Foxconn receives air permits from the Wisconsin DNR for planned Mount Pleasant facility

MADISON - The state Department of Natural Resources granted air permits Tuesday for Foxconn Technology Group's planned massive manufacturing facility, setting the stage for a major new source of smog in southeastern Wisconsin.

Four air permits were issued to the Taiwan-based technology giant for its Mount Pleasant plant, which is to employ up to 13,000 people to make liquid crystal display panels, according to the DNR.

The company issued a statement that said it was committed to complying with environmental laws and minimizing the plant's effects on air quality.

"Foxconn believes that protecting the environment is a fundamental responsibility for Foxconn as a sustainable business and a global industry leader," the company's statement said.

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The company was expected to get the permits because Gov. Scott Walker has made the $10 billion facility a top priority. The company is receiving about $4 billion in assistance from state and local taxpayers, with most of the money coming from an incentive package negotiated by Walker.

DNR spokesman Jim Dick said the agency used the same process for reviewing and issuing the permits as it would for anyone else.

Emissions from the company’s operations in Mount Pleasant would rank among the highest in southeastern Wisconsin for pollutants that create smog, or ozone pollution, state documents show.

Environmental groups have expressed concern about the Foxconn plant because smog poses a threat to health, especially for the elderly, children and those who suffer from asthma and other respiratory ailments.

"Southeast Wisconsin already has far too many Ozone Alert days, when children, the elderly, and asthma sufferers are warned that it’s unsafe to breathe the air," Clean Wisconsin spokesman Jon Drewsen said in a statement. "This project is predicted to be the largest emitter of (volatile organic compounds) in the region, and it’s going to add to the air pollution problem."

State Rep. Dana Wachs of Eau Claire, one of more than a dozen Democrats running for governor, denounced the issuance of the air permits, saying the Foxconn project would affect the health of people who live far from the area.

“I’m outraged that Gov. Walker’s administration shoved through these permits despite valid objections from concerned residents," Wachs said in a statement.

Two of Foxconn's most significant air pollutants would be volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and nitrogen oxides, or NOx, according to company documents filed with the DNR.

The emissions are produced during the manufacturing of super-high-resolution panels for medical imaging, consumer electronics and other uses.

Together, VOCs and NOx emissions would have ranked fourth-highest in southeastern Wisconsin if the company had been operating in 2016, according to DNR figures.

The only higher sources would have been a trio of coal-fired power plants in Oak Creek, Pleasant Prairie and Sheboygan.

Dick said Foxconn's emissions would account for at most 0.07% of the NOx and 0.1% of the VOCs emitted in Chicago's metro area, based on 2014 data.

In summer, as concentrations of VOCs and NOx rise, they interact with heat and light to form ground-level ozone. The pollutants come from factories, power plants and exhaust pipes of cars and trucks.