Fort Mill district might stop testing air quality near Silfab and nearby schools

Fort Mill school officials are wondering whether to keep testing clean air near the controversial Silfab Solar plant, and how much they’re willing to pay for it.

The Fort Mill School District already paid about $255,000 to environmental monitoring company Citadel EHS since spring of last year to test air quality at its Flint Hill schools. The school board contracted with Citadel amid community uproar on Silfab, the Canadian solar panel maker at 7149 Logistics Lane.

Flint Hill Elementary opened last year beside Silfab. Flint Hill Middle opened this week, beside both.

Protests have been rampant at town, county and school board meetings for several years related to Silfab. Many parents have poured into school board meetings asking why the new schools and a manufacturer using chemicals to make solar panels are beside each other.

Last March, two chemical storage spills at Silfab prompted the district to close Flint Hill Elementary for two days. The school district, local, state and federal elected officials called for reviews of the Silfab site and answers on whether the company would be allowed to manufacture there.

The opening of Flint Hill Middle would increase the cost of air quality testing, unless the school district scales back what it receives from the testing company.

The district gets quarterly reports, but also real-time testing that alerts schools immediately of any air quality fluctuations. Citadel proposed a new contract at close to $700,000 for continued monitoring, Associate Superintendent Leanne Lordo told the school board Tuesday.

The school district won’t fund that amount, she said, so officials will meet with the company in the next couple of weeks to determine what’s needed from Citadel. Lordo asked the board for a money transfer on Tuesday that includes $240,000 for air quality monitoring. A board decision is expected next month.

Some school board members questioned whether the district should keep monitoring the air, at least for now.

“There’s nothing in the air right now,” said board member Joe Helms. “I don’t see why we’re going to pay them.”

Schools adding air quality testing was a way to calm concerns, but there hasn’t been a need to test the air yet. Silfab hasn’t begun manufacturing or using the chemicals associated with it, something the school board expected to happen early last year.

“There should be nothing happening in the air at the moment, given what they are and are not doing,” said school board Chairwoman Kristy Spears.

Court cases are ongoing related to whether Silfab should be able to manufacture solar panels at its site, which is zoned for light industrial uses. Legal appeals determined solar panel manufacturing shouldn’t be allowed in light industrial areas after York County approved a $150 million deal to bring Silfab to Fort Mill.

Silfab is assembling solar panels now, a process that doesn’t use chemicals.

It’s worth asking if the school district can pause air quality testing, Spears said. The return on investment to date with Citadel has been “very low,” Helms said, though he agrees it makes sense to test once manufacturing starts.

“Until they’re actually doing something, I don’t see the need to pay for air quality right now,” he said.

A small portion of the funding to install air quality monitoring equipment came from impact fees used for the construction of Flint Hill Elementary, Lordo said. Another small portion came from the bond to build Flint Hill Middle.

Most of the money came from the district contingency fund, but if the estimated $60,000 per quarter is going to continue then the district will have to find a steady way to pay for it.

“Now it’s an ongoing cost,” Lordo said. “It does need to be in the ongoing budget, depending on probably where we are this time next year with what we think we need.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2026 at 12:26 PM with the headline “Fort Mill district might stop testing air quality near Silfab and nearby schools.”