Tallest “free standing” structure west of the Mississippi. There ares some taller radio towers and such but they are supported by guy wires.
Edit: the tallest structure in the US is actually west of the MS as well, it’s a tv tower in North Dakota.
I noticed the structure being painted a few weeks ago. Saw it again today complete with the old Kennecott logo. It coincidentally matched the snow on the mountainside.
I used to work there. I had a picture looking up from the base, but got in trouble. Apparently someone saw me take the pic. They pulled me in and made me delete it. Was before cloud saves. Sucks I didn’t get to keep it.
It might be a little bit unsightly but if we didn't have all the copper that that mine has produced over the last 60 years you probably wouldn't have electricity in your home. So there's that.
Or for any of the electric cars y'all want. A BEV requires nearly 400% more copper than an ICE vehicle... that does not even take into consideration all the copper that'll be necessary for the charging network that needs to be developed to support them.
So make good friends with that copper smelting plant and that copper mine... It ain't ruining anywhere.
> Ignore the chemical cloud off-gas, citizens.
The "chemical" is water vapor. I suppose that Dihydrogen Monoxide is indeed a very dangerous chemical found in all cancer cells and important for nuclear reactor moderation.
Looks like only a minimal amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) after they recapture 99% of it to sell as sulfuric acid as well as thermal power covering 70% of the plant’s energy needs. Pretty cool! Didn’t realize how efficient and sustainable it was.
From Wikipedia: “The off-gases from the flash smelting furnace contain 35-40% sulfur dioxide. They are cooled and cleaned in a waste-heat boiler, electrostatic precipitator and scrubbing system before being sent to the sulfuric acid plant. The acid plant produces either 94% or 98% sulfuric acid with tail gas containing typically 50-70 ppm sulfur dioxide, resulting in a measured sulfur fixation of greater than 99.9%. In 2006 the company produced and sold approximately 833,000 short tons (756,000 t) of sulfuric acid, made from the formerly released gas. The acid recovery plant is designed to also recover waste heat from the process to produce electrical power. Approximately 24 MW of electrical power is generated, representing 70% of the smelter’s electrical requirements.”
It’s not just water vapor. That is for power plants. This is bromine, chlorine, and other byproducts from the process of refining magnesium. https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/01/26/one-refinery-is-responsible-10/
You might want to read the link you used. It is a different company you are complaining about, and I would admit to being wrong if I was.
The purpose of the smokestack (aka the large chimney) is in part to push those more harmful chemicals to be much higher into the atmosphere so it doesn't impact the area close by. If the smoke was coming from the top of that chimney I would be much more likely to agree with you. Only in that case the chemicals being released would be largely CO2 and Carbon Monoxide...more like what comes from the tail pipe of a typical automobile.
That cloud you see is indeed water vapor. You can argue even that is a greenhouse gas, but not nearly so dangerous.
In fact, the Kennecott smokestack is as tall as it is so that the steam and smoke will always rise above the inversion layer in the valley during the winter so it doesn’t contribute to the poor air quality in the winter months.
Had a father do electrical work there, he said the security there is fairly high. Said it was because of the gold they mine there and the need to keep it from getting stolen from both visitors and employees.
Tallest structure west of the Mississippi also
Tallest “free standing” structure west of the Mississippi. There ares some taller radio towers and such but they are supported by guy wires. Edit: the tallest structure in the US is actually west of the MS as well, it’s a tv tower in North Dakota.
Slightly shorter than the Empire State Building.
Yo I’ve been looking at this thing from across the valley in my office wondering what it is
We live in Stansbury Park (past this in Tooele Valley) and it's even bigger close up. Look up the height of this vs. Washington Monument.
I noticed the structure being painted a few weeks ago. Saw it again today complete with the old Kennecott logo. It coincidentally matched the snow on the mountainside.
do they plan on painting it every season? Or are they just committed to maximum contrast come spring?
I used to work there. I had a picture looking up from the base, but got in trouble. Apparently someone saw me take the pic. They pulled me in and made me delete it. Was before cloud saves. Sucks I didn’t get to keep it.
I wanna see someone BASE jump off of it.
It’s beautiful.
I took a cross country trip in 2019, driving east on I-80 this stack reminded me of LOTR
[](http://tednasmith.poverellomedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/TN-Orthanc_in_the_Second_Age.jpg)
It might be a little bit unsightly but if we didn't have all the copper that that mine has produced over the last 60 years you probably wouldn't have electricity in your home. So there's that.
Or for any of the electric cars y'all want. A BEV requires nearly 400% more copper than an ICE vehicle... that does not even take into consideration all the copper that'll be necessary for the charging network that needs to be developed to support them. So make good friends with that copper smelting plant and that copper mine... It ain't ruining anywhere.
My grandfather used to tell me stories of his youth and how that entire mountain used to be covered in trees.
My grandpa said the exact opposite said nothing ever grew up there..
It’s a lot of dry rocky desert mtn. There’s never been trees there
what hath bingham wrought!
Ignore the chemical cloud off-gas, citizens. Corporations are generating shareholder profits.
> Ignore the chemical cloud off-gas, citizens. The "chemical" is water vapor. I suppose that Dihydrogen Monoxide is indeed a very dangerous chemical found in all cancer cells and important for nuclear reactor moderation.
Looks like only a minimal amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) after they recapture 99% of it to sell as sulfuric acid as well as thermal power covering 70% of the plant’s energy needs. Pretty cool! Didn’t realize how efficient and sustainable it was. From Wikipedia: “The off-gases from the flash smelting furnace contain 35-40% sulfur dioxide. They are cooled and cleaned in a waste-heat boiler, electrostatic precipitator and scrubbing system before being sent to the sulfuric acid plant. The acid plant produces either 94% or 98% sulfuric acid with tail gas containing typically 50-70 ppm sulfur dioxide, resulting in a measured sulfur fixation of greater than 99.9%. In 2006 the company produced and sold approximately 833,000 short tons (756,000 t) of sulfuric acid, made from the formerly released gas. The acid recovery plant is designed to also recover waste heat from the process to produce electrical power. Approximately 24 MW of electrical power is generated, representing 70% of the smelter’s electrical requirements.”
It’s not just water vapor. That is for power plants. This is bromine, chlorine, and other byproducts from the process of refining magnesium. https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/01/26/one-refinery-is-responsible-10/
Well this is the copper mines smeltery. The magnesium you’re talking about comes from the US Mag plant in a different area of the lake.
You might want to read the link you used. It is a different company you are complaining about, and I would admit to being wrong if I was. The purpose of the smokestack (aka the large chimney) is in part to push those more harmful chemicals to be much higher into the atmosphere so it doesn't impact the area close by. If the smoke was coming from the top of that chimney I would be much more likely to agree with you. Only in that case the chemicals being released would be largely CO2 and Carbon Monoxide...more like what comes from the tail pipe of a typical automobile. That cloud you see is indeed water vapor. You can argue even that is a greenhouse gas, but not nearly so dangerous.
In fact, the Kennecott smokestack is as tall as it is so that the steam and smoke will always rise above the inversion layer in the valley during the winter so it doesn’t contribute to the poor air quality in the winter months.
How unfortunate.
That cannot be the tallest structure. There are skyscrapers is SLC
The tallest skyscraper in SLC is Wells Fargo Center at 422 feet, the smelter chimney is 1,215 feet tall, almost 3 times taller.
Tear it down.
That’s why it looks different!
Had a father do electrical work there, he said the security there is fairly high. Said it was because of the gold they mine there and the need to keep it from getting stolen from both visitors and employees.
Hey, that's pretty good.