Colorado air pollution control officials are fining the Cemex cement plant near Lyons another $1.3 million for fugitive dust and emissions in the growing area of Boulder County, on top of earlier fines , at a time when county regulators are asking Cemex to show cause why it should be allowed to stay open.

State inspectors flagged 2021 violations with a $375,000 fine last September, and found similar violations during 2022 and 2023 annual inspections. The new $1.3 million penalty is for those violations in 2022 and 2023, and the state is ordering Cemex to “take quick actions to reduce air pollution and improve compliance.”

About $835,000 of the penalty will go toward environmental justice programs in neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by pollution, the state said, and the rest will go to the general fund.

“We’re pleased the state is taking these violations seriously and escalating their actions accordingly, but fines have clearly not been enough to deter Cemex’s actions,” said Sarah Lorang, a neighbor of the plant who has helped lead community watchdogging of air violations and pushed for closure of the plant. The activists helped force closure of Cemex’s materials mine at Dowe Flats when county commissioners denied the company a permit extension for mining there.

Colorado’s inspections and enforcement actions keep telling Cemex to do better in following existing rules, Lorang said, while neighborhood groups want additional rules added to Cemex air permits, such as full-time emissions monitors on dust and smokestacks, with readings instantly available to the public.

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“The monitors they do have are offline a lot, weirdly,” Lorang said. “We’d like them to mandate actual continuous monitoring. It’s a 55-year-old plant and they haven’t made those capital improvements. If they were actually monitoring what was happening, it would be even worse.”

A Cemex spokesperson responded Thursday, “Cemex has reached an agreement with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, settling alleged regulatory violations dating from 2021 through 2023. While the company has agreed to the terms of the settlement and related fines without admission of liability, Cemex steadfastly maintains that it operates as a responsible environmental steward of the communities in which we operate.”

State officials said in an e-mailed statement that the health department “continues holding Cemex accountable through a new enforcement package. … The enforcement package is the result of the division’s annual Cemex inspection in 2022 and a stack test in 2023.”

Cement plant faces county closure threat

The new fines come as neighbors and Boulder County planning and zoning officials await a response from Cemex in the next two weeks on the county’s attempt to halt all cement production at the Lyons plant .

In April, Boulder County regulators terminated the plant’s right to continue operating, officials said in a letter to the company and a public announcement.

County planning officials said a major increase in truck traffic at the plant is a hazard to county residents and violates terms of the Cemex nonconforming use permit, which allows the industrial plant to operate in an agricultural zone. Cemex had warned they would have to truck in far more material after the Boulder County commissioners declined to renew a permit for the onsite cement materials mine called the Dowe Flats Quarry.

Neighbors and county activists had complained for months to state and local officials about the increased truck traffic and sought an investigation, and the Boulder County Community Planning and Permitting Director Dale Case apparently agreed.

“The director has determined that the right to continue the nonconforming cement plant use has terminated as a result of an increase in truck traffic since the closing of the Dowe Flats Quarry,” the letter to Cemex said. “Specifically … the director has determined that this increase in truck traffic constitutes an enlargement or alteration of the nonconforming use which has the effect of creating a hazard or nuisance off the property, adversely affects the character of the neighborhood,” and has other impacts.

Boulder County officials said Cemex “has 30 days to provide evidence that the director’s determination was incorrect or reduce the enlargement of the cement plant use, or appeal the determination to the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners. Cemex will be able to operate its cement plant under current operating conditions until a final determination is made.”

The neighbor groups expect that rather than walking away from decades of investment Cemex and employees say is vital to the state economy, the will challenge the planning body’s termination, saying it is based on erroneous information.

“The walls are closing in. I wish Cemex would see that,” Lorang said. “They’re picking the kicking and screaming path.”

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.