American Silicon Technologies

The former plant is located within the city limits of Rock Island, Washington. The Site is located approximately seven miles east of the city of Wenatchee on a crescent shaped parcel of land totaling approximately 65 acres and bounded by the Columbia River to the south, and a main line of the Burlington Northern Railroad to the north. There are a number of buildings located on the eastern portion of the Site, and eight large fume ponds on the western portion of the Site. A large fume storage pile is located on the far western portion of the Site.

The United States Department of Defense built the facility in 1942 during World War II in order to produce pig iron and ferrosilicon. After the war, the plant had a number of different owners, but its operations continued to produce of ferrosilicon. A recent owner operated the Site as a pilot plant and a small laboratory for the purpose of developing technology to produce amorphous precipitated silica using by-products of ferrosilicon production. The plant closed in 2003 and the site is currently owned by Columbia Ventures Corporation.

This site is specific to the laboratory that was used during active production. There was a ‘dry well’ (actually a clay conduit that traveled vertically through the building and ended in an unlined gravel pit beneath the building) that was used to discharge liquid wastes and wash waters from the laboratory. After the old laboratory building was demolished, it was discovered that mercury had been historically used in the old quality control lab until the mid to late 1960s. Sampling of the soil revealed elevated levels of mercury and lead.