Five years ago, PacWest Silicon/HiTest Silicon proposed building a smelter near Newport, WA, that would produce silicon for solar panels and computer chips. The plant would have taken advantage of locally-generated hydroelectric, employed 140 people, and been served by the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad. Sand or raw quartz from Golden, B.C., would have been shipped by rail to the Newport site. Logic would suggest a CP-UP-POVA routing via Eastport and Sandpoint, ID, but it was rumored that shipments might have been long-hauled instead via CP/BNSF through Sweetgrass, MT.

Either way, the Newport plant was not to be. Instead, the company now named Sinova Global is building their silicon plant in Tennessee.

[www.spokesman.com]

They say the raw mineral will still be rail hauled from Golden, so probably a CP (including former Soo) routing to at least Illinois.

The linked story mentions BNSF claiming the proposed smelter would have necessitated $50 million in track upgrades between Sandpoint and Newport, which is ex-GN main line track that POVA operates on but leases from BNSF. The smelter would have also required a new spur coming off the ex-GN main west of Newport.