In the wake of a settlement to resolve violations of the federal Clean Air Act, a spokeswoman for Holcim, which operates a cement manufacturing plant east of Hagerstown, said the company is weighing its options on how to proceed.
"There are a few options that are out there for us," Holcim spokeswoman Robin DeCarlo said Thursday. "They're outlined in the consent decree."
The proposed consent decree, filed July 11 in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, allows 30 days for public comment before final court approval, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which announced the settlement.
"Once that comment period has passed or closed, we'll get that feedback," DeCarlo said.
The owners of Holcim (US) Inc. and the plant's former owners, St. Lawrence Cement Co., have agreed to pay a $700,000 civil citation and develop a mitigation project to reduce emissions of various pollutants through the replacement of outdated equipment to comply with federal regulations, the EPA said.
The proposed settlement provides Holcim with three options to achieve compliance, two of which would require the company to make kiln changes at its Security Road plant to lower sulfur dioxide and/or nitrogen oxide emissions by September 2016.
The third option would call for the Hagerstown plant to be shut down and all permits relinquished by Sept. 9, 2015, according to the proposed settlement.
Officials with the EPA and Maryland Department of the Environment said Holcim has until July 2014 to decide which option to pursue.
"It's quite a lengthy process to get to that point," DeCarlo said.
Also part of the judgment, Holcim, which employs about 100 people at the Hagerstown plant, will be required to install and operate up-to-date technology to control sulfur-dioxide emissions, and regularly report to the government and operate continuous emissions monitoring.
Possible plant expansion?
An EPA webpage containing information about Holcim's settlement states that the company "has agreed to invest approximately $20 million or more to resolve violations of the Clean Air Act."
Washington County officials have had discussions with Holcim representatives in recent months about the company's future plans, but several county commissioners and an economic development official asked Thursday had few details to share.
Commissioner John F. Barr said Holcim is considering a plant expansion that would resolve its compliance issues with the EPA. It appears the company plans to stay in the county, "which is good news," Barr said.
"We can't really share any details at this point because we don't really know that many details," he said.
Barr said he met a trio of Holcim officials at the county's administrative building a couple of weeks ago, when they came to meet with County Administrator Gregory B. Murray, who later shared some information with the five commissioners about his discussions at a closed session.
"It was through the county administrator that the commissioners got whatever information that we have," Barr said.
Ron Bowers, vice chairman of the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission, acknowledged that the EDC has talked to Holcim about a possible expansion, but he said he "can t go into what was discussed."
"The EDC, with the commissioners, have had a site visit and had some thorough discussions with Holcim, and there's been other discussions," Bowers said.
