Holcim’s proposed new cement plant near Oamaru
While I was in Oamaru this week I went on a two hour look around the site being proposed for a new Holcim cement plant near Weston in the Waiareka Valley. My guide was Rodney Jones from the Waiareka Valley Preservation Society who are opposing the plant.
It’s really big. The main stack is 100m or 27 stories, which I’ve been told is the highest structure in the South Island. There are other big structures too in theproposed plant. They are planning to quarry in the escarpment behind for limestone and further up the valley for coal and there will be a lot of truck movements up and down the valley.
The issues are the visual impact, the impact on what is a quiet rural valley, the particulates dropping into the local area and the rather large co2 emissions coming out of the process. You’ve also gotta wonder what it will do for the rapidly growing tourism of norht Otago.
You can get a bit of an idea of the immense size of the thing from the drawings here. The escarpment behind the proposed plant is pretty big and its higher than the escarpment. Rodney also tells me that on a still day the plume from the stack will be visible for a further 300m up - which would make a plume up to 400m which would be visible from all over the region.
May 14th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Let me guess - we’re exporting the concrete to China?
This looks even more retrograde than re-starting a coal-fired power station in Whangarei. I can hear the evil chuckles of Muldoon’s ghost - even “Think Big” projects didn’t rampantly fly in the face of contemporary research like this does!
)
(although, maybe… Manapouri Dam was pretty universally loathed for a while, I recall… of course, I was only a toddler, so my recall ain’t that good
May 15th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Depending on what they use for fuel for the ovens they COULD make this a lot more environmentally friendly. Nothing wrong with big!
I wonder about the economics though, and the business case is not clear to me… at all. How much cement do WE need, how much is for export… like Al, this is an “energy” export, less a water export.
Is there a case to be made that we can consume its product internally? That’s the question I’d have. Concrete is currently around $225/M3 delivered. It seems a bit expensive already… demand here is high enough to justify that.
respectfully
BJ
May 15th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Given that so many ways people earn their living/(economic activities) are bad, what are we going to do? It seems that only people like the Amish live well from generation to generation without disrupting the environment much. It also seems that the world population is far far too big:
Did you know that during the 20th century, human population multiplied from 1.6 billion to 6.1 billion people, and that heat trapping carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions grew twelve fold? Sierra Club.
I’m not meaning to highjack the thread but introducing a reality check.
jh
May 15th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Good points jh, we have to be more sustainable and stop flying over the world for one. If we don’t reverse these trends quickly we might not be even able to live like the Armish.