The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has approved our plan to modernize the existing Lafarge Ravena plant. This is a critical and exciting step that will allow us to upgrade our operation, protect and create jobs, and further improve the overall environmental performance of the facility.

The DEC accepted Lafarge’s Final Environmental Impact Statement on July 9 and issued the permits on July 19.

We would like to thank the public, advocates, and community and business leaders for their widespread support throughout this effort.

Renovating the Ravena plant will make it the most advanced cement facility in New York State, and keep us competitive in the future. For three years we have worked weith the DEC and the community to make this
project the best that it can be.

In 2008, we submitted a proposal to replace our existing wet process cement kilns with a cleaner, more efficient, single dry process cement kiln, to the DEC.

The new process will reduce specific air emissions and add continuous monitoring systems, ensuring compliance with stringent emission limits. The dry kiln technology will also reduce fuel use and produce less solid waste, while using less water, and allowing zero wastewater discharges. Our new facility will be, simply put, even more efficient.

The modernization project is anticipated to protect the 180 existing union and non-union jobs at the Ravena plant, while creating nearly 800 additional temporary jobs during construction.

The new facility is scheduled for completion in 2014, following the formal approval of the project by the Lafarge North America Board of Directors.

The permit documents can be viewed here.

Hard copies of the documents are also available at the Coeyman’s, Stuyvesant, Chatham, Kinderhook, Schodack, and New Baltimore town halls and the Kinderhook Memorial, North Chatham Free, RCS Community, Chatham Public, and Valatie Free libraries.

Last week, employees from Lafarge Ravena took time out of their busy schedules to give back to the local community.

Twice a year, as many as 30 Lafarge workers donate blood for the American Red Cross Blood Services Division for the Albany District. Also, twice a year, a dozen Lafarge workers clean up trash along 1.5 miles of Rt. 9W and another mile of Rt. 144.

One group made blood donations as part of the American Red Cross’ annual blood drive at the plant.

A separate group of employees volunteered to clean up Route 9W in the town of Coeymans as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program.

It was a productive outing and I know we all look forward to our next one.

I recently delivered a presentation at the Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce where I reviewed the plans for the proposed Lafarge plant modernization along with the benefits it will offer to the Ravena community and the environment. To learn more about the project click here.

It was a great opportunity, with a great turnout.

I’d like to thank the Chamber and guests for giving me a chance to share this exciting information in their public forum.

Frequent visitors to the LafargeRavenaFacts.com website may notice a couple minor changes to the home page.

The first new item is the green “What is Modernization?” pop-up button, located in the top left corner. This button is the fastest way to learn more about the Ravena Plant’s plans to modernize. Simply click the button to get a complete at-a-glance summary of the proposed modernization plans, as well as the potential economic and environmental benefits the new plant will offer.

For more information about the DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) click the blue banner that runs along the top of the home page. Once clicked you’ll have access to the following:

And as always you can use the handy search box located about halfway down the left navigational panel to search for any key terms, photos, or facts you may want to find.

Have a quick look at the new features, and enjoy!

A few people attending last week’s DEC public information meeting requested copies of the presentation we made about our proposed Ravena Plant Modernization Project.

We thought it might be helpful to post that presentation here for easy viewing and downloading.

Also, the DEC agreed to let us post their presentation from the meeting.

You can continue to access both of these presentations using the DEC’s public information meeting link found in the navigation bar on the left side of this page.
The DEC’s presentation came in two parts. One on the regulatory process and the other on the air permit. We combined them here for easier access.

If you have any questions about Lafarge Ravena’s presentation, please contact us at lafargeravenafacts@lafarge-na.com.