Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300017
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN MCCUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The modernization will decrease dust pollution at the Botetourt County plant by 73 percent within two years, according to general manager Aris Papadopoulos, and also will mean fewer jobs.
"It's something that the plant needed and the community wanted," Papadopoulos said in an interview.
County residents grew concerned about pollution at the kiln when, under other owners two years ago, the company proposed burning hazardous waste as a fuel. That proposal was dropped.
Under the contract, with Fuller Co. of Allentown, Pa., half of the plant, built more than 40 years ago, will be shut down. The other half, built about 20 years ago, will be modernized, Papadopoulos said. The project will cost $38 million and is scheduled for completion in 1996.
Production levels will remain the same, while energy consumption will be reduced by a third, Papadopoulos said. The plant burns coal to fire five kilns that produce 4,000 tons of cement daily.
The work force will be reduced from about 200 to 165, largely through attrition, he said.
Roanoke Cement is the only cement plant in Virginia, and has customers in the entire state, much of North Carolina and West Virginia.
The plant received its environmental permit, which allows it to discharge air and water pollutants and manage its waste, in July.
by CNB