Stop This Cement Plant
Connecticut should do everything possible to block construction of a massive coal-burning cement plant on the Hudson River in New York state.
If the $320 million project proceeds, it would feature a smokestack twice the height of the Statue of Liberty that would send toxic emissions into Connecticut, which already has some of the foulest air in the nation.
St. Lawrence Cement, a Canadian company, wants its proposed Greenport plant to replace an aging facility in nearby Catskill. It maintains that the new plant would be more efficient and would meet environmental laws.
However, the Greenport colossus would be one of the largest cement factories ever built in North America. It would emit more pollution simply because of its size. For example, it would give off an estimated 4,000 tons of smog-causing nitrogen oxides a year, the equivalent of the exhaust from 200,000 cars.
That threat should be of particular concern to Connecticut, which has high rates of respiratory ailments, including asthma, that are aggravated by airborne irritants.
Regulators in New York have scheduled hearings on the St. Lawrence proposal. They ought to examine every aspect, including the fact that St. Lawrence Cement's parent, Switzerland-based Holcim, has been fined repeatedly for environmental violations at its other American cement sites.
Scenic Hudson Inc., an environmental group that opposes the project, takes the reasonable position that if a cement plant is built, it should be smaller and use cleaner fuel.
Meanwhile, Gov. John G. Rowland ought to urge his Republican colleague, New York Gov. George Pataki, to reject the current proposal. Mr. Pataki has not yet taken a stand on the cement plant.
Mr. Rowland and Mr. Pataki support efforts to clean up Midwestern power plants that spew out toxic pollutants that drift eastward over New York and New England. It would be ironic if they sat by while a more immediate threat rose in their own backyard on the banks of the Hudson River.
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