SierraScape December 2003 - January 2004
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by Diane Albright

The Sierra Club has been working with three other local environmental organizations, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, Webster Groves Nature Study Society and the American Bottoms, for over two years to defeat the North American continent's largest cement plant to be located on the banks of the Mississippi River near Ste. Genevieve, MO. This huge project which would have detrimental impacts on virtually every aspect of our environment; pristine wildlife habitat, water quality, shrinking wetlands, endangered species and air quality has been pushed forward without an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), being conducted. The four environmental organizations filed suit in federal court against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Holcim (US) Inc., formerly Holcam, to stop the cement plant construction project.

Looking towards the proposed Holcim Plant site	Photo by Jim Nyberg

Often with these huge projects, the companies try to manipulate the permitting system by piecemealing the project, that way the total impact of such a facility is never truly evaluated. Thus the need for an EIS is minimized. We have commented and challenged every permit and will continue to challenge this project on every front. The next critical stage is Holcim's air permit. We need your help to ensure that if any permit is given, it includes the newest and best technology available.

The Holcim cement plant will emit 26,000+ tons of regulated pollutants annually, 8,000 tons of pollution which form ozone. The Nox from the plant will affect ozone levels in both Missouri and Illinois. The proposed plant will jeopardize the progress that the St. Louis Air Quality Control Region has made towards reaching ozone standards. The citizens in St. Louis and the surrounding areas deserve to breath clean air! The children and elderly, a subset of the population sensitive to poor air quality, should not have to check the air quality before leaving their homes everyday to see if it is safe for them to breathe.

Holcim claims that they will be installing "state-of-art technology" at their proposed Ste. Genevieve cement facility. This is simply not the case. In fact, the company really proposes no pollution control at all, only that they will operate an efficient plant.

There is a technology-one that is proven to remove up to 80% of the harmful air pollution that Holcim's plant will create. That technology is called Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). SCR is already being used in the United States by many power plants-three right here in Missouri, It is also being used at a cement kiln with great success in Germany; a neighboring facility that Swiss-owned Holcim is aware of, but wants to ignore.

Right now our Missouri Department of Natural Resources is considering what type of technology to designate as "best" in the draft air pollution permit being developed for Holcim, DNR is currently not planning to consider SCR as "best".

Decision makers need to hear from you. We cannot afford to let the St. Louis area backslide on air quality. Write to DNR and to the Governor and tell them that they should demand the best for Missouri. We should not allow an international corporation to benefit at the expense of Missouri citizens' health. Using the best available technology is the least Holcim can do. Request that DNR require Holcim to use SCR at its cement plant.

Steve Mafood, Director
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 176
Jefferson City, MO 65102
1-800-361-4827/573-751-1010
E-Mail: oac@mail.dnr.state.mo.us

Bob Holden, Missouri Governor
Missouri Capitol Building
Room 216
P.O. Box720
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0720
Phone:573-751-3222
Fax: (573) 751-1495
E-Mail: constituentaffairs@mail.gov.state.mo.us