Neighbors and local officials are lining up to demand sharp state restrictions on a pollution permit for the Cemex factory in Boulder County, saying current operations at the plant near Lyons are a menace to residents and adding to climate change.
Those questioning Cemex cement operations packed a state air pollution permit renewal hearing Friday evening, citing lax fines for consistent Cemex violations and the hazards of a major greenhouse gas emitter in a suburban area.
Cemex “has been flying under the radar for decades” despite numerous violations of air pollution regulations, said Sarah Lorang, a leader of an advocacy group Good Neighbors of Lyons. The group was among those trying to persuade Boulder County officials to deny renewal of a permit for Cemex’s materials mining operation across Colorado 66 from the cement plant, in late 2022.
“It’s time to make meaningful modifications” to the company’s permits, she said.
Cemex officials and employees, meanwhile, used their time in the hearing to spotlight the cement plant as a major employer for Boulder County, a source of charitable spending, and a key supplier of building materials used in crucial infrastructure throughout Colorado.
☀️ READ MORE
Since 2022, Cemex has modernized operations at the plant to make 95% of its production Portland cement, which creates fewer carbon dioxide emissions, a Cemex official said at the hearing.
With more than 100 union jobs for community residents, Cemex is “committed to responsible production practices, environmental protection and sustainability,” communications manager Maryssa Silva said in a statement before the hearing.
“I routinely see Cemex support environmental goals, and the priority placed on quickly responding to any potential environmental incident,” plant worker Francisco javier Sanchez Lopez said in a testimonial statement to the commission.
Local officials, who often back companies with large employment and tax contributions, in this case joined the list of voices speaking out against Cemex as a detriment to the community.
Rep. Junie Joseph, a Boulder Democrat, urged the Air Quality Control Commission and the Air Pollution Control Division staff to rewrite Cemex’s permit to demand continuous air monitoring visible to the public, enhanced dust control and tougher accountability measures for violations.
Lyons Mayor Hollie Rogin was among those accusing Cemex, which has more than $15 billion in annual worldwide revenues, of cynically paying to play, taking minimal state or federal enforcement as a cost of doing business.
No amount of library donations is going to clear the air.
— Rene Doubleday, Boulder County neighbor to Cemex
“Our concern is not Cemex’s shareholder satisfaction, it’s the health of our community,” Rogin said in testimony.
“No amount of library donations is going to clear the air,” resident Rene Doubleday said at the hearing.
Advocates seeking modifications in the permit renewal, under Title V of the U.S. Clean Air Act, said the air pollution division has 30 days to modify and approve or deny the permit. The EPA then has 45 days to seek changes or otherwise respond. The advocates can then use 60 days to appeal permit provisions they object to.
There are only three cement factories in Colorado, in Lyons, Florence and Pueblo. The Cemex Lyons plant reported about 320,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2022, according to EPA records, by far the largest single emitter in Boulder County and putting it alongside the other cement plants, the Suncor refinery in Adams County, and fossil fuel power plants as the largest single-source carbon emitters in Colorado.
Neighbors also complain that periodic debris from the kiln, from past mining activities and from heavy truck traffic on gravel roads create “Dust Bowl” conditions for neighbors. In 2022, the neighbors and the county commissioners rejected a proposed deal to continue mining operations, which would have made Cemex-owned acreage into county open space in exchange for a renewed mining permit.
Cemex said at the time it would have to greatly increase truck traffic in the area to bring outside cement-making materials to the kiln. Neighbors are now objecting to that traffic and other plant expansions as changes in Cemex’s county nonconforming land use permit, as another way of challenging ongoing Cemex operations.
Rogin noted the Boulder County Public Health office also has urged tougher Cemex permit provisions.
“Cemex should absolutely be held to the best available standards for emissions controls and unbiased reporting,” Rogin said. “And they should be encouraged via significant violation fines to make the necessary capital improvements in order to limit their emissions.”