Jul 04, 2007 - 01:17 PM

By Charles McGregor

BOWMANVILLE -- For the employees at the St. Mary's Cement plant in Bowmanville the Canada Day celebrations came a few days early when they received recognition for their outstanding environmental performances.

In a competition organized by the U.S.-based Portland Cement Association (PCA) involving more than 200 cement manufacturing plants in North America, St. Mary's Bowmanville was named winner of the Environmental Performance Award and as runner-up in both Land Stewardship and Energy Efficiency categories.

In addition, as Eric Madsen, CEO of St. Mary's Cement said in accepting the award in Bowmanville, the St. Mary's plant in Charlevoix, Mich., was also honoured by being named winner of the award for Overall Environmental Excellence. To be named winner of two and runner-up in two award categories among a total of only six being presented by PCA, is "an amazing achievement for our company -- impressive results."

Mr. Madsen said St. Mary's has to be regarded as being among the top five cement manufacturing plants in North America, with Bowmanville being "No. 1 in Canada.

"The team here has been doing some outstanding things. St. Mary's wants to be a respected citizen."

Durham MP Bev Oda, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, was present and said, "We can be proud of St. Mary's for leading the way in North America in reducing emissions to protect the environment (which is) important to Canadians and our community. I am proud that the facility in Bowmanville is a leader in making our community a safe and healthy place to live and raise our families."

Clarington deputy mayor Charlie Trim recalled that before the plant was built, "There were anti-St. Mary's petitions with people saying that it will be like Christmas all year round with white dust up to our knees." However, he said the community has received nothing but "excellent co-operation and support since the plant opened."

In being named winner of the Environmental Performance Award -- which honours facilities "that go beyond laws, permits and regulations to minimize their impact on the environment," -- St. Mary's reported reductions of sulphur dioxide (SO2) by 53 per cent in 2006 and nitrous oxide (NOx) by 18 per cent from 2005. The company said that these reductions "go far beyond regulatory reductions limits."

The award as runner-up in the Land Stewardship category, in recognition of "efforts to protect and enhance the surrounding land and wildlife," resulted from the company's reconfiguration of the Westside Marsh and transferal of the ownership of 120 acres to the Central Lake Ontario Conservation agency to establish a protected parkland for the public. The project, which the company says is "The largest of its kind ever undertaken in Canada," included hand-planting more than 50,000 aquatic plants, which resulted in the return to the area of the Osprey, a member of the raptor family.

Runner-up status in the Energy Efficiency category, which "focuses on energy planning, applications of efficient technologies and practices and climate change mitigation efforts," was the result of the establishment by St. Mary's of "E=MC2" -- an Energy Management Conservative Committee. This Bowmanville Plant initiative began, more than a year ago, "to develop and structure a program to achieve excellence in reduction of energy usage, such as fossil fuels and electric energy, and reduce the cost of production by unit of energy."