Displaying items by tag: US
Lafarge explains activity at Ravena
24 November 2011US: Lafarge has reiterated that its expansion and modernisation plan at its Ravena plant in New York State is on track, hitting back at rumours from recently laid-off employees that the company had slowed down or even scrapped its plans to expand the site.
During a press tour of the site, Lafarge's environmental manager for North America, John Reagan, provided evidence that the project had moved to a pre-construction stage. The US$300m modernisation project underwent nearly three years of permitting with the Final Environmental Impact Statement granted in the summer of 2011. Contractors are dismantling structures at the adjacent Callanan Industry site, so that Lafarge has the room for expansion.
Reagan said that the final design and procurement of materials is ongoing with the construction phase planned from late 2011 to 2014, with start-up planned for mid-2014 and full operation planned for 2015. “2015 seems like a long time from now,” Reagan said, “But it’s not much time to complete all the work that has to be done.” Additionally, the senior project manager, John Light, spoke of the upcoming procurement of heavy equipment including new vertical roller mills.
Over the past few weeks several former Lafarge employees, some of whom were among the 39 laid off on 27 October 2011, have accused the company of everything from not intending to build the new plant to mismanagement. One has accused the company of doing just the bare minimum required to keep the permits valid before closing the plant when the permits expire.
Lafarge said that it plans to stay in Ravena and that the layoffs and the cut in production were related to the ailing US economy. The plant will soon go to a one-kiln operation, a 50% reduction in capacity. “Demand for cement will determine what capacity we run at,” said Reagan. “We anticipate, based on industry forecasts, that demand will not change much during the next two years."
US House approves Cement Sector Relief Act
07 October 2011US: The US House of Representatives approved the Cement Sector Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2681) on 6 October 2011. The House voted 262-161 in favour of the bill, with 25 Democrats in support.
If the bill becomes law the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be forced to repeal existing rules for toxic emissions from cement kilns and revise them. The bill would also give those facilities at least five additional years to comply.
The White House and top Senate Democrats strongly oppose the bill, but some Democrats in the Senate have supported delaying the cement regulations, leading supporters of the bill to be optimistic even though passage through the Senate appears unlikely.
Supporters of the bill say that the EPA has set emissions targets that will be difficult to achieve in practice and cause some cement manufacturers to close or scale down production during a recession. The Portland Cement Association stated that about 18 of 97 cement plants in the US would have to close as a result of the rules. By contrast the EPA said that 10 US cement-manufacturing facilities would have to be idled after the rule goes into effect in 2013, unless market conditions changed.
Several congressmen said during a debate on the bill that cement plants in their states could not meet the EPA requirements. "We want a regulation to be promulgated that you can actually achieve with real-world technology," said Texan Republican Representative Joe Barton.
Public-health groups and the EPA also argue that the bill directs the EPA to set standards that are less burdensome to the industry, limiting the agency's ability to impose tough rules if it believes they are necessary. The White House has said it strongly opposes the legislation and that US President Obama's advisers would recommend a veto.
Congressmen urge Obama to support Cement Sector Relief Act
22 September 2011US: Congressmen Steve Chabot (Ohio) and Geoff Davis (Kentucky) have sent an open letter to US President Barack Obama regarding his visit to the Cincinnati area in northern Kentucky. Noting that the President chose a ready-mix concrete plant as the location for his remarks, Chabot and Davis have urged the President to support the Portland Cement Association (PCA)-backed Cement Sector Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2681) that is currently moving through the House of Representatives.
If enacted, H.R. 2681 would stop the federal government from imposing what the industry and the PCA see as excessive regulations, previously described as 'avalanche' of legislation, on cement manufacturers, threatening thousands of American jobs.
The EPA estimates that just one of the three proposed rules could threaten 12 of the US's 100 cement plants, which represent 11% of the nation's cement production capacity. According to experts at the Southern Methodist University, "Should 10% of the domestic industry disappear the direct, indirect and induced job losses would exceed 15,000. This figure does not include possible job losses in the huge construction sector that might occur in the face of higher concrete prices."
Chihuahua to sell Soboce stake to Peruvian group
22 August 2011Bolivia/Peru: The Mexican cement maker Grupo Cementos de Chihuahua (GCC) has announced that it has finalised the sale of its 47% stake in Bolivian peer Sociedad Boliviana de Cementos (Soboce) to a unit of a major Peruvian conglomerate. GCC said that its stake in Bolivia's top cement maker would go to Consorcio Cementero del Sur, S.A., a subsidiary of the agroindustrial Grupo Gloria. It gave no details regarding the value of the deal.
"Proceeds from the transaction will be used primarily for debt reduction, in line with the company's goal of improving its financial profile and strengthening its core businesses in the US and Mexico," said GCC in a statement.
Previously, in April 2011, a judge in Bolivia ordered a freeze on assets held by Soboce, 53% of which is owned by a group controlled by Samuel Doria Medina, who is a political rival of the country's President Evo Morales.
