Enviro-wackos want to delay 200 jobs

Holnam Cement Co., which has cement plants worldwide, says it will build a $600 million plant on 3,600 acres in northeast Ste. Genevieve County. The company says it expects to employ 200 workers with a $10 million annual payroll.

The plant will also cover 400 acres across the Isle du Bois Creek in southeast Jefferson County.

Holnam, a subsidiary of Holderbank Financiere Glaris Ltd. of Switzerland, will mine limestone and make at least 4 million tons of portland cement a year.

The plant will be Holnam's second in Missouri; the other is located in Clarksville.

Construction of the 10-acre factory portion of the plant will take about two years.

But whoa! Not so fast!

Enter the wild-eyed anti-business Sierra Club and the Missouri Coalition for the Environment. One of their water-boy politicians, Gov. Bob Holden, says more needs to be known about the potential environmental effects of such a big employer.

So Holden has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to do a long-term far-reaching environmental impact study. Currently, the Corps is conducting a smaller-scale impact study, which should be enough.

Holnam Cement has already applied for several state and federal permits, and company officials believe the permits will be issued. In fact, the company has already started building an access road into its property, even though the anti-property rights DNR tried to throw a boulder in the way in March.

Holden's letter to Col. Michael Morrow, commander of the Corps' St. Louis district office, asks the Corps to prepare an impact statement under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The letter reads, in part: "The proposed project ... may have potential for adverse environmental impacts, including impact on wetlands, flood plains, unique ecological areas, cultural resources and air quality."

Well, isn't that a nice, broad, all-encompassing vat of quicksand. "Unique ecological areas?" Who decides what is unique. The enviro-wackos, of course. The tree huggers.

Holden's spokesman, Jerry Nachtigal, said the request for the study "doesn't mean we're opposed to the project." No, it means, they're opposed to opposing the radical Green who are opposed to virtually any project.

Holnam project manager Barry Lower has offered assurances that the company will build and operate the plant in an environmentally sound manner. Ken Midkiff, director of the Ozark Chapter of the Sierra Club, says he wants the assurances only a far-reaching, comprehensive environmental impact study could bring.

If the Corps gives into Holden and enviro-wacko pressure, which it usually does, then those 200 jobs and that $10 million annual payroll might be four years away, instead of two.