Company plans to continue with cement plant project

ST. LOUIS -- Officials at Holcim Inc., the Swiss-based company seeking to build the country's biggest cement plant along the Mississippi River in Ste. Genevieve County, say they're not deterred by a decision that could slow down the $600 million project.

The Missouri Clean Water Commission withdrew last week a water certification the company had already won, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The certification is needed to win approval for the project from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The commission ruled the Missouri Department of Natural Resources failed to hold a required public hearing on the certification and did not require Holcim to provide detailed plans for dealing with wetlands on the project site. The company said it plans to reapply for the certification.

But environmentalists who oppose the project, led by the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, are excited by the decision. The group's policy coordinator, Ted Heisel, said the proposed plant is the top threat to air quality in the St. Louis area.

"This victory is very important for us, but we are by no means at the end of this process," Heisel said. "We're going to keep vigorously opposing this project until Holcim drastically changes its plans or drops out."

The plant, which company officials said could start production within three years, would be located about 40 miles south of St. Louis, employ more than 200 and produce 4.4 million tons of cement a year.

In addition to being the nation's largest, the plant would also be the most environmentally efficient and contain safeguards taken at few cement plants in the world, said Mike Mullin, the head of Holcim's government affairs division.

Most opponents, he said, don't understand how modern the plant will be. Others, he said, "would oppose any project."