Eugene weekly., July 31, 2008, Page 13, Image 13

Hynix paid about $3.5 million in
systems development charges for its plant.
But those SDCs also reimburse only a
fraction of the real cost of growth. The
SDCs did not pay anything for schools or
fi re protection, for example.
Many growth costs aren’t paid directly.
Instead they’re paid through reduced services,
traffi c congestion and other costs to existing
residents. Recognizing this and the tax impact
of growth, surveys have repeatedly shown
that Eugene citizens oppose growth.
There’s also evidence that Hynix’s big
tax breaks, not offered to other people
creating equally valuable jobs locally,
created a taxpayer backlash. Lane County
was a leading defender of the corporate
breaks against efforts to reduce them to
help fund schools and other services.
During the same decade, the county lost
a dozen tax votes, with many asking why
they should pay taxes if Hynix was getting
so much for free.
WAS IT WORTH IT?
Defenders of the Hynix subsidies
include the local Metro Partnership business
recruiting association and The Register-
Guard. The R-G has a member of its owning
Baker family on the Partnership board and
itself received a half-million dollars in tax
breaks for a luxury apartment building
downtown. Without offering evidence, the
subsidy supporters take it on faith that the
tax breaks cost nothing because without
them Hynix wouldn’t have come.
But tax break critics argue that’s not
reality. They say tax breaks play only a
small part in location decisions based
mostly on labor, transportation, materials,
utilities, market access, quality of life and
other business factors.
“The real issues in site location —
infrastructure, quality workforce, and quality
of life — need the investments that are
lost when funds go to tax breaks,” Chuck
Sheketoff, director of the Oregon Center for
Public Policy wrote on a BlueOregon.com
blog post in 2005.
Jack Roberts, head of the Metro
Partnership and a former Republican state
labor commissioner who opposed increasing
the minimum wage, shot back with a post
arguing Hynix wouldn’t have come without
the break and calling Sheketoff “snide.”
A study by the very state agency that
recruited Hynix supports Sheketoff. The
extensive 1993 review of tax break programs
found “little evidence that they are effective
in promoting economic development.”
HEALTHIER WITHOUT HYNIX
IS THE LOSS OF THE SEMICONDUCTOR PLANT A GAIN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT?
BY CAMILLA MORTENSEN
T
he loss of jobs and hit to Lane County’s economy are
huge problems for the people whose livelihoods
are affected by Hynix’s impending shutdown, but
there may be environmental upsides to the computer
memory chip manufacturer’s pulling out of Eugene,
from less road congestion to fewer toxic chemicals
entering into our fragile wetlands ecosystem —
as long as Hynix cleans up after itself.
Hynix used a river of toxic chemicals to
make its chips and the future disposition
of the chemicals still on site is the current
toxic question. Hynix reported using
9.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals
last year under the city’s Toxics Right-
to-Know law. That’s almost half the
total toxic chemicals reported used in Eugene in 2007 from all
facilities. At the end of the year, Hynix reported 258,174 lbs of
toxic chemicals stored on site.
What will happen to all those chemicals and their storage
facilities when Hynix fi nally shuts its doors? There has been talk
of retooling the plant for other purposes, but no matter what
happens, Hynix’s chemicals must be dealt with.
Faye Forhan of the Eugene Fire Marshall’s offi ce says that
when the facility closes permanently, the dismantling will be
conducted under the requirements of the International Fire Code.
Hynix will have to “submit a facility closure plan specifi cally
explaining how they’re going to terminate the use of the
chemicals,” says Forhan. The chemicals must be “transported,
disposed or reused in a manner that eliminates the need for
further maintenance and any threat to public health and safety,”
according to the International Fire Code.
“The facility at this point is just saying ‘we’re stopping
production’” says Forhan. “When the facility closes, they’ll have
to submit a plan.” The Fire Code says that the plan must be
submitted 30 days before permanent closure.
It’s unclear if the city will thoroughly inspect the plant to insure
proper chemical disposal or what it will do if Hynix offi cials
leave for Korea without cleaning up. The city apparently has not
required Hynix to post a cleanup bond.