US Representatives call for simpler emissions rules
01 August 2011US: The US House of Representatives has introduced the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 (H.R. 2681). The proposal directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to develop 'achievable and workable standards' for the nation's cement manufacturing facilities and replace a series of complex rules affecting the sector that are projected to impose significant cost increases, forcing plant shutdowns and job losses. The bill was offered by a group of both Republican and Democrat Representatives from across the US.
Members introducing the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011 issued the following statement, "Cement is essential for the construction of our nation's buildings, roads, bridges, tunnels and crucial water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. This is a sector that provides jobs here at home, jobs we could lose in the face of regulations that are technically or economically unachievable."
"The EPA's current rules threaten to shut down 20% of the nation's cement manufacturing plants in the next two years, sending thousands of jobs permanently overseas and driving up cement and construction costs across the country. Our goal is to ensure effective regulations that protect communities both environmentally and economically."
"This legislation would give the EPA time to develop achievable standards that protect public health without threatening jobs or the global competitiveness of America's industries. We look forward to working with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle and the administration to see this legislation become law."
The Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act would; 1) Provide EPA with at least 15 months to re-propose and finalise achievable rules for cement manufacturing facilities; 2) Extend compliance deadlines from three to at least five years to allow facilities adequate time to comply with standards and install necessary equipment; 3) Direct the EPA, when developing the new rules, to adopt definitions that allow cement-manufacturing plants to continue to use alternative fuels for energy recovery and; 4) Direct the EPA to ensure that new rules are achievable by cement manufacturing facilities in the US and impose the least burdensome regulatory alternatives consistent with the President's Executive Order 13563.
The new rule is in response to the EPA's three 'interrelated, complex rules' impacting the nation's 100 cement plants. While the EPA estimates that the MACT Cement Rule (dealing with hazardous pollutants in airbourne emissions) will impose USD2.2bn in total capital costs when it is introduced in 2013 but the Portland Cement Association (PCA) estimates that the capital costs for MACT could exceed USD3.4bn, more than half of the industry's annual income (USD6.52bn) and that the 'Standards of Performance and Emissions Guidelines for Existing Sources: Commercial and Industrial Solid Waste Incineration Units,' (CISWI) rules would impose costs of another USD2bn, causing 18 plants to close with the loss of 3000 - 4000 direct jobs and a further 12,000 - 19,000 in the wider construction sector.
PCA expects minimal cement growth until 2013
28 July 2011US: Despite recovery momentum in late 2010, the US economy is again in a slowdown, according to the most recent economic forecast by the Portland Cement Association (PCA), which says that the slowdown will weaken construction activity and restrain gains in cement consumption until 2013.
The PCA downgraded its cement consumption growth forecast to 0.2% for 2011, 0.4% in 2012 with a significant 16.4% increase in 2013. According to the report, uncertainty regarding highway spending legislation and government policy related to the debt crisis will cause a negative drag on construction activity for the next few years.
"Our previous forecast had assumed the new highway bill would be 20% higher than existing levels but we now believe the funding will remain at current levels," said PCA chief economist Edward Sullivan. "A lack of highway funding and reduced consumer, business and bank confidence due to the debt crisis will all slow down construction recovery."
According to Sullivan, economic recovery from the recession will be led by a strengthening of confidence in these areas. Without a sustained improvement, private sector fundamentals such as job creation, investment and ease in lending standards will not be released in full force and commit the economy to a path of improvement.
Efficiency improvements in the US
13 July 2011US: A Duke University study prepared for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported that the cement industry reduced its energy intensity by 13% between 1997 and 2007, averaging improvements of more than 1%/yr. These energy savings equate to a reduction of almost 1.5Mt of energy-related carbon. The study showed the gap between the best-performing cement plants and others narrowed and the performance of the industry as a whole improved.
"The decade studied by Duke was one of unprecedented growth for the cement industry, yet Portland Cement Association (PCA) members demonstrated their commitment to environmental stewardship by building sound strategies for energy management and investing in their facilities with state-of-the-art technologies that significantly improved the industry's energy-efficiency and reduced emissions," said Brian McCarthy, PCA CEO and president. "The US cement industry was among the first major industries to tackle the issue of climate change and this study illustrates that it has remained at the forefront of developing policies and improving the manufacturing process."
The study was commissioned by the EPA to measure the change in the cement industry's energy efficiency curve. The energy management approach promoted by the EPA's 'Energy Star' programme, which benchmarks plant energy performance against peers over time and certifies plants that achieve the best enviornmental performance, was an important factor in enabling the industry to improve its energy performance.
The Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) scores the energy efficiency of a single cement plant and allows the plant to compare its performance to that of the entire industry. The tool is intended to help cement plant operators identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve conventional energy supplies and reduce production costs.
US: Inaction by Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling could result in a second recession, adversely impacting cement consumption, according to a recent report by the Portland Cement Association (PCA).
The report says that inaction on the debt ceiling could cause derailment of the fragile US economic recovery. A federal default would have a severe impact on business, consumer and bank confidence, leading to a rise in interest rates. In addition, forced government austerity spending measures are likely. This could depress highway and other government construction programs at the federal and state level. This possibility could cause a great deal of further pain to the cement industry, because public construction projects account for 50% of total cement consumption in the US.
