by Carla Klein, Ozark Chapter Director
The Ozark Chapter settled its litigation challenging the proposed Holcim cement plant, a 4,000-acre industrial development planned for construction near St. Louis, Missouri. The final agreement was reached on October 5, 2004 between Holcim U.S. Inc., Ozark Chapter Sierra Club, American Bottoms Conservancy, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, and Webster Groves Nature Society. The settlement will resolve several pending actions challenging various aspects of the Holcim project:
- a federal lawsuit challenging a permit to fill wetlands under the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act;
- a state lawsuit challenging a quarry permit;
- a state administrative appeal challenging the Clean Air Act permit for the cement plant.
Background:
The proposed industrial development would span nearly 4,000 acres and would include a limestone quarry, a harbor, two barging areas, and multiple processing facilities. The proposed plant would impact an undeveloped area along the river that includes 30 acres of wetlands and provides rich habitat for plant and animal life. In addition, the plant would emit large quantities of fine dust particles, sulfur dioxide, mercury and other pollutants.
Settlement:
The Sierra Club has fought to block construction of the proposed Holcim plant or, at the very least, mitigate its environmental impacts. The Sierra Club and our environmental allies suffered a setback in this effort when a state court ruled against us in our challenge to the quarry permit. Following this decision, and several meetings with Department of Natural Resources, EPA and the Governor’s office where agencies were reluctant to exercise their discretion for stricter permit conditions, the parties entered into settlement negotiations. While allowing construction of the cement plant, the proposed settlement achieves considerable environmental mitigation, including roughly $3 million for land preservation and air pollution reduction. The four organizations involved in the suit do not receive any funding from the litigation.
Land Preservation:
Under the proposed settlement, Holcim must contribute over $1.8 million to preserve land in Missouri and neighboring Illinois. The money will be divided equally between Missouri and Illinois (both receiving $908,333) and will be used by government agencies and/or nonprofit organizations to acquire land and purchase conservation easements. We are currently in the process of determine which parties will acquire the land or hold the easements, although several government agencies and nonprofit organizations have been identified that are acceptable to both sides. The money will be held in escrow until the plant begins operation and then will be distributed to an agreed-upon entity for land preservation purposes. In addition, Holcim will undertake several on-site conservation measures, including:
- granting a conservation easement of over 1,900 acres to Ozark Regional Land Trust to maintain the undeveloped property in its present condition;
- establishing a 100-foot riparian buffer along Isle du Bois Creek;
- restricting annual land clearing and timber harvesting to areas that will be quarried by the following October; and
- undertaking reasonable measures to minimize the generation of light from the developed area.
Air Mitigation:
Under the proposed settlement, Holcim also must contribute $908,334 for air pollution reduction activities in the St. Louis metropolitan area. The money will be used to finance projects to reduce air pollution; educate the public about air pollution; and/or increase scientific understanding of air pollution and its causes and control methods. The parties will be sending out requests for proposals to agencies and organizations that work on agreed purposes. Both sides support using the money for:
- reduction of energy usage—and ultimately air pollution—by weatherizing low income homes and promoting efficient light bulb usage;
- measuring air quality levels and educating people about pollution threats facing their communities; and
- demonstrating the viability of solar energy to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The money may be used to help finance a school bus emissions reduction program in St. Louis. As with land preservation funds, the money will be held in escrow until the plant begins operation and then will be distributed to an agreed-upon entity or entities for air mitigation purposes.
Under the proposed settlement, the environmental plaintiffs will dismiss the pending lawsuits and administrative challenges and will release any potential claims with respect to the environmental permits already issued for the Holcim cement plant. The settlement in no way restricts us from monitoring, challenging and pursuing litigation on future violations of our Clean Water or Clean Air laws, or permit conditions. Holcim knows that we will be carefully monitoring the facility once it’s in operation.
Entering into settlement discussions was not a decision arrived at easily. Despite the merits, both factually and legally, of our litigation, other factors outside our control such as the current political, economic and legislative climate and the unreceptive administrative agencies made the chances of us prevailing very doubtful. The Ozark Chapter had a major role in the fight against the Holcim cement plant. From the beginning, almost four years ago, Diane Albright represented the SC in this fight, dedicating hundreds of volunteer hours. Her dedication and professionalism in this matter deserve our appreciation.
This effort was definitely a grass roots effort—Chapter activists have worked hard to block the construction of the plant—but after a legal setback, it appeared that this was no longer an attainable goal. The proposed settlement represents a hard fought victory that will go a long way toward offsetting the environmental impacts caused by the Holcim cement plant. We believe that the settlement reached was the best possible outcome given our circumstances.