Kudos to the Natchez Inc. staff and other public and private local leaders for enticing Elevance Renewable Sciences Inc. to Adams County. It promises a wealth of new high-paying jobs with ripples throughout the economy, with the extra bonus of bringing cutting-edge recycling technology to the area. Based on the excellent reporting from The Natchez Democrat, I have a couple of questions for our leaders:

1) Plans have been put into place for port improvements to meet the new demands related to the new Elevance plant — are corresponding plans also in place to address the increased use of area infrastructure by much higher rail traffic and numbers of 18-wheelers?

2) Also, the newspaper reports quoting Adams County Port Director Anthony Hauer have been quite specific about how vapor recovery systems that are part of the port improvements “will trap any emissions that might build up in liquid loading pipelines that could possibly escape.” What assurances do we have from Elevance about the quality of emissions from the plant itself?

I have heard horror stories from folks in Arkansas who live near recycling plants for food oils, and the stench has had a tremendous negative effect on the quality of life for local residents. I have grown up near paper mills and egg farms, and I understand viewing these odors as “the smell of money” in local pockets. But we have a chance to be proactive in this regard, and I hope that an environmentally friendly agreement in this case is already in place.

Kathleen McClain Jenkins

superintendent, Natchez National Historical Park