USA: Ecocem's Vallejo mill project hits City Hall opposition

A US local authority has formally opposed Ecocem’s plans for a EUR45m mill project in Vallejo. Orcem Americas, a subsidiary of Irish cement firm Ecocem, wants to construct a grinding mill close to San Francisco, on the site of an old flour mill on Vallejo’s waterfront, but residents fear its environmental impact.

Vallejo City Hall has called on the local planning commission to deny permission for Orcem’s proposals for a grinding unit and a nearby deepwater terminal by releasing a 45-page report that outlined numerous “issues of concern” with the project. The planning commission does not have to follow the recommendation but will consider it at a meeting on 27 February, reports the Irish Times.

The City Hall planning staff’s report highlights that the mill would result in noise and truck traffic that would “disrupt the quiet enjoyment of adjacent multifamily housing complexes and single-family residences in the project vicinity”. The smallest stockpile would be about 16ft-high, a second 26ft in height, with a third stockpile about 49ft. The raw materials would be visible from Mare Island, the strait, the homes above the site as well as from Crockett and Rodeo.

Orcem Americas intends to grind blastfurnace slag to cut greenhouse gas emissions from normal cement manufacture by 90 per cent. It proposes shipping in the slag from the Far East to the facility built by Vallejo Marine Terminal.