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August 2006
No. 370

Agreement Reached on Mountain Cement

An agreement by Mountain Cement Co., the Sierra Club and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance signed May 31 will not hinder the cement company's plans for a new plant.

The agreement commits the company to installing a new baghouse on Kiln No. 2 by November 2007. A new baghouse will cost about $5 billion but will be more efficient in controlling emissions than the current electrostatic precipitator currently used on Kiln No. 2.

In the fall of 2004, Biodiversity Conservation Alliance served notice to the Mountain Cement Co. that they would seek legal action if the company continued in what they felt was a violation of emission control guidelines.

Biodiversity and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit and a trial began in late October of last year. Midway through the trial, Mountain Cement and the two groups reached a settlement where the company would install a baghouse onto Kiln 2 to control the emissions. Nearly seven months later, Mountain Cement, the Sierra Club and Biodiversity all signed on the dotted line to complete the agreement.

Mountain Cement runs two kilns at their plant south of Laramie off of Highway 287. Kiln No. 1 collects dust in a baghouse and Kiln No. 2 collects dust with an electrostatic precipitator.

If all goes well, the new plant will go online in 2009. It will completely replace the Kiln No. 1 system and Kiln No. 2 system. The new kiln system will be more energy efficient and will b

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