• St. Lawrence Cement Facility Passes Emissions Stack Test
St. Lawrence Cement’s $50 million cement grinding facility in Camden, N.J., received high marks this month from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection after a comprehensive review of the plant’s emissions levels. The state environmental authority reported that the facility’s stack emissions were half the limits allowed by New Jersey’s tough emissions standards.This news comes on the heels of several favorable legal rulings for the company. Most importantly, earlier this month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals determined that St. Lawrence Cement could continue to safely operate its facility despite the efforts of a small but vocal group of South Camden citizens intent on closing it down.
"While we fully expected to pass our emissions test, we are very pleased with these outstanding results," said Michael Davis, General Manager of the St. Lawrence Cement facility. "The State of New Jersey has some of the most rigorous environmental standards in the country and our entire operation is focused on meeting those high standards. This test shows that St. Lawrence Cement is continuing its commitment to the health and safety of the community and has made health and safety our top priority."
In 1999, St. Lawrence Cement applied to the NJDEP for an air emissions permit covering operations at its facility on the Camden waterfront. The facility produces an inorganic building material known as ground granulated furnace slag. As part of the evaluation of St. Lawrence Cement’s air permit application, the NJDEP required the facility to conduct an ambient air quality modeling analysis for particulate matter. Ambient air quality modeling is a sophisticated process, with St. Lawrence Cement’s analysis predicting particulate matter concentrations as a result of the facility’s operations. That analysis took into account the past 5 years of meteorological conditions, other industrial emissions sources near the facility and predicted that the St. Lawrence Cement facility would pose no health hazards in the region.
St. Lawrence Cement’s air permit application received extensive regulatory review not just in terms of the facility’s ambient air quality modeling analysis but also in all areas, resulting in a considerably longer review period than is typical for a non-major emission source such as the Camden facility. The facility was eventually evaluated by nine state and federal agencies and, in the end, was deemed completely safe to operate in the South Camden region by all of those experts. Furthermore, an analysis released in June by the NJDEP reaffirmed the results of previous tests demonstrating that the facility is a low emissions operation that uses the latest environmental protection technology.
"We are extremely pleased, to have passed this latest emissions test with flying colors," said Dennis Skidmore, St. Lawrence Cement’s Senior Vice President of the United States Division. " The result of these tests are especially important in a community like Camden, where air quality is a top priority for the residents. Since our arrival in South Camden, our mission has been to set a benchmark for environmental standards in the region. We hope that, as other private investors look towards Camden as a site for their operations, they too will follow our example."
