Environmental claims filed against solar manufacturer

MOSES LAKE, USA: Property owner Victor C. Jansen and the environmental association RECisEXCEPTIONAL filed a citizen suit in the United States district court in Spokane, Washington. The lawsuit seeks to halt construction and start-up of the $688 million "Silicon IV" chemical plant for failure to comply with safety and environmental requirements under the federal Clean Air Act.

The lawsuit alleges a pervasive history of permit violations, chemical releases, fires, and accidents at the industrial complex owned and operated by REC Silicon, a division of Norwegian energy giant, Renewable Energy Corp. ASA. Also named in the suit is the Washington State Department of Ecology, which is the agency charged with implementing and enforcing the Clean Air Act in Washington.

According to Jansen, REC struck a deal with Washington State regulators to expand its sprawling industrial complex in Moses Lake without the required environmental permits.

In internal correspondence obtained by the plaintiffs under the state public records act, a former Ecology director advised senior members of Governor Christine Gregoire's staff and the management team in Ecology's air permitting program that he had privately assured REC Silicon executives that Ecology would not take enforcement action against REC even if it chose to construct Silicon IV illegally without the required design review or permits.

The Clean Air Act allows affected citizens and organizations to act as private attorney generals and file suit against polluters when the regulatory agencies violate the law or refuse to act. The Clean Air Act gives federal courts the power to halt construction, prohibit start-up, and issue daily fines up to $32,500 per day for repeated or on-going violations.

The lawsuit alleges that REC's Silicon III plant was also built without the required permits and routinely violates standards for particulate emissions and for toxic and hazardous substances like silane gas and hydrogen chloride (HCl).

In addition to the lawsuit, Jansen and RECisEXCEPTIONAL are considering whether to formally challenge the $154.8 million tax credit awarded to REC in January by the
Obama administration as part of the stimulus funds earmarked for "green" manufacturing.

"I doubt the federal government knew that REC was building Silicon IV in violation of the Clean Air Act," said Jansen. "We need to take a hard look at why REC got such a large award when so many deserving US companies were left out."