Displaying items by tag: Fine

Ireland: Quinn Cement Limited has been fined Euro2000 plus costs after the company pleaded guilty to failing to control dust emissions from its plant in Ballyconnell, County Cavan.

Reports of at least three houses and cars in the nearby area being coated in a film of cement dust were made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after a filter bag failed at the plant on 5 – 8 September 2014. An inspector from the EPA subsequently visited the area and took statements from complainants, including an asthmatic who had raised fears in relation to the health impact the dust might have.

At Cavan District Court on 21 May 2015, the court heard how the plant was shut down while the fault was found and rectified. A number of fail-safes have since been employed at the Ballyconnell plant safeguarding against such an occurrence arising again. Judge McLoughlin convicted and fined Quinn Cement Euro2000 on one count of failure to control dust associated with activity, which resulted in an impairment of or an interference to amenities or the environment beyond the installation boundary, subject to licence. A second count was struck out on the agreement that the company also pay costs incurred by the EPA in carrying out its investigation of Euro5570.

India: Delhi Government's Revenue Department has fined Holcim India US$11m for evasion of stamp duty. It also directed the company to pay stamp duty of US$36m and a penalty of US$11m within 30 days for violation of stamp duty. Collector of Stamps (HQ) Lalit Mohan told local media that Holcim India had violated the payment of stamp duty with the merger of Ambuja Cement.

"The stamp duty on the merger order is payable at the rate of 3% on the total amount of US$1.2bn which comes out to be US$36m... The company is required to adjudicate or pay stamp duty within a period of one month which it failed to do," said Lalit Mohan in the order.

In its submission to the Revenue Department, Holcim India stated that there was no transfer of movable and immovable assets from transferor company (Ambuja Cement) with transferee company (Holcim) except shares held by transferor company in other companies have been transferred to transferee company. Subsequently the company did not see itself as liable for stamp duty.

Poland: The Court of Competition and Consumer Protection (SOKiK) has upheld a decision by the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to fine seven cement companies for forming a cartel. However, the SOKiK lowered the total fine from Euro100m to Euro80m. According the UOKiK the cartel fixed prices and divided the Polish market among themselves for at least eleven years.

According to the UOKiK the cartel activities could have had negative consequences for the construction sector and had affected consumers. The cartel had almost 100% share of production and sale of grey cement in Poland.

During the investigation two cartel members decided to co-operate with the UOKiK in exchange for leniency. Therefore UOKiK decided not to fine Lafarge Cement and lowered the fine for Gorazdze Cement. The remaining five cartel members - Grupa Ozarow, Cemex Polska, Dyckerhoff Polska, Cementownia Warta and Cementownia Odra - were fined to the full legal extent, 10% of annual turnover.

US: Holcim (US), the current owner-operator of the Hagerstown cement plant in Hagerstown, Maryland and St. Lawrence Cement, which previously owned the same facility, have agreed to pay a US$700,000 fine and improve emission controls at the facility to settle alleged air pollution violations, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The action against the Hagerstown plant is part of an on-going nationwide EPA effort to tighten pollution controls in the cement industry.

The proposed federal court consent decree requires Holcim to install 'advanced pollution controls' at the plant, Holcim also pledged to spend at least US$150,000 to replace outdated environmental protection equipment.

"It has been a long standing issue and now the company feels that it really is in its best interest to find a resolution," said Holcim spokeswoman Robin DeCarlo.

The Department of Justice filed suit on behalf of EPA in 2011 accusing Holcim and the plant's prior owner, St. Lawrence Cement, of violating the federal Clean Air Act from 2003 to 2007 by modifying the facility's cement kiln in a way that produced 'significant' increased emissions of SO₂.

US: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fined Ash Grove Cement US$2.5m and is forcing the American cement producer to invest US$30m in pollution controls at its plants in nine US states that are alleged to have violated the Clean Air Act.

The EPA and the US Department of Justice announced the penalty jointly on 19 June 2013. The EPA said that the action would reduce thousands of tonnes of harmful pollutants at plants in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Texas. In addition Ash Grove Cement will spend US$750,000 towards mitigating the effects of past excess emissions.

Ash Grove acknowledged the agreement in a statement and said that it is striving to comply with environmental regulations at all its facilities. It disputes that it violated the Clean Air Act, saying it opted to enter this agreement with federal regulators rather than face rising costs in time and financial resources that would have accompanied further discussions with the EPA.

"The agreement with the EPA will allow Ash Grove to move forward and provide an environmentally sustainable product that is the foundation of our economy," said Charles T Sunderland, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.

The EPA said that its agreement with Ash Grove Cement, lodged on 19 June 2013 in the US District Court for the District of Kansas, is the first settlement with a cement producer that also requires injunctive relief and emission limits for particulate matter, a combination of combustion gasses and fine dust. There is a 30-day public comment period before final court approval.

The US$2.5m penalty will be distributed to eight states and one agency that took part in the agreement: Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. Ash Grove will also spend US$750,000 on a project to replace old diesel truck engines at its facilities in Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas, estimated to reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxides by approximately 27t/yr.

India: The Indian Supreme Court (SC) today refused to give interim relief to cement manufacturers in their appeal against the interim penalty imposed on them on charges of forming a cartel, confirmed for now by the Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT). It did, however, delay the deadline for the penalty by over a week.

The CAT had told the companies to pay 10% of the total US$1.1bn penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) by 16 June 2013 and it posted their main appeal for August 2013. The manufacturers appealed against this to the SC. Now the deadline for payment has been moved from Sunday 16 June 2013 until Monday 24 June 2013. However, the court insisted on their complying with the CAT's interim order.

