Cement Americas provides comprehensive coverage of the North and South American cement markets from raw material extraction to delivery and tranportation to end user.
Issue link: https://cement.epubxp.com/i/442937
www.cementamericas.com • Winter 2015 • CEMENT AMERICAS 13 FEATURE PCA/CA AWARDS structed a completely enclosed clinker storage system that includes three clinker silos. The new clinker silos were built in order to reduce the exposure of clinker to the wind and weather. The multi-million dollar con- struction of the clinker storage silos goes above and beyond current envi- ronmental regulations. With these new clinker silos, Cemex hopes to re- duce approximately seven tons of permitted particulate matter emis- sions per year. Additionally, the plant replaced their old baghouse with one that uses modern technology, using pulse jets and negative pressure with modern fabric filters and a stack vent to en- hance dust control practices. LAND STEWARDSHIP Winner: St Marys Cement, Charlevoix, Mich. The Land Stewardship category rec- ognizes efforts to protect and en- hance the surrounding land. Several St. Marys outreach initiatives in 2013 involved partnerships with the com- munity on biodiversity conservation efforts. These included U.S.-31 Corri- dor Enhancement Project, and the plant's fourth eagle release. Other community related efforts include the Phragmites Removal Project and the Rails to Trails Project. In 2013, St Marys Cement was granted a permit by the Michigan De- partment of Environmental Quality, which allowed the plant to discontinue the use of Lake Michigan water for process noncontract cooling and con- sumptive needs, and instead use the plants own quarry dewatering water. This means that 500 million-plus gal- lons of water will no longer be drawn from Lake Michigan annually. Additionally, in September 2013, St Marys Cement announced that the plant achieved recertification in all three ISO systems. LAND STEWARDSHIP Finalist: Cemex USA, Demopolis, Ala. Cemex Demopolis actively manages approximately 1,620 acres for wildlife conservation. The mission of Cemex's Wildlife at Work program is to re- sponsibly manage the land within their operations to protect and en- hance ecosystems and biodiversity. Partnering with Demopolis High School's Industrial Arts class, nest boxes were built and installed for wood ducks and song birds to pro- vide supplemental nesting habitat along the quarry pond and open grassy areas of the property. The Cemex Demopolis wildlife team is monitoring the seven wood duck boxes and 16 songbird boxes to en- sure that they are successful, with many years of successful clutch hatches as of spring 2014. All of the wood duck boxes have been utilized by wood ducks, and approximately half of the songbird boxes have also been utilized. In November 2013, the Demopolis plant was awarded the Wildlife Habitat St. Marys Cement's Charlevoix, Mich., plant was also a runner up for the Environmental Performance Award. The plant won the Land Stewardship Award. Land Stewardship winner: St. Marys Cement.