Local Public Health Officials Agree with Significant
Penalty to CEMEX
December 27, 2006, Boulder, Colo – Boulder County Public
Health (BCPH) officials stated Wednesday that one of the
largest ever penalties levied in Colorado for air quality
violations against Cemex, Inc is appropriate.
“The magnitude of the penalty accurately reflects the
significance of the negative impacts to the community,” said
Chuck Stout, BCPH Director. “There is no argument about the
level of harm to Boulder County’s sense of mental and social
well-being, given the uncertainties associated with living
and working adjacent to an industrial plant that has
operated with disregard for the requirements established in
its regulatory permit.”
BCPH has been a key participant in nearly all of the
settlement discussions and has identified numerous
violations, including those leading to a $280,000 fine
issued in 2003. Going forward, public health staff will
continue to conduct quarterly, unannounced inspections in
addition to the annual state inspection, as well as provide
the community access to emissions data online.
“We are pleased that nearly $1 million of the penalty
will be used toward projects that will result in a
significant environmental or public health benefit. While
the funds may be spent outside of Boulder County, we expect
that the bulk of the funding will be used in the St. Vrain
Valley,” said Pam Milmoe, Air/Waste Program Coordinator for
BCPH.
BCPH officials hope that CEMEX will use the settlement as
a catalyst to begin a new commitment to corporate
citizenship that demonstrates accountability for
environmental quality.
“Given the egregious nature of the current violations and
the longstanding history of non-compliance, including
significant violations identified in five of the past six
years, we hope that CEMEX will take this opportunity to
demonstrate a new commitment to the community,” Stout said.
“Now that this set of violations is settled, we look forward
to the development of a partnership with CEMEX that will
balance the company’s desire for productivity and
profitability with environmental sustainability and
community accountability.”
In order to assure the health and safety of the
community, BCPH suggests the following recommendations to
CEMEX:
- Voluntarily extend the moratorium on the use of
waste tires as fuel from the required one year to three
years.
- Enhance its current Environmental Compliance team
with trained and experienced personnel in order to
ensure full compliance with all regulatory requirements.
As a part of the $500,000 obligation to finance
Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEP):
- Install a network of real-time surveillance
cameras that will allow residents to view plant
operations online.
- Hire an independent auditor to frequently
inspect, monitor, and recommend improvements to
plant operations.
- Create a committee composed of community
residents and experts to recommend a range of
environmentally beneficial projects that could be
funded with the remainder of the $500,000
assessment.
- Abandon the purchase of ambient air quality monitors
due to the limited funding and inadequacy in
demonstrating compliance with applicable regulations.
Instead, the $200,000 designated for this use should be
used for purchase of surveillance cameras that can
adequately reveal opacity violations.
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