(LOS ANGELES - Jan. 15, 2009) In the largest settlement yet in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ongoing cement kiln enforcement initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice, on behalf of the EPA, today lodged a consent decree with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, resolving Clean Air Act claims against CEMEX California Cement LLC with respect to the company's Victorville, Calif., Portland cement plant.

The settlement will resolve claims asserted in a 2007 complaint that CEMEX is releasing pollutants to the air, including nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide, without required permits setting emission limits under the Clean Air Act. Under the terms of the settlement, CEMEX must meet new limits for these pollutants at the Victorville plant, one of the largest cement plants in the United States, including stringent new limits for nitrogen oxide that will reduce emissions by 1890 tons per year, a nearly 40 percent reduction. The cement manufacturer must also pay a $2 million civil penalty EPA estimates that achieving and maintaining compliance with the new emission limits, depending on the control technology used, could cost CEMEX millions of dollars.

"This settlement will result in cleaner air for California," said Deborah Jordan, director of the EPA's Air Division in the Pacific Southwest region. "This facility is the largest source of nitrogen oxide-an air pollutant that causes smog-in California, so the state-of-the-art air pollution controls that CEMEX is installing will have a significant impact on air quality."

• Press Release (1/15/09)
• Cemex California Consent Decree and Complaint

For additional information, contact:

Shaun Burke
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2242A)
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460-0001
(202) 564-1039
burke.shaun@epa.gov