Ecocem US plant faces possible planning setback

Irish cement maker Ecocem's proposed manufacturing plant in San Francisco Bay faces a potential planning setback after receiving almost 500 submissions challenging its environmental impact report.

Ecocem is seeking permission for a $50 million (€45 million) grinding plant in Vallejo, close to San Francisco, in the group's first venture in the United States, but the town's residents are objecting to the proposal on environmental grounds.

According to local reports, between 400 and 500 people and organisations have questioned the company’s assessment of the factory’s likely impact on the environment, which could force Vallejo’s council to delay a decision on planning permission until 2016.

The council was hoping to have cleared all planning hurdles by this month, but local sources say the volume of questions posed during a 60-day public consultation period means the deadline could be pushed back to March.

California law requires Ecocem's subsidiary, Orcem Americas, which is directly responsible for the project, to answer the questions before preparing a final environmental impact report.

The city's Architectural Heritage and Landmarks Commission will have to decide whether the buildings that would be knocked to make way for the plant are historic, which is likely to happen this month.

The proposal will then have to pass both the Vallejo Planning Commission and then get the support of a majority of councillors before it can get the go ahead.

According to local activist Peter Brooks, a group of citizens recently began a petition to remove four council members said to favour Ecocem's project.

He also said that influential US environmental group the Sierra Club wrote to the city’s authorities expressing concerns about the plans.

Site of flour mill

The “green cement” manufacturer wants to build the plant on the site of an old flour mill in the city’s harbour. It would grind furnace slag from iron smelting that is then used as a component in cement. The process cuts greenhouse gas emissions from normal cement manufacture by 90 per cent.

Nobody from the group was available for comment on Thursday. However, its chief executive, Donal Ó Riain, has already said it has been working on the Vallejo project for two years and has more than complied with local planning and environmental laws.

Locals fear the plant would lead to 300 truck journeys a day through a residential neighbourhood and boost diesel and dust emissions in the area.

The company has said most truck journeys would be limited to between 3am and 3pm.