Displaying items by tag: Environment

US: The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) has recertified four of Roanoke Cement Company’s terminals in Virginia and North Carolina. Units at Front Royal, Richmond and Bristol in Virginia and Winston-Salem, North Carolina received the certification.

"Having the Wildlife Habitat Council's recertification for each of them is a distinguished recognition confirming that all of Roanoke Cement's sites are on the right track ecologically. We look forward to continuing our conservation efforts providing pleasing, ‘green’ features within our terminal campuses. A few examples include pollinator meadows at Front Royal and Winston-Salem, avian habitats for the Eastern Bluebird in Richmond, and stream restoration in Bristol," said David Brinkley, Director of Distribution & Customer Resources at Roanoke Cement Company.

WHC's certification program, ‘Conservation Certification,’ is built on global recognition programs, reflects contemporary conservation efforts and applies its collective learning to the future of biodiversity in the US and the globe. Front Royal, Richmond and Winston-Salem were originally certified in 2013. Bristol was originally certified in 2015. Certification by WHC is valid for two years.

Australia: Adelaide Brighton’s Birkenhead cement plant has been criticised by a local environmental group for its dust emissions ahead of a review of its licence. The Port Adelaide Residents’ Environmental Protection Group has asked the plant to pay towards cleaning up dust emissions near to the plant as well as stricter controls of dust and noise, according to the Westside Weekly newspaper. The local Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is reviewing the cement producer’s current licence, which expires at the end of October 2017. The EPA has released a draft licence including conditions requiring the cement company to produce management plans to address dust and noise levels.

US: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering making changes to the regulations managing coal combustion residuals (CCR), or coal ash, as non-hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The agency has granted two petitions to look at the existing rules.

“In light of the EPA’s new statutory authority, it is important that we give the existing rule a hard look and consider improvements that may help states tailor their permit programs to the needs of their states, in a way that provides greater regulatory certainty, while also ensuring that human health and the environment remain protected,” said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

The current regulations took effect in late 2015 and manage how coal ash generated from electric utilities and independent power producers is managed and disposed of in surface impoundments and landfills. The rule also defines what constitutes beneficial use of CCR and, therefore, is excluded from the rule’s requirements. Coal ash is used in a variety of industries including cement production.

US: Cemex USA says it invested over US$50m in 2016 on projects and improvements in cement plant operations and other facilities to help reduce environmental impact and conserve nearby wildlife. Four cement plants - Brooksville, Miami, Clinchfield and Victorville - achieved the Energy Star Certification from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 2017. In 2016 all active Cemex cement plants in the US achieved the Wildlife Habitat Council's Conservation Certification, and several sites in California are currently working to attain that goal.

In May 2017 the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department awarded Cemex the 2017 Lone Star Land Steward Award for the Trans Pecos Ecoregion for its on-going commitment to sustainability and land stewardship at the El Carmen Nature Reserve. The company also received the Wildlife Habitat Council's Gold Tier Program of the Year for work at El Carmen in 2016. Other environmental initiatives by the company also include wildlife conservation efforts at various quarries in California.

Taiwan: Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fuu says the government plans to lower the cap on cement exports from over 20% of total output to 15% on environmental grounds. The ministry is also preparing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) policy for the development of the cement industry, according to the Central News Agency. The policy is scheduled to be completed by June 2018 and be submitted to the Environmental Protection Administration. The decision follows public outcry over the alleged expansion of the quarry at Asia Cement’s Hualien plant, which is partly located in a national park.

According to ministry data, Taiwan's cement exports reached 51% of total output in 2009 and 36%, 24%, 24% and 27% from 2013 to 2016 respectively. The ratio was at 25% in the first four months of 2017. Once an amendment to the Mining Act and environmental assessment regulations come into effect, many cement mining projects are expected to be affected. The ministry also intends to find alterative sources for the cement industry’s demand for raw materials.

