Cement firm to face questions about dust
The Maidencreek Township supervisors said they will ask Lehigh Cement Co. to disclose the contents of dust emitted from its plant in the township.
During a meeting Thursday night, Buena Vista Road resident John C. Walters said that powder from the plant covered his neighborhood in about an eighth of an inch of dust Nov. 4. During a similar event Sept. 24, crushed limestone dust covered about 10 residences in the neighborhood. The township cited Lehigh Cement and contacted the federal Environmental Protection Agency after that incident, said Roy H. Timpe, chairman of the supervisors. The state Department of Environmental Protection also cited the company. David A. Tranquillo, who also lives along Buena Vista Road, said test results showing that the dust from the earlier incident contained high levels of arsenic. He told the supervisors that the neighborhood’s soil should be tested. No officials from Lehigh Cement attended Thursday’s meeting.
When contacted Friday, an official from the company’s corporate headquarters in Allentown said the company contacted DEP immediately to report the second incident at the plant, which is located in the Evansville section of Maidencreek. "We went through an investigation to find out what it was," said Timothy L. Matz, corporate environmental manager. "The general consensus was that nothing out of the ordinary happened."
Published under Cement News