The order was imposed by CCI against 11 major cement producers including ACC, UltraTech and Ambuja and their association. The apex court refused to lift the penalty order or reduce the rate, despite long arguments over two days by senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi for UltraTech Cement and Ranjit Kumar for Jaiprakash Associates. According to the modified order, the amounts shall be deposited with the tribunal and kept in a separate fixed deposit with a nationalised bank. The deposit shall be renewable after six months. The amounts deposited, with interest, shall be dealt with by the tribunal at the time of the disposal of the appeals of the cement companies.

The case was originally filed by the Builders Association of India before the CCI, alleging cartelisation by the cement companies. The director general (investigation) of the CCI found evidence of formation of a cartel by the cement companies, with capacity utilisation held down to control prices. The penalty was calculated on the basis of the annual turnover of the companies in question over a certain period.

India: On 11 June 2013 the Supreme Court admitted the appeals of several cement manufacturers against a Competition Appellate Tribunal (CAT) order, which directed the cement companies to pay a penalty for allegedly forming a cartel. The case is scheduled to come up towards the end of the week ending 14 June 2013 after the reply of the Builders Association of India (BAI).

The cement companies argued that the penalty, fixed ad hoc at the rate of 10% of their worth, was huge and unjustified. If the firms do not pay the penalties, their appeal case (before CAT) will be automatically dismissed, according to the CAT order.

UltraTech Cement Ltd, argued that CCI did not find any prima facie case against the 11 companies picked by the association out of 42 major cement manufacturers but still the CAT imposed a penalty in an interim order. The deadline for payment of the penalties is 16 June 2013.

Among the cement manufacturers that have appealed to the Supreme Court against the CAT order are Jaiprakash Associates, Century Textiles & Industries and Madras Cements.

India: The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPACT) has ordered cement producers to pay 10% of a US$1.15bn fine imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for a price-fixing cartel. The tribunal asked 11 Indian cement producers to pay the fine within 30 days otherwise their appeal against the fine will be dismissed.

COMPAT had reserved its order over a batch of petitions filed by various cement producers and the Cement Manufacturer's Association (CMA) on 18 March 2013 after hearing them on an interim plea. In the petitions, the cement producers had challenged US$1.15bn penalty imposed on them by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and a US$133,000 fine imposed on the CMA. The cement companies charged with cartel behaviour include Lafarge India, India Cement, JP Associates, Binani Cement, Ambuja Cement, Madras Cement and J K Cement.

The CCI had found cement producers were in violation of the provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which deals with anti-competitive agreements, including cartels. The order was passed following probe by CCI Director General (Investigation) on a complaint filed by Builders Association.

US: Lehigh Northeast Cement has been fined US$50,000 by the state of New York for pollution violations relating to historic cement manufacturing at the company's plant in Cementon, also known as Smith's Landing in the state of New York. The site is currently a cement grinding plant.

In assessing the fine, the Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC) agreed to suspend US$10,000 from the total if Lehigh submits clean up and repair plans in the summer of 2013. In 2008, Lehigh was fined US$50,000 for similar problems with cement waste leaking through groundwater into the river from two other sites nearby. The company did not meet all clean-up goals set at that time.

Under a settlement with DEC signed on 8 April 2013 by DEC Regional Director Gene Kelly, Lehigh agreed to submit plans to clean up the sites and halt future leaks. The company also agreed to start using 'low-mercury' water treatment chemicals in its wastewater treatment system and also to begin checking its wastewater for acidity and lead levels.

In return, the company will have additional time to reach river pollution limits set in a DEC pollution permit issued in June 2011. Lehigh had initially contested those limits, but agreed under the settlement to drop its objections.

Lehigh said that historically some of the leaky sites had been capped, while others had not been using 'then-approved or accepted procedures.' The company added that it was working 'to contain and treat the leachate, under guidance and approval from DEC,' including installation of collection basins, and a pump-and-treat system to lower acidity of water before it reaches the river.

US: Cemex has agreed to pay a US$1m fine and to install controls to decrease its emissions of nitrogen oxide (NO_x) at its Lyons cement plant in Colorado to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had accused Cemex of illegally modifying its Lyons plant in a way that increased the amount of NOx the facility released.

"Today's settlement will reduce harmful emissions of nitrogen oxides, which can have serious impacts on respiratory health for communities along Colorado's Front Range," said Cynthia Giles, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. She added that this could improve visibility at the nearby Rocky Mountain National Park.

The US Department of Justice, on behalf of the EPA, filed a complaint against Cemex alleging that between 1997 and 2000 the company unlawfully made modifications at its Lyons plant that resulted in significant net increases of NO_x and particulate matter (PM) emissions. The complaint further alleges that these increased emissions violated the CAA's Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Non-Attainment New Source Review requirements, which state that companies must obtain the necessary permits prior to making modifications at a facility and install and operate required pollution control equipment if modifications will result in increases of certain pollutants.

As part of the settlement, Cemex will install 'Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction' (SNCR) technology at its Lyons facility, which is an advanced pollution control technology designed to reduce NO_x emissions. This will reduce its NO_x emissions by approximately 870 to 1200t/yr. The initial capital cost for installing SNCR technology is approximately US$600,000 and the cost of injecting ammonia into the stack emissions stream, a necessary part of the process, is anticipated to be about US$1.5m/yr.