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Holcim plan calls for an EIS

By Chronicle editorial board

Opponents to a plan to burn old tires for fuel at the Holcim cement plant in Trident have raised sufficient concern and provided sufficient evidence of health risk to warrant a complete environmental impact statement for the project.


 If the state completes such a statement and demonstrates not risk that warrants denial of the tire-burning permit, then at least area residents can take comfort in knowing the proposal was thoroughly investigated. There is little such comfort now.

Holcim wants permission from state air quality officials to burn more than a million tires a year to fuel the Trident plant. The firm maintains it will cut production costs and help it remain competitive in the cement market.

Opponents contend that heavy metals and other pollutants in smokestack emissions from the process will drift downwind and settle on grazing lands where it will enter the food chain through beef and milk. And they further contend those pollutants could reach human lungs.

They cite convincing evidence from other tire-burning operations as well as the work of a toxicologist they hired to evaluate the information Holcim provided the state in its application.

The state Department of Environmental Quality has issued a draft permit to Holcim after completed a more cursory environmental assessment, but this is not a done deal. DEQ is taking public comments on the application until May 9 and may yet require a full environmental impact statement before issuing a final decision.

The stakes are high enough in this issue to warrant that requirement.

Prevailing winds will carry any potential pollutants from this operation over pastures that are grazed by milk cows and beef cattle. And beyond those pastures are the heavily populated residential neighborhoods of the Bozeman area.

Those factors alone should warrant a very thorough examination of any pollutants that could emanate from the plant. Southwest Montana's stock in trade is a clean and healthy environment. It's a vital component to the area's burgeoning tourist trade and a major attractant to new industries moving into the area.

Holcim may well be able to burn tires in a clean and safe manner. But the firm should be able to provide clear, irrefutable proof of that before any permit is granted.

A complete environmental impact statement should produce that proof.

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