Ash Grove welcomes workers

With the return of 48 employees this week the Ash Grove Cement plant in Durkee is back to full employment after temporarily laying off 67 workers in December due to a sluggish cement market and the company’s high inventories.

Mike Hrizuk, vice president of manufacturing for the Western Division of Kansas-based Ash Grove,  said 17 of the workers laid off in December were brought back two weeks ago to prepare for restarting the plant.

The other 48 came back to work Monday.

Hrizuk, a former manager at the Durkee plant, said nationwide demand for cement dropped from a high of around 133 million tons a year in 2006 and 2007 to about 74 million tons in 2009.

Demand is expected to remain low until the third or fourth quarter of this year, or early 2011.

“It has been the most severe economic downturn we have seen in Ash Grove’s 128-year history,” Hrizuk said.

However, since the December layoffs the company has sold sufficient cement to deplete inventories at the Durkee plant enough to justify calling back the laid off workers and restarting production.

To welcome the workers back, Hrizuk said the company is hosting a pizza party luncheon on Thursday.

The Durkee plant was one of seven Ash Grove factories where workers were temporarily laid off recently.

While the Durkee plant was closed, Ash Grove continued installing a $20 million Activated Carbon Injection (ACI) system, Hrizuk said.

The new technology is designed to cut airborne mercury emissions by 75 to 85 percent. The ACI equipment is expected to be operational by July of this year, he said.

The Durkee plant is the biggest source of airborne mercury in the U.S., according to federal and state environmental agencies. Neither state nor federal law limits airborne mercury emissions.

State Sen. Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said the return of laid off workers and the progress on the mercury control system are both good news.

Ferrioli said he hopes to soon hear another bit of good news: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approving a subcategory that partially exempts the Durkee plant from a proposed rule limiting mercury emissions from cement factories.

The subcategory would apply to plants, including the Durkee facility, that use limestone that contains unusually high levels of mercury and as a result can’t meet the proposed limits.

Ferrioli said he is concerned, though, because in his view officials from government agencies such as the EPA have a history of sacrificing rural jobs to curry favor with environmental groups and urban voters.

Ferrioli said it would be devastating to the Baker County economy if the EPA’s final mercury emissions rule, scheduled to be published June 7, doesn’t include the subcategory.

Without it, Ash Grove could be forced to permanently close the Durkee plant because, even with the $20 million system, the factory can’t reduce mercury emissions by the 90-percent level the EPA is proposing, according to Ash Grove officials.

While 2010 is expected to be a challenging year for cement makers, Hrizuk said the Portland Cement Association is anticipating a 5 percent increase in cement consumption in 2010, primarily in the third and fourth quarters.

Ash Grove Cement Company is the largest American-owned cement company and the fifth-largest cement manufacturer in the U.S.

Ash Grove operates eight cement plants, 21 cement terminals and one limestone grinding plant in 13 states.