Rock Products is the aggregates industry's leading source for market analysis and technology solutions, delivering critical content focusing on aggregates-processing equipment; operational efficiencies; management best practices; comprehensive market
Issue link: https://rock.epubxp.com/i/673147
www.rockproducts.com ROCK products • May 2016 • 39 Cemex acquired Empresas Tohteca, the second-largest port- land cement producer in Mexico in 1989, making Cemex the largest producer in that country with 18.3 million-tpy capac- ity. In 1991, the company announced it would spend about $1 billion to expand some of it plants and build two new ones to increase the company's production capacity 35 percent. In 1992, Cemex acquired two Spanish cement companies, total- ing 28 percent of that country's cement market. At the same time the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that the U.S. cement industry had been materially injured by imports of cement and clinker from Mexico. Soon after, the U.S. Department of Commerce ruled that the Mexican cement industry was selling cement in America at less than fair value. In mid-1990, American and Mexican cement producers testified before the ITC on the alleged cement dumping. The Commerce Department also began investigating charges of dumping against Japan filed by two California cement pro- ducers. By the end of 1990, a preliminary determination was made that Japan was dumping product. In 1991, three Florida-based cement manufacturers filed an anti-dumping and countervailing duty petition with the ITC against imports of cement into that state from Venezuela. A year later, Venezuelan cement producers signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that eliminated the dumping of cement into Florida and the rest of the country. On the environmental front, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed on an aggressive "no net loss" policy on wetlands in early 1990, with EPA targeting gravel producers as prime offenders. To those ends, Vulcan Materials Co.'s Sanders quarry in Warren- ton, Va., became the first site in the nation to be certified by the Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Council as a sanctioned enhanced habitat for indigenous wildlife in 1990. President Bush signed the Clean Air Act of 1990, a compre- hensive updating of the original Act of 1970. The NAA sent an angry letter to the EPA in early 1991 protesting the inclusion of stone quarries and sand and gravel operations in the agen- cy's draft list of hazardous air pollution-producing facilities under the new act. In addition, cement producers began to worry about impend- ing attacks by environmentally minded lawmakers who per- ceived cement production to be a major source of CO 2 , one of the principal "greenhouse gases" thought to contribute to global warming and planet-wide climate changes. It is no wonder that many producers felt that the new "green move- ment" refused to work with industry to solve environmental difficulties or review scientific data. Cement producers who wanted to use waste fuel were run- ning into their own problems. In 1990, Ash Grove Cement Co. developed an environmentally sound energy-recovery system from solid hazardous waste-derived fuel. The meth- od involved introducing waste fuel directly into the middle of a long kiln, where gas temperatures are sufficiently high to assure complete destruction. By the end of 1990, a Washington, D.C., court forced the EPA to finalize regulations on the use of hazardous waste-based fuel in cement kilns and other industrial furnaces. Finally, in 1992, the EPA said it had no data indicating emissions from hazardous waste burning in cement kilns posed a threat to human health or the environment. In 1992, technology was made available that allowed the use of whole tires as a low-cost source for kiln energy for long kilns. Tires were bundled and introduced into the calcining tone of the kiln. The same year, a bulk tire feeder was con- structed for cement kilns that was controlled by a program- mable logic controller. To handle and sometimes combat the seemingly endless number of government-related attacks the cement indus- try had to endure, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) approved a dramatic restructuring that included merging with the American Cement Alliance and American Con- crete Paving Association, developing an aggressive lobby- ing effort; increasing membership dues; and expanding its research and technical services group. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) issued its final rule for identifying mines with a "pattern of viola- tions" in 1989. Once such a notice is issued, any inspection within 90 days that revealed another significant violation resulted in an order to withdraw all persons from the affect- ed area of operation until the violation was abated.