By Rick Forgione<br><a href="mailto:forgioner@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Rick</a>
Like a lot of North End residents, Willie Dunn is excited to hear 500 jobs will be coming back to the area with the reopening of the old Globe Metallurgical plant on Highland Avenue.
That doesn’t mean he or his neighbors are welcoming the industrial facility back with open arms.
“I think there’s concern from people living in the area who were exposed to gritty material when that plant was in operation,” said Dunn, executive director of the Highland Community Revitalization Committee. “I’ve already heard from many residents asking if that’s going to be a problem again.”
Specifically, residents are concerned about breathing in any hazardous material or residue, he said.
Dunn was able to address that question with representatives from Globe Metallurgical during an informational presentation Wednesday at the Niagara Falls Planning Board meeting. He was assured steps are being taken involving the installation and creation of better filtering systems that will reduce — if not eliminate — the amount of residue and emissions from the plant once it reopens by the end of the year.
“The goal is to make this a cleaner operation than perhaps it had been in the past,” said Adam S. Walters, a partner with Phillips Lytle LLP, which is representing Globe Metallurgical.
Dunn left the meeting not completely satisfied, however, and vowed to keep a close watch as the project moves forward.
One of the world’s largest producers of metallurgical and chemical-grade silicon metal and silicon-based specialty alloys, Globe announced in May plans to reopen and expand production at its old plant on Highland Avenue, which closed down production and moved to Ohio in 2003.
The $60 million investment would create 500 “green collar” jobs, most of which will be tied to the construction of a new 100,000-square-foot facility by Solsil, Inc., a subsidiary of Globe that refines silicon metal to create solar panels.
Skip Davis, vice president of operations for Globe, said the company is pleased to restart operations in the Falls, pointing out the existing facilities and equipment meant a faster turnaround. He added Globe is working with the city to hire local residents to fill the “semi-skill” positions.
The first phase of the project consists of restarting operations at an existing building, creating about 100 jobs, Walters said. Globe and Solsil will then submit a site plan to the planning board for permission to build the new facility sometime this fall.
Globe officials said the expansion could be operational by 2011 and will turn out 4,000 tons of solar-grade silicon per year, enough to produce 500 megawatts of solar power.
