York County solar panel manufacturer disputes ‘worst-case scenario’ report for hazardous chemicals

The University of South Carolina provided a new report on the impacts of a solar panel manufacturing facility in York County, but the company says the study is flawed and they should have been given a chance to answer key questions.

It’s the latest development in the construction of a Silfab plant near Interstate 77. The new report says hazardous chemicals at the plant could have a potential impact on communities more than three miles away.

Fort Mill neighbor Scott Jensen is a part of the Citizens Alliance for Government Integrity, which is a group of neighbors who oppose Silfab’s plant. They paid for the new health risk assessment from health officials at USC.

The new assessment shows a “worst-case scenario” in the event of an incident with hazardous chemicals at Silfab Solar.

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“What is the worst that can happen with these chemicals, so that is important. Yes, safety measures can all fail, but what is the worst case with this place, how many people could be affected?” Jensen said.

On Zoom Thursday, a spokesperson for Silfab said the report is flawed.

“We wish USC would have reached out to Silfab,” said Greg Basden, director of operations with Silfab.

Basden says the report doesn’t take into account the many safety measures the company has put in place to prevent worst-case scenarios with chemicals.

“Their worst case is a whole tank leaking and running out in a whole parking lot. The tank itself is located within a building, if we did have a leak, the acid would be contained in a secondary vessel inside a building,” Basden said.

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Silfab had to submit a similar analysis the the Environmental Protection Agency months ago. The company says there may be some minor variation between the two reports, but that it’s because USC didn’t reach out to understand its operations.

THE REPORTS:

Neighbors, however, say those two reports are very different because they say the company downplayed how this particular community could be impacted.

Silfab says it hopes to start production soon, but didn’t give a specific timeline. The company has already hired 200 employees to work there, and eventually plans to have 800 workers.

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