Displaying items by tag: Ash Grove

US: Ash Grove Cement is seeking tax abatement for upgrade projects on its Midlothian plant in Texas. Plant manager Kevin Blankenship presented plans to the Ellis County Commissioner's Court on 14 May 2012.

Ash Grove needs to upgrade its plant in line with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations that will go into effect September 2013. The company is considering two options that will put the plant in compliance with the new regulations. The first option is to upgrade the plant enough so that it will comply with the new emissions standards. The second option is to fully modernise the plant by upgrading to a single dry kiln and shutting the other two existing wet kilns, a project that would cost US$130m. Since the presentation was not an agenda item at the meeting the court took no action.

The Midlothian plant has been in operation since 1966. Ash Grove currently intend to continue running the plant until 2050, but filed a request to shut the wet kilns in April 2012.

US: A proposed clean-up of Montana's air pollution by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could cost nearby cement plants up to US$10m. Plans to improve visibility in public land, including Yellowstone and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks, would require upgrades within five years at the Ash Grove cement plant near Montana City and Holcim cement plant near Three Forks.

The EPA's action has been prompted partly by a legal challenge from environmentalists who sued the agency to set deadlines to follow through on haze rules adopted in 1999. Two of the groups involved, WildEarth Guardians and the Montana Environmental Information Center, said that the agency's proposal does not go far enough. Representatives of the groups criticised the EPA's rejection of even stricter pollution limits that would have required tens of millions of dollars in additional spending by the plants.

"People might gasp a little bit and say that's a lot of money but you have to look at how much these companies are profiting off these facilities. It dwarfs these costs," said Anne Hedges with the Montana Environmental Information Center.

The first phase of the EPA's program is aimed at plants built between 1962 and 1977 that churn out at least 250t/yr of pollutants. The goal is to eliminate haze in parks and wilderness areas by 2064. The cost of reducing haze across the US has been estimated at US$1.5bn/yr. Spin-off benefits from reduced health care spending on pollution-related illnesses were estimated at US$8.4bn/yr or more.

The proposal could become final after a 60-day public comment period. Public hearings in Montana hosted by the EPA are scheduled for 15 May 2012 in Helena and 16 May 2012 in Billings.

A US environmental pressure group is reportedly claiming that Ash Grove has started the process to close two of its wet kilns in Midlothian, Texas. Ash Grove has retorted that the decision is not final yet.

The move fits with a new emissions timetable imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to come into effect in 2013. Yet Ash Grove's response also suggests that it is keeping an eye on the impending Cement Sector Relief Act. Approved by the US House of Representatives in October 2011 with strong Republican support, if this bill makes it to law then the EPA will be forced to recind some of its existing rules concerning emissions from cement plants. This situation could help Ash Grove to manage its kiln investment. Either way, it's no wonder that Ash Grove hasn't committed yet.

All this democratic uncertainty contrasts rather nicely with the last missive from the Chinese Ministry of Information and Technology announcing more cement industry targets as part of the latest Five-year Plan. China's cement industry will source 65% of its electrical needs from waste materials by 2015. Simple! China is currently dealing with wet kilns in a similar fashion. They are being 'eliminated.'

Before we become too fixated on supposed Western decline, our third kiln-related story this week follows a test run at the Lafarge-Strabag plant in Hungary. Billed as one of the most environmentally friendly plants in Europe, the 1Mt/yr facility is due to be finished by 2015. Just in time for China's next Five-Year Plan.

US: Ash Grove Cement Company has reportedly filed a permit amendment with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) seeking to close two of its three cement kilns in Midlothian, Texas. A local environmental pressure group, Downwinders at Risk, reported that it would convert the third kiln to dry production.

Ash Grove said that it was 'premature' to talk about the permit because the decision was not final. Downwinders' director Jim Schermbeck said that he expects the state agency to approve the change."They're going to reduce emissions. TCEQ will let them do that," Schermbeck said.

US cement kiln operators face a 2013 deadline to meet new emission standards from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The proposed changes would take production down by 20% at the site to around 0.95Mt/yr.