On Sunday, April 29, supporters of Stop Titan, Pender Watch and Cape Fear River Watch will gather at its Picnic in the Park celebration to hear Alexandra Allred from Midlothian, TX and Selene Hummer from Chanute, KS speak about what it is like to live near cement plants.

What picnic attendees likely won’t hear is that the cement plants in Midlothian and Chanute are vastly different from the proposed Carolinas Cement (CCC) plant in Castle Hayne. Here is the rest of the story:

The plants in Midlothian and Chanute include some old wet kilns and some modern, but still dated, dry kilns with emissions rates that are greater than the limits in Carolinas Cement’s permit. These other plants have made substantial improvements in their emissions over the years -- in some cases replacing old wet kilns with modern plants -- but their pollution controls have not previously and will not in the future be required to meet the new standards that Carolinas Cement will have to meet as a new plant under the new regulations. 

Also, some of the issues faced in Texas and Kansas revolve around the use of hazardous wastes as a fuel, whereas the Carolinas Cement permit is only for traditional fuels. The groups in Texas and Kansas have been demanding modern cement plants with modern pollution controls, and that is what we are bringing to Castle Hayne.

It is important to remember, there is no cement plant in the world that has the combination of pollution controls that the CCC plant will have.

Here are the facts about Midlothian’s cement plants, each of which has emissions of SO2, NOx and PM greater than CCC will have :

 

1. Holcim has two modern “dry process” kilns built in 1987 and 2000, with total capacity greater than what CCC proposes.

2. TXI used hazardous waste as a fuel until 2010. Until 2001, it also used the old “wet kiln” process. TXI’s capacity is greater than that proposed by CCC.

3. Ash Grove uses the old “wet process” to manufacture cement, and is a little under half the capacity proposed by CCC.

 

Here are the facts about the Chanute area cement plants, each of which has emissions of SO2, NOx and (except for the much smaller Freedonia plant) PM greater than CCC will have:

1. Lafarge (Freedonia, KS) is an old wet plant that uses hazardous waste as a fuel, is less than one-fourth the capacity of CCC, and is now slated to close permanently.

2. Ash Grove (Chanute, KS) was modernized into a “dry process” kiln in 2001. It uses hazardous waste as a fuel and produces about 75% of the capacity CCC proposes. 

3. Monarch (Humbolt KS) has two modern dry process kilns built in the mid 1970s and produces about 50% of the capacity CCC proposes. 

I hope all picnickers allow themselves a healthy serving of the facts and pass on the misinformation and exaggerations.  Need additional facts or clarification?  Just ask.

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