Stop St. Lawrence Cement!

Over the past 10 years, St. Lawrence Cement and its parent companies have left a trail of air pollution, water pollution, industrial accidents, and price fixing at their 17 facilities across North America.

Investigations and enforcement actions by State agencies, the EPA, the U.S. Justice Department, and Canadian authorities have resulted in millions of dollars in fines against SLC, Holnam and Holderbank. These violations have been fully documented in national newspapers, court documents, and government records.

Such activities represent a direct threat to the health and future of tens of thousands of people on our continent. The chairman of the Ontario Environmental Appeals Board summed this history up when he stated that "St. Lawrence Cement has not demonstrated an acceptable track record." A member of Canadian Provincial Parliament described SLC as "a major industrial polluter."

Most recently, SLC has announced plans to build a massive, 2-million-ton per year cement plant in Columbia County. The plant would use a 19th Century fuel source -- coal. It would also include a 40-story smokestack, 2 miles of conveyor belts, a 1200-acre mine, and an enormous new barge facility with open piles of coal and slag right next to a proposed public park.

SLC also has constructed a major new slag plant in South Camden, New Jersey. On Friday, April 20th, 2001, a Federal judge ordered that the plant could not be opened, because the siting of the facility violated the civil rights of Camden's minority community, who have suffered the environmental injustice of a disproportionate number of industrial polluters in the community. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling has already threatened that landmark Federal ruling.

We, the undersigned, thus call on you to do everything in your power to help us stop St. Lawrence Cement's reckless behavior by prevent the opening of these two new plants proposed for Greenport/Hudson and South Camden. We look forward to working with you to bring sustainable, appropriate economic development free of environmental hazards to our communities