Judge denies claim seeking to prevent Ste. Gen cement plant

CLAYTON, Mo. -- The Missouri Land Reclamation Commission did not violate the state's open meeting laws when it issued a permit allowing Holcim Inc. to mine limestone at a Ste. Genevieve County quarry as part of its plans to build the nation's largest cement plant, a judge has ruled.

St. Louis County Circuit Judge Bernhardt C. Drumm Jr.'s ruling was made public Saturday and reported in a copyright story by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on its Web site.

Four environmental groups -- the Webster Groves Nature Study Society, the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, the American Bottom Conservancy and the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club -- challenged the permit in August, shortly after it was granted.

The groups claimed Dundee, Mich.-based Holcim would destroy 1,600 acres of forest and create air pollution in the St. Louis area. They also argued the law used to grant the permit was unconstitutional and that closed meetings held before the vote on the permit were illegal.

Drumm ruled that the key elements of the commission were constitutional and the closed meetings were permissible because of the litigation threat.

Holcim says the $600 million plant would be built in "an environmentally sound manner," including a 2,200-acre buffer zone around the plant.

Plans call for the plant to be built in a Ste. Genevieve County area known as Lee Island, about 45 miles south of St. Louis. The plant would make more than 4 million tons of cement each year and employ about 200 people.

Edward J. "Ted" Heisel, executive director of the Coalition for the Environment, said he was disappointed in Drumm's ruling. He withheld comment on a possible appeal until he studies the decision.