[NEWS] Indiana Cement Plant Loses Appeal to Burn Hazardous Waste
– by Madeleine Winer, August 18, 2016, Courier Journal
Essroc Cement Plant (Matt Stone/Courier Journal)
The cement plant in southern Indiana that wants to burn hazardous waste for fuel will have to apply for rezoning.
After a more than three-hour hearing, the Clark County Board of Zoning Appeals decided to uphold a letter written by the president of the plan commission and acting executive director that deemed an earlier decision to allow the Essroc to burn alternative fuel as void.
“I’m disappointed in the decision,” said Jeremy Black, manager at Essroc’s plant in Speed, Indiana, “but I’m confident that we’ve got other means to obtain the required authorization to continue with the project.”
Essroc argued in a filing with the Clark County Board of Zoning Appeals that county officials were wrong to reverse an earlier determination that no zoning changes were needed for it to burn the chemical waste.
The Courier-Journal reported on June 24 that the Speed plant’s plans to burn hazardous waste for fuel were thrown into disarray with the reversal of a December 2015 zoning determination that had been favorable to the company. County officials have claimed they were misled by the company – that they subsequently learned the company has applied for hazardous waste storage permits from Indiana regulators.
