Ash Grove awaits decision

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce tough new limits on mercury emissions today that could ultimately force the Ash Grove Cement plant in Durkee to shut down.

But first, the EPA and Department of Energy teamed up Wednesday to award Ash Grove Cement plants in Durkee and Leamington, Utah, the prestigious Energy Star Award for their successful efforts to protect the environment and to improve energy efficiency.

“Just 26 individual cement plants in the United States have been honored to receive this award from the EPA and DOE since the Energy Star program began in 1992,” said Scott Matter, a spokesman for Ash Grove Cement Co., which is has its headquarters in Overland Park, Kan., and is the largest cement manufacturing company in the nation, producing nearly 8 million tons of cement annually from eight cement plants across the country.

At the Durkee plant, the cement manufacturer recently completed installation of a $20 million mercury recovery system that’s working far better than projected.

However, tests conducted since the installation was completed last month show about 90 percent of the mercury is being removed — but that figure still falls shy of the 99 percent reduction in mercury emissions required under proposed EPA rules scheduled to be announced today.

The Durkee plant employs 116 full time workers, making it one of the top three employers in Baker County, and Fred Warner Jr., chairman of the Baker County Commission, said the $1 million in taxes paid by the Durkee plant account for roughly 10 percent of the county’s $8 million general fund budget.

Wednesday’s Energy Star Award announcement raised hopes that it may signal the EPA is looking favorably on the Durkee plant and may either grant a request to ease mercury limits under a subcategory for cement plants like Durkee, where the limestone processed into cement has higher levels of naturally occurring mercury that cannot be completely removed during the processing to reach the 99 percent reduction EPA wants.

In addition to requesting that subcategory, the Portland Cement Association urged the EPA earlier this week to back off its plan to adopt new mercury emission limits today.

 “Although EPA has imposed on itself an Aug. 6 deadline for promulgation of a final (rule), the PCA (Portland Cement Association) believes the agency is under no legal obligation to do so,” the PCA wrote in a statement released Thursday.

The statement went on to say that the “PCA has requested that the administration delay promulgation of a final rule and allow the Office of Management and Budget and other federal agencies to conclude an inter-agency process that truly examines the full extent of the rule’s regulatory and economic impacts.”

Patty Fisher, a PCA spokeswoman, said the EPA is expected to make an announcement later today on mercury emissions and other components of the hazardous emissions standards.

“It will be today, but all my sources in Washington D.C. say it will be very late in the day,” Fisher said in a phone interview this morning.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s final regulations to the National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants had not been released as of this morning, but PCA officials said the final draft expected to be approved does not contain the subcategory sought by Ash Grove and operators of at least 29 other plants that could be forced to close.

“If the final rule is identical to the proposed rule, without subcategorization, PCA estimates that more than 30 existing plants will close with an additional 12 more at risk of closure,” said Andy O’Hare, PCA vice president, regulatory affairs. “This represents 62 percent of domestic kilns existing as of 2005. In fact, since the initial proposal, seven plants have announced permanent closure, representing 822 direct jobs.”

He went on to say that “A recent SMU study indicated that for every job lost in the cement industry, another eight will be lost across the economy. Put differently, should 10 percent of the domestic industry disappear, the direct, indirect and induced job losses would exceed 15,000. And this doesn’t include possible job losses in the construction sector that might occur in the face of higher concrete prices.”

While management and workers at the Ash Grove plant in Durkee waited to hear whether the EPA would impose mercury limits that the plant may not be able to meet, company officials celebrated receiving the Energy Star Award. 

“Ash Grove is honored to be recognized by EPA and DOE for the innovative solutions our team has implemented to conserve energy and improve efficiency,” said Ash Grove Chairman Charles T. Sunderland. “Ash Grove’s energy management approach is an important component of our commitment to environmental stewardship and an integral part of our long-term business strategy.”

This is the first Energy Star Award for the Durkee and Leamington plants.  Ash Grove’s Chanute, Kan., and Seattle, Wash. plants received the Energy Star Award in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Ash Grove’s energy management process has been implemented at all operating facilities and is committed to acquiring and using energy in the most efficient, cost effective and environmentally responsible manner possible in order to minimize the company’s carbon footprint, according to Jacqueline Clark, Ash Grove communications manager.

Ash Grove has set a 2012 target for reducing thermal energy use by 17 percent per ton of cement produced, and reducing electrical energy use by 10 percent per ton of cement produced.

The Energy Star Award program is a joint government initiative between the EPA and DOE that since 1992 has reduced greenhouse gas emissions through strategic energy management that demonstrates environmental leadership for future generations, Clark said in an Aug. 4 press release.

In 2008, Clark said the voluntary, market-based program has saved Americans an estimated $19 million on their energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 29 million vehicles.