Consider hexane issue with Platinum Crush

Attention: Residents of Storm Lake and Alta. As newspaper readers, you are
probably aware of the proposed rezoning of agricultural land just south of Lake
Creek to industrial so that a soybean crushing plant could be constructed there.
You may have heard about our protests based on noise, odor, sight pollution,
increased truck traffic, hazardous intersections, and the fact that such rezoning
is contrary to the county’s comprehensive plan. It may seem that those issues
 are not important to you.

We have now discovered a new issue that should be important to you. In order 
to strip the oil from the soybeans, hexane, a toxic chemical, is injected into the
mix. Later, the hexane is stripped from the oil so that it can be recycled, but a
certain portion of it has been vaporized and will escape into the air. The EPA 
has established certain air quality standards that purport to limit the quantity of
 hexane that goes out into the air but we need to remember that this is a process
 that will go on 24 hours a day. We also need to recognize that despite the best 
intentions of industry, discharge limits are exceeded from time to time.

With prevailing winds from the southwest, those hexane vapors will be carried 
to the north and east, directly towards the lake and the three schools on the west 
edge of Storm Lake. For aquatic life in the lake, the hexane can be toxic. For
 humans, including our school children, it can cause various temporary illnesses 
if exposed in small quantities but if the exposure is greater, it can cause 
permanent nerve damage. With this sort of risk, it seems very unwise to permit
 the plant to locate in the proposed location. We need to anticipate the
unexpected!

If you agree, it is imperative that you contact the county supervisors this weekend
 because they propose to vote for the third and final time this next Tuesday on
 the rezoning ordinance. To date, the supervisors have told us that our
objections will somehow be worked out down the road, but once the land is 
rezoned, the supervisors will have lost their leverage to put conditions on the
use of the land.