Slag Dust Contamination Fight Update

Operations have been temporarily shut down!

ADEQ has temporarily shut down the MRI slag crushing facility until they get an air quality permit. This is a great start, but after speaking with ADEQ, they said MRI will be back up and operating as soon as this new air quality permit is in place.

If you read to the bottom of this email, you will see the call to action of what we need to do now, and it will only work if enough of us take simple action.

I had filed an extensive complaint with the City of Cottonwood, ADEQ and am preparing the complaint to the Attorney General now. I have not heard back from ADEQ about my specific complaint yet but I have heard back from the City of Cottonwood and their response was very disturbing.

MRI is operating under a conditional use permit issued by the City of Cottonwood Planning and Zoning. One of many conditions of that permit is that the operation can not be an ongoing nuisance to neighbors and cannot pose a threat to health and the environment. If the operation becomes an ongoing nuisance or poses a threat to human health, the conditional use permit can be revoked.

I submitted a several hundred page complaint to the City with extensive evidence and science that clearly demonstrated the slag dust is an ongoing and habitual nuisance to citizens and that the slag dust is toxic and contains materials that are known to cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive harm and respiratory disease. The City's response was to state that they will not revoke their permit as they can not determine that the operations are nuisance or that it can harm human health, despite the fact that MRI's own material data safety sheet states the slag dust contains materials known to cause cancer, birth defects, reproductive harm, and exacerbates respiratory disease.

I just got off the phone with ADEQ a minute ago and point blank asked the person in charge of overseeing this operation, have you determined what the safe level of exposure is for children to this slag dust is? He stumbled over his words and could not give me a straight answer. I kept drilling this poor man, and finally he admitted they have no clue if the slag dust is safe for children to be exposed to and have no clue if there even is a safe limit or how to ensure children are not exposed above those limits!

An overview of where we have been, and where things are now.

Action we need to take NOW!

File a complaint with ADEQ by clicking HERE.

ADEQ will only take us seriously if enough of us complain and demand that safe levels of exposure to the slag be determined before MRI can start processing again.

Here is what you need to file the complaint with the link above:

Company Name: Minerals Research

Company Phone number: 928-821-2846

Address: 705 E. Birch St., Cottonwood, AZ 86326

It will ask for date of occurrence and time of occurrence, if you have a specific time and

date you can list it, or you can state that it is ongoing.

Share your concerns and complaint. One citizen wrote to me

"I am vehemently opposed to the legal poisoning of our residents"

It could be a good idea to ask ADEQ to determine what the safe level

of exposure to this slag dust is for children on a daily, weekly,

monthly, annual basis. How much arsenic, barium, aluminum, lead

can a child inhale and ingest before it can cause future health

impacts?

Write a Statement of Impact.

To read more guidance about how to write an impact statement click HERE.

Impact statements are HUGE for two reasons.

First, the City of Cottonwood can revoke MRI's conditional use permit if I can demonstrate the slag crushing and resulting toxic dust is a community wide nuisance. I have told the City government over and over that it is a community wide nuisance, but they do not believe me. So I need you to tell them for me, and the best way to do that is with an impact statement. You can email it to me at sedonahotyoga@hotmail.com and I will make sure to file it with every person and department possible on your behalf, and you can also file them yourself, but it is helpful if I am also sent a copy so they cannot deny you sent it.

Second, the Attorney General has jurisdiction to override our City government and stop the ongoing nuisance and threat to human health IF I can demonstrate it is a nuisance to a large number of people. The only way I can attempt to compel action from the Attorney General is with statements of impact. It appears the City of Cottonwood is compromised in their ability to be objective in this matter because they are privately receiving large payments from MRI. The City receives $.50/ton of slag MRI processes. There is estimated to be 3 million tons there, meaning the City is set to receive $1.5 million dollars so long as this operation continues and as a result appear to have lost any objective rationale.

A statement of impact can be as detailed or as simple as you like.

Do you avoid areas of the city you know to be contaminated with the slag dust?

Do you live outside Cottonwood and not avoid coming to town to do business?

Do your kids play soccer or football which is held at the contaminated kids park?

Do you feel this operation is a nuisance?

Do you live or work in the slag dust fallout zone and has it negatively impacted you?

Please share the need for statements of impact with anyone you believe is impacted. You can raise awareness with your neighbors, your work, at church, share information with other parents at sporting events, attend the public meetings Dr. Sina and I speak at and whatever else you can think of to share.

The goal is to have at least 50 statements of impact to serve the City, ADEQ and Attorney General.

We also have the opportunity to start a petition and that could get a lot of signatures with a blanket statement about the nuisance and health impacts that people can sign. But before we do that, it is really important to get personal statements as they are the most impactful.

Forward this email to as many people as possible!

This battle is far from over, but if we keep applying pressure with filing complaints at ADEQ and making statements of impact to compel the City to revoke their permit and to facilitate involvement from the Attorney General, i believe we have a clear path to permanently shut the crushing operation down and require they crush the slag outside our city and away from people.

To see all science, videos, and evidence available on my website, please visit:

Slag Toxicity in Cottonwood - Beware | Ocs Child Safety Gro

Thank you for caring and for your support,

Jen