skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

New York’s Largest Mercury Polluter Agrees to Settlement

play audio
Play

Friday, January 22, 2010   

NEW YORK, NY - The air surrounding the Lafarge Cement plant in Ravena, New York, and Lafarge plants in 11 other states, will be cleaner under a settlement announced Thursday by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Lafarge is agreeing to pay $5 million in fines and to cease emitting 35,000 tons of pollution nationwide each year.

Keri Powell, staff attorney for EarthJustice, says nitrogen oxide emissions at the Ravena plant are to be cut by 30 percent and sulfur dioxide by as much as 80 percent.

"The settlement is groundbreaking because it marks the first time that cement plants are being required to install serious air pollution control equipment."

The settlement follows federal and state lawsuits, which charged Lafarge with violating the Clean Air Act, adds Powell.

"What they found was that Lafarge had made changes to the plant that caused it to significantly increase air pollution, but they hadn't followed the law and installed up-to-date controls. We know that these plants present a huge public health problem; it's undeniable because there's so much air pollution coming out of their stacks."

Under terms of the settlement, Lafarge must significantly upgrade the air pollution controls at the Ravena site and also at cement plants in 11 other states. A company spokesperson was not available for comment. Lafarge's Ravena plant is the largest emitter of Mercury in New York State. The settlement follows a federal proposal to regulate mercury emissions from cement plants, and the EPA is expected to issue the rules this summer.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021