"In this scenario, cement consumption would record a 5.6% retraction in 2011 followed by a 7.5% drop in 2012," said Ed Sullivan, PCA chief economist. "In fact the debt crisis may already be exerting adverse influence on near-term cement consumption due to suspension of state and local treasury bonds as well as an overall uncertainty that has been injected into the economic landscape."
The PCA estimates that the cyclical downturn caused by the Great Recession has reduced federal revenues by USD1.9tn and raised income security payments like unemployment insurance by USD600bn. Aside from revenue and tax assessments, part of the increase in debt has been recorded due to necessary countercyclical spending such as the stimulus package. Defence spending in the Middle East has also contributed to the recent large deficits. The report says that finally (and perhaps most worryingly) deficits have come from increases in entitlement spending fuelled by demographic changes. The Congressional Budget Office expects entitlement spending on social security and the Medicare and Medicaid schemes will rise from USD1.5tn in 2010 to USD2.6tn in 2020.
The debt accumulation during the past four years actually exceeds the total debt accumulated since the country's inception.
Mexico’s Cemex cancels bond sale
07 July 2011Mexico: Indebted Mexican cement maker Cemex has cancelled its plans to sell USD650m in bonds as investors are worried about a global economic slowdown. Struggling with limited cash flow and a weak US market, Cemex aimed to raise money to help pay USD1.2bn in debt amortisations by the end of 2013 before being hit with an USD8bn payments bottleneck in 2014.
"Given market volatility and unfavourable performance of markets today, Cemex has decided to not pursue the transaction," the company said in a statement.
EPA rules to be discussed in October 2011
29 June 2011US: A federal appeals court has scheduled oral arguments for 11 October 2011 in pending litigation challenging EPA's air toxics and criteria pollutant rules for the Portland cement industry, giving activists a chance to argue for the inclusion of greenhouse gas (GHG) limits in the criteria pollutant rule and for industry to highlight what it says are major flaws in both rules.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has scheduled oral arguments for the suits challenging EPA's new source performance standards (NSPS) for criteria pollutants and a maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards for air toxin emissions.
The court recently granted the cement industry's request to sever and hold in abeyance several aspects of its pending lawsuits challenging key provisions of the two rules, following an agency decision to issue a partial denial and partial granting of several petitions for administrative reconsideration of the rules. The oral arguments will focus on suits challenging other provisions of the two rules. For example, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and other industry petitioners will likely ask the court to vacate both rules due to what they say are numerous faults and errors in the final versions.
In the fight over the NSPS rule, industry filed a brief on 16 May 2011 taking issue with, among other things, the rule's new limits on particulate matter (PM) emissions, particularly its limit of 4.5g (0.01lb) of PM per tonne of clinker. Producers argue that the EPA 'simply adopted' the same PM limit that it set for the air toxins rule, at odds with Clean Air Act requirements for setting NSPS.
In their brief in the MACT suit (16 May 2011), the producers argue that the EPA failed to address the overlap between the cement rule and a recent EPA emissions rule for commercial and industrial solid waste incinerators (CISWI). On 21 March 2011 the EPA issued a memo trying to clarify the number of cement facilities that would be subject to the final CISWI rule but the producers said that the memo did not resolve their concerns and sought to have the question addressed through an administrative reconsideration of the rule. This request was subsequently denied by the EPA.
The PCA and others in the industry have also continued to express concerns over whether some cement kilns burning alternative fuels that may fall under a recent final EPA rule defining non-hazardous solid waste would fall under the cement MACT or under the CISWI rule issued in February 2011 and how that would impact on the MACT baseline emissions limits that the agency used when it developed the cement air toxins regulation.
The rules were amendments to existing NSPS and MACT standards for the sector and industry only wants the court to vacate the 2010 amendments and not the rules that were in place prior to the new rules. If the court vacates the amendments, the rules could revert to the older regulations, a cement NSPS set in 1988 and the MACT rules from 2006.
Environmentalists meanwhile will likely use the oral arguments to push their legal fight that is trying to have the court force the EPA to... ...include GHG limits in the cement NSPS. Environmentalists have filed briefs in the cement litigation arguing that GHGs meet the EPA's two-part criteria for determining whether to regulate new pollutants under NSPS. When the EPA issued the cement NSPS alongside an air toxins rule for the sector in September 2011 it said that CO2 standards 'may be appropriate' for the sector, but chose not to include GHG limits in the final rules, because it had not included GHG limits in the proposed version of the rule. The agency said that it needed, "additional information on site-specific factors that affect performance of these controls, where they are currently applied, and control costs," for reducing CO2 from the Portland cement industry. This is a point that environmentalists are disputing.
In a brief issued on 16 May 2011 Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others argue that the EPA's decision not to include GHG limits in the NSPS while saying such limits 'may be appropriate' for future action 'is particularly egregious' given that the EPA's findings in the proposed and final versions of the rule point toward inclusion of CO2 standards and that the agency has already determined that CO2 negatively affects public health.