Christine Wimer, the president of the Jefferson Foundation, didn’t necessarily agree: “We don’t have enough information to determine if it is or not,” she said. “That will result in about a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the melting process, which is pretty significant.”Īsked if Rockwool’s conversion was a step in the right direction, Dr. “The melting furnace that we’re installing to melt the stones is fuel-flexible, and it’s a proprietary technology to Rockwool, in that it can burn both coal and natural gas,” said Zarin. In July 2020, Rockwool announced it was changing the fuel it would use - converting burning coal to natural gas, in the operation of its furnace. The $6 billion cost of building the Shoreham plant was eventually passed along to customers - many of whom had opposed the reactor. After protests spurred by the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl disasters, and involvement by New York Gov. The Shoreham nuclear boiling water reactor was built adjacent to Long Island Sound, between 19. “Similar to the completely finished, but now abandoned Shoreham nuclear plant outside New York City, the risk of building a plant with a fundamental fatal flaw cannot be accepted by the community at risk,” she said. “There are still many challenges to the permitting process that could delay or derail its opening,” said Billie Garde, an officer on the foundation’s board.Īnd even when the factory opens, the group plans to continue its fight, she said. Representatives with the Jefferson County Foundation, the group that has led much of the opposition to the project, suggested the factory’s opening is still not a done deal. “We don’t believe that the lawsuits have any particular merit, but of course that’s what we have courts for.” “Of course it’s within folks’ rights to file lawsuits,” said Zarin. With the exception of the chimney stacks, Zarin said the exterior of the factory is complete, and equipment, including the melting furnace, is being delivered and installed.Īs the company moves toward opening the factory, Zarin knows legal challenges will likely continue, even after Rockwool products are being shipped to customers. “I think it’s clear that there’s still a core of local folks who are not happy about the project,” Michael Zarin, Rockwool’s vice president of group communications, told WTOP. Rockwool says the Jefferson County factory will be in production in the first half of 2021, melting basalt rocks into molten lava, which is spun into a cotton-candy-like fiber, used in home and business insulation. The chimney stacks are still to come, but heavy equipment that will melt rocks is being installed.Įmployees for the factory are being hired and trained, in educational settings and other Rockwool facilities. More than two years after residents in Jefferson County, West Virginia, learned ground had been broken in a former orchard for the construction of a 24-hour-a-day factory - and despite heated opposition and several legal challenges - the Rockwool insulation factory will soon open.ĭespite assurances from Trent Ogilvie, the president of Rockwool’s insulation business in North America, that the factory would not be harmful to health or the environment, opponents launched a passionate attempt to stop the factory from being built on the site of the former Jefferson Orchards, across Route 9 from North Jefferson Elementary School.ĭuring its groundbreaking, Rockwool projected its plant would be operating in October 2020, which has now come and gone.īut while the coronavirus pandemic has slightly slowed progress, construction of the factory has continued, and is almost finished. The Rockwool factory in Ranson, West Virginia is nearing completion. Business & Finance Click to expand menu.
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