St Lawrence asks for more time, USA

After revising its proposal to build a cement plant in Columbia County, St. Lawrence Cement Co. has asked the state Department of Environmental Conservation to hold off on its decisions about the company’s controversial project.

St Lawrence wants to close its 40-year-old plant in Catskill and build a $353m plant with three times its capacity in an existing mine in the Town of Greenport.

The company’s request followed its announcement last month that it had redesigned its plant to make it less visible from a distance. The company expects to complete new air pollution models based on the redesigned plant within two months, officials told the Poughkeepsie Journal at a meeting with its editorial board Tuesday.

’’We feel any decision issued should reflect the new information,’’ St. Lawrence’s Greenport project manager David Loomes said.