulations in Europe are far stricter than those in the states, and Aurubis is in full compliance with European law and has won compliance awards from our EPA,” according to Cal Wray, executive director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority
According to the Kemp’s office, the $340 million planned facility on Valencia Way near the Starbucks Soluble will bring 150 jobs to the area. Kemp touted that the facility will be state of the art and the first of its kind in the United States.
Copper has become an extremely valuable metallic element that, due to its excellent electrical conductivity, is used in virtually every electronic component made today, from televisions and smart phones to automobiles and refrigerators.
Copper is so valuable that copper thievery has become a threat to U.S. critical infrastructure, according to the FBI. Thieves target electrical substations, cellular towers, telephone land lines, railroads, water wells, construction sites, and vacant homes for lucrative profits. Homeowners in some areas place protective cages over their air conditioning equipment to thwart copper thieves.
While copper might be the metal that makes the world go around, the smelting process has always been a dirty business with factories belching out black, acrid smoke into the air.
High heat furnaces are used to separate the copper ore from other elements present in the recycled material. In the past, the furnaces would release tons of chemical byproducts into the atmosphere. At least 30 known chemicals are released in the process along with slag material such as lead and mercury.
The refining process also creates tons of hazardous wastewater that can make it into the groundwater if not handled correctly.
Whereas the plants of the past choked industrial cities with smog, the modern methods of smelting are far cleaner and greener, according to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and do not pollute the environment to any hazardous level and dumping untreated contaminated water is illegal.
Upon hearing the news of the new plant being announced, Savannah Riverkeeper began the process of filing a complaint comment with the state agency.
According to Tonya Bonitatibus, executive director of Savannah Riverkeeper, although Augusta’s economy long ago lost most of its industrial-based might with the closure of textile and other manufacturing sites, large swaths of land throughout Richmond County remain contaminated from years of contact with heavy metals and chemical byproducts.
“We have transitioned to an economy based on cyber technology, but the factories of the past have left contamination we are still having to deal with today. I just don’t know why anyone would want to take a step backward and allow a known polluter to operate here,” Bonitatibus said.
Bonitatibus cites the American Lung Association as ranking Augusta 28th worse in the nation for air quality and says she uncovered a list of federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations filed against Aurubis over its operations in Buffalo.
However, Wray, executive director of the Augusta Economic Development Authority, begs to differ, saying that while Augusta has become a cyber mecca, copper is the element that drives cyber. Without copper, there is no cyber.
Wray traveled to Germany last November and toured Aurubis’ smelting factory in that country. According to Wray, neighbors of that particular plant in Hamburg would never even know they lived near a smelting operation if it weren’t for the sign out front.
The Augusta plant will create 150 jobs initially. Future phases will employ hundreds more and will help south Augusta recover from decades of negative growth, he said..
“Savannah Riverkeeper are not the experts. The EPA are the experts, and they have vetted Aurubis and will continue to monitor them for compliance. We need to listen to the experts, and I know that Aurubis is spending $60 million on pollution abatement equipment,” Wray said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