Other semiconductor plants in the past such as Fairchild
Semiconductor in California did not conduct adequate cleanup
of its toxic chemicals and became Superfund cleanup sites. In
fact California’s Silicon Valley, once silicon-chip central, became
the home to the most Superfund sites on the EPA’s Priorities List
in the 1980s.
When Hynix (then Hyundai) built in the West Eugene
Enterprise Zone, the construction of the corporation fi lled in
about 10.4 acres of wetlands. Regulations required Hynix to
restore or enhance about twice as many acres as it destroyed.
But according to the EPA, it can take 20 years for a restored
wetland to even come close to its natural state, though the city
only requires monitoring for fi ve years.
According to the Hynix-Eugene website, “Black tail deer,
rabbit [sic], nutria and several species of birds can be seen
daily on and around the Hynix campus.” Nutria are a non-
native species and actually quite damaging to Eugene’s
fragile wetlands, and local environmentalists are less
concerned with protecting the local rabbits and
more focused on the endangered species that have
habitat close to the soon-defunct Hynix plant.
When Hynix applied to increase its toxic
output last year, many Eugeneans were
concerned about its effect on human health
as well as on the nearby endangered plant
and animal species.
Hynix, according to the Eugene
Toxics Right-to-Know database, used
721,754 pounds of hydrofl uoric acid
in 2007, and just last year received a
permit to release 5 tons of the chemical as hydrogen fl uoride
into the air.
Hydrofl uoric acid is listed by Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention as a possible agent for use in chemical terrorism. Acute
exposure can cause death from cardiac or respiratory failure,
according to the EPA. Chronic inhalation has resulted in “irritation
and congestion of the nose, throat and bronchi at low levels.”
The area around Hynix is the primary home of Fender’s
blue butterfl y, an endangered species that uses Kincaid’s lupine
as its food source. It is also home to endangered Bradshaw’s
lomatium and the Willamette daisy. When Hynix applied for its
permit to increase its release of acid, UO chemistry professor
Paul Engelking pointed out that while studies had been done on
the effects of hydrogen fl uoride on human health, its effects upon
plants had not been adequately studied. Despite hundreds of
public comments against the increased release, Lane Regional
Air Regulation Authority granted the permit.
Hynix fl ushed as much sewage as a small town. Ron Morrow
of the Metropolitan Wastewater Management Commission says
that Hynix pre-treated its wastewater on site and that Hynix
“underwent extensive testing” and did “extremely well at meeting
requirements” for its wastewater. Hynix put out “just under two
million gallons of wastewater a day” and never failed any of its
yearly treatability studies, says Morrow. After pre-treatment, the
wastewater fl owed into the same treatment system as the rest of
Eugene’s wastewater and then into the Willamette River.
Eugene Water and Electric Board staffer Ron Mitchell says that
Hynix was Eugene’s largest consumer of water and the second
largest consumer of electricity (second only to Weyerhauser). Hynix
used enough electricity to power 13,700 residential customers,
says Mitchell.
Now that Hynix is leaving, its energy and water use will no
longer be an issue. Nor will Eugene’s streets and highways be
under as much demand by hundreds of Hynix commuters, which
could have an impact on current west Eugene transportation
corridor planning if new employment is not created at the
facility. But the largest unresolved environmental issue could be
the toxic chemicals that were used in years of memory chip
ew
manufacturing.
big
Need a little help with a
idea for your neighborhood?
The City of Eugene’s Neighborhood
Matching Grants program is accepting
proposals for community improvement projects
such as parks, playgrounds, gardens or events.
Your group provides half of the cash/materials/labor
and the City will match it.
Grant packets are now available at www.eugene-or.gov/matching grants,
at City libraries, community centers, and the Atrium Building at 99 W. 10th Ave.
Want to learn more? Contact Michael Kinnison, City Neighborhood Services,
at 682-5009 or attend an information session at the Downtown library on
August 7 or September 9 at 6 p.m.; August 9 or September 13 at 1 p.m.
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EUGENE WEEKLY JULY 31, 2008 13