Environmentalist and Economist Concerns with Cement Regulations

There has been a lot of talk lately about the environmentally-conscious regulations that have been placed on the U.S. cement industry. It's a well-known fact that cement manufacturers are one of the primary contributors to CO2 emissions due to the nature of the industry, so cement manufacturing and shipping companies worldwide, such as Seament Holding, have been taking strides to try to reduce the impact on the environment and on their workers.

Environmentalists speculate that should they delay the crackdown on the regulations two years, as they have been considering, it could make for increased health risks for cement factory workers. The standards to be set are geared to reduce the amount of mercury, acid gases, particulate matter, and hydrocarbon emissions. These new rules will alter the methods for monitoring these emissions and the thresholds for the amount that can legally be released.

However, if they opt not to wait the two years, lawmakers fear that the American cement industry will, in turn, be crippled: jobs all across the country will be sacrificed due to the high cost of updating the cement plants. To compensate for the cost, manufacturers will begin to outsource jobs, raise their prices, and potentially close down entirely due to insufficient revenue to cover the new overhead.

But the EPA stands firm. According to their statistics, should the new regulations go into effect immediately, some 960 to 2,500 premature deaths will be prevented along with 1,500 non-fatal heart attacks, 17,000 asthma attacks, and a cumulative 130,000 lost work days.