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I am a citizen of Blanchard and have been working with citizens of Newport, Wash., to stop the construction of a silicon smelter to be owned and operated by Hi Test Sands.

We have collected information from other silicon smelters in Iceland, Europe and here in the United States. We are told that a lung condition called silicosis, which is a former of cancer, becomes prevalent to those who live within a 130-mie radius of a silicon smelter. Not only the air becomes polluted but also the water and the land itself. Hi Test Sands officials say the will bring in prosperity to the small community of Newport, but at what cost? How much money brought into the community justifies allowing a carcinogen to come in?

What keeps us coming together to persuade Hi Test Sands to go away is that we do not wish to allow a polluting industrial company, let alone a Canadian one such as Hi Test Sands, to force their way into this area. If Hi Test Sands wins and builds their smelter, other forms of industry will come possibly with other forms of pollution.

Those of us who live in this beautiful area need to stand against those who would have us believe that their pollution of this area, in order to make a large sum of money, is better for us all.

STEVE McCONNELL

Blanchard