Ash Grove Cement Company's Midlothian, Texas, cement plant earned the "Working for Cleaner Air Employer of the Year" award from the North Texas Clean Air Coalition (NTCAC).
The North Texas Clean Air Coalition announced that Ash Grove received the top 2008 award for North Texas companies with less than 500 employees at events with civic and business leaders in Dallas and Fort Worth.
Ash Grove's Midlothian plant is the first Texas cement manufacturer recognized in the five-year history of the program and received the award for the company's successful efforts to control nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. Ash Grove's Midlothian facility was one of the first wet process cement plants in the world to install Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR) technology to successfully control ozone forming emissions.
With the new technology, ozone forming emissions from Ash Grove's Midlothian plant are lower than nine of 13 dry kilns in Texas, according to 2007 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) data. Since 1995, Ash Grove has reduced NOx emissions by more than 64 percent at the Midlothian plant. Ash Grove's Midlothian plant also has the lowest NOx emission levels of any wet kiln facility in the U.S. and, to our knowledge, the lowest in the world.
"We are quite pleased to be the only cement manufacturer to earn the North Texas Clean Air Coalition's 'Working for Cleaner Air Employer of the Year 2008' award," said Ash Grove chairman and CEO Charlie Sunderland. "This award validates our strong environmental commitment and acknowledges our success in improving air quality in the Dallas-Ft. Worth region."
Ash Grove adopted several other education initiatives with our Midlothian workforce to help further reduce energy use and improve the environment. For example, Ash Grove offered incentives to employees who commute to work, implemented new policies to reduce time spent driving to and from work and put new energy conservation measures in place in partnership with the local utility provider. Ash Grove is an active and visible part of the NTCAC's volunteer leadership through the company's participation in the business community outreach committee.
The North Texas Clean Air Coalition was formed in 1993 to help address the issue of clean air compliance. Founding members include the North Texas Commission, the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Dallas Chamber and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. The group has been committed to encouraging voluntary efforts to improve air quality in North Texas through educating, motivating and recognizing the business community.
About Ash Grove Cement Company
Ash Grove Cement Company has established its leadership within the cement industry and has a strong and longstanding tradition of service, reliability and quality that reaches back more than 125 years. As the largest U.S.-owned cement company, Ash Grove produces nearly nine million tons of cement annually from nine cement plants located across the country.
