Jacksonville Lime

[sheclown]

What do we know?  They are setting up to be the first lime manufacturing facility in Florida, but the company is not without controversy 

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EPA Reaches Final Agreement with Carmeuse Lime to ....

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EPA Reaches Final Agreement with Carmeuse Lime to Control Dust from its Chicago Plant

Release Date: 10/31/2012
Contact Information: Anne Rowan, 312-353-9391, rowan.anne@epa.gov

Chicago (Oct. 31, 2012 )--The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced a consent decree with Carmeuse Lime, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to resolve Clean Air Act violations at the company's Chicago lime manufacturing facility. The company will pay a $350,000 fine and spend $125,000 to replace windows at residences primarily in Chicago’s East Side neighborhood.

EPA and the city of Chicago conducted a joint investigation at the Carmeuse facility in response to complaints from nearby residents about excessive dust. The investigation revealed that poor maintenance at the facility allowed dust to be released to the surrounding neighborhood.

The consent decree requires Carmeuse to upgrade and replace equipment and to improve maintenance and housekeeping practices. These changes will be incorporated in the facility's air permit to dramatically reduce the amount of dust released into the neighborhood.

Under terms of the consent decree, Carmeuse will pay for the installation of new energy-efficient windows in homes that currently have window frames with lead-based paint. The replacement windows will be installed in the homes of low-income residents with young children to reduce the risk of lead exposure.

Carmeuse is a major lime producer, with 35 facilities in the United States and Canada. For information, go to www.epa.gov/region5/air/enforce/carmeuse.html.

[sheclown]

SUBSCRIBER CONTENT:  Jun 23, 2008, 12:00am EDT

EPA settles suit but gives Butler, Ky.-based Carmeuse Lime and Stone Inc. $100K penalty
 
       
Staff Business Courier
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to drop a lawsuit against Carmeuse Lime and Stone Inc. for alleged Clean Air Act violations at its Butler, Ky., lime plant in exchange for the company's payment of a $100,000 civil penalty.

The proposed consent decree would settle the lawsuit under which the agency was seeking $100 million in fines over 10 years. The EPA charged that Carmeuse - formerly known as Dravo Lime - burned fuel in its Black River lime kilns in Pendleton County that exceeded sulfur-content limits. Paradoxically, the Black River plant produces lime that is used in so-called "scrubbers" at coal-burning power plants that reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky's Northern Division at Covington in May. The proposed consent decree also was filed at that time and awaits court approval after a public comment period.

Pittsburgh-based Carmeuse, a unit of Belgium's Carmeuse Group, contends that it was entitled to burn higher-sulfur-content fuel based on testing conducted in 1995, according to the consent decree, which states that it does not constitute an admission of liability by the company.

Dave Cooper, chairman of the Bluegrass Group of the Cumberland Chapter of the Sierra Club in Lexington, said he's not familiar with the Carmeuse lawsuit but that, in general, mining companies frequently are given relatively minor fines for violations of antipollution laws. They are big contributors to politicians in Kentucky and West Virginia, Cooper said, and as a result face reduced enforcement and low penalties when they are prosecuted.

"It happens all the time," he said. "They negotiate and get a lower fine. Corporations have a lot of power and influence."

Stephen Smith, Carmeuse's deputy general counsel and environmental director, said the fines sought in the lawsuit are the maximum under the law, which can be "enormous" when accumulated over time, but that the EPA concluded after an investigation that $100,000 was appropriate.

Carmeuse thought it had the authority to burn higher-sulfur petcoke as fuel under permits issued by the Kentucky Division of Air Quality, he said. But the word "petcoke" was never mentioned in the permit language, and the EPA disagreed. Petcoke is a carbon-based oil refinery byproduct.

"We thought we were on the same page," Smith said.

Carmeuse stopped burning petcoke, and it has agreed not to resume burning it without specific permission, he said.

http://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2008/06/23/story16.html?page=all

[sheclown]

The company will be building new 12 story kilns, it will be employing 22 people at an average of 55k per year.   The city gave the company about 1 million in tax abatement.

[thelakelander]

Where will this facility be?  At the Keystone Terminal off Talleyrand? EPA issues aside, 1 million in tax abatement for $55k per year jobs is a better deal for taxpayers than subsidizing nearly $2 million in mobility fee waivers last year to 7-11.

[Charles Hunter]

Yes, this will be at the Keystone Terminal off Talleyrand (actually, Wigmore).  They propose to bring in raw limestone via ship, and truck out the finished lime.

[sandyshoes]

  oh, dang...ever since I read the title of this thread I've craved a Mojito.