Taiwan: Asia Cement has denied that it expanded a quarry serving its Hualien plant following accusations by a filmmaker that mining has intensified at the site. Documentary filmmaker Chi Po-lin made the comments in May 2017 whilst filming a sequel to his aerial photographic documentary ‘Beyond Beauty: Taiwan From Above.’ According to the China Post newspaper. Chi subsequently died in a helicopter crash on 10 June 2017 but his aerial footage of the site has caused public outcry.

However, Asia Cement says it has slowly been reforesting the active mining site since 2012. The Ministry of Economic Affairs has also released time-lapse photography supporting the cement producer.

The quarry, which is partly located in a national park, supplies one of the country’s largest cement plants. Its mining lease was set to expire in 2017 but was extended until 2037. The Environmental Protection Administration has also issued assurances that quarry excavations will not occur within the national park area.

Austria: Scheuch Group says that it completed its 2016 – 2017 fiscal year with an order intake over Euro200m, it’s highest incoming order value ever since the company was founded in 1963. The air and environmental engineering company intends to set up a branch office in Germany concentrating on the metal industry and to strengthen the links between its two new subsidiaries in the US.

US: The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has announced the winners of its Chairman’s Safety Performance, Safety Innovation and Energy and Environment Awards. The awards recognise outstanding safety performance in the manufacturing of Portland cement, creative safety-enhancing projects in the cement industry and outstanding environmental and community relations respectively.

“The facilities recognised today are to be congratulated for their safety achievements,” said Allen Hamblen, PCA chairman and president and chief executive officer of CalPortland, in relation to the Safety Performance Awards.

Winners of the 2017 PCA Chairman’s Safety Performance Awards:

Category: Less than 226,000 hours
Buzzi Unicem USA – Chattanooga, Tennessee
LafargeHolcim US – Morgan, Utah
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Tehachapi, California

Category: 226,001 - 289,000 hours
Ash Grove Cement – Foreman, Arkansas
GCC Permian – Odessa, Texas
Lehigh Hanson, Inc. – Leeds, Alabama

Category: 289,001 - 563,000 hours
Cemex USA – Brooksville, Florida
Cemex USA – New Braunfels, Texas
Martin Marietta Materials – New Braunfels, Texas

Winners of the 2017 Safety Innovation Awards:

Milling/Grinding
Ash Grove Cement, Montana City, Montana

Pyroprocessing
Cemex USA, Balcones, Texas

Distribution
CalPortland Cement Terminal, Portland, Oregon
LafargeHolcim US, Corporate Program, Chicago

Winners of the 2017 Energy and Environment Awards:

Energy Efficiency
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California

Environmental Performance
Cemex USA Construction Materials, Pacific, LLC, Victorville, California

Land Stewardship
Continental Cement Company/Green America Recycling, Hannibal, Missouri

Outreach Winner
Mitsubishi Cement Corporation, Lucerne Valley, California

Indonesia: Semen Indonesia plans to start commercial operation of its Rembang cement plant in the first half of 2017. Rizkan Chandra, the chief executive, of the state-owned cement producer revealed the company’s plans, despite protests on environmental grounds by local residents, after a meeting with presidential staff in Jakarta, according to the Antara news agency. However the plant is waiting for environmental clearance that is expected to be released in April 2017. Previously a government minister said that the President Joko Widodo was expected to inaugurate the plant in mid-2017. However, in October 2016 the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the protesters and ordered Semen Indonesia to cease its activities.

Colombia: Cemex Latam, the Latin American subsidiary of Cemex, intends to operate its Maceo cement plant project in Antioquia at a reduced capacity due to difficulties with its environmental clearance. The cement producer will continue building the 0.95Mt/yr plant but it will reduce its output to 0.25Mt/yr once it is operational, according to Reuters. The Colombian cement producer attempted to reverse the annulment of its environmental permits with the local body in late 2016.

In September 2016 Cemex fired several senior staff members in relation to the Maceo project and its subsidiary’s chief executive resigned. This followed an internal audit and investigation into payments worth around US$20.5m made to a non-governmental third party in connection with the acquisition of the land, mining rights, and benefits of the tax free zone for the project.