ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) — Cemex Inc. will invest roughly $10 million to cut alleged emissions of harmful air pollutants at five cement manufacturing plants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced.
“The cement sector is a significant source of air pollution posing real health risks to the communities where they reside, including vulnerable communities across the U.S. who deserve better air quality than they have gotten over the years,” said assistant attorney general John C. Cruden of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Cemex will install pollution control equipment at the facilities throughout the Southeast. The new technology will help reduce emissions of NOx. Additional plans include conduct energy audits at the five plants. Cemex will also pay a $1.69 million civil penalty, the EPA said.
“This settlement requires Cemex to use state-of-the-art technology to reduce harmful air pollution, improving public health in vulnerable communities across the South and Southeast,” said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “EPA is committed to tackling clean air violations at the largest sources, cutting the pollutants that cause respiratory illnesses like asthma.”