Greencastle, IN, June 3, 2021

Lone Star Industries, Inc. resolved a long-running investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) into air emissions associated with the Company’s Greencastle Indiana cement manufacturing plant.  “The EPA investigation began nearly a decade ago, and over the ensuing years probably looked at every aspect of our operation,” said Plant Manager Tim Menke.   The settlement, which was reached earlier in the year, was finally lodged this week with the United States District Court.  Both EPA and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (“IDEM”) joined Lone Star Industries in the settlement.  “Most of the things the agencies were asking us to do have already been done prior to this announcement, with many focused on recordkeeping,” said Tim Menke, “but we are glad to have the investigation behind us.”  

Daniel Nugent, Senior Vice President, Technical Services & Government Affairs with Lone Star, noted that “the whole country is coming out of a pandemic and everyone, including our employees at Greencastle, are trying to look forward and getting back to normal.  It is not unusual for an investigation of this type to go on for years, because cement manufacturing is a complicated process and working through the complexities of the regulations is often a slow process.  We’re grateful the agencies took the time needed to make sure we got things right.  This settlement ties up the last few open issues, but it took a long time to get here.”

The Greencastle Plant employs more than 180 people and has been a member of the community for more than 9 decades, after first opening in the 1920s.  “The plant we operate here today looks nothing like the plants built in the early 20^th century.  This plant was essentially completely rebuilt in the late 1990s and has been improved on even more since then.  We have a very sophisticated, state-of-the-art operation in Greencastle of which we are very proud,” said Menke.   The Plant’s primary product is portland cement, a product widely used by the construction industry to produce concrete across the United States.

Lone Star Industries is part of Buzzi Unicem USA, which is headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  Buzzi Unicem USA is one of the leading cement manufacturing companies in the United States, with seven cement plants producing approximately 9 million metric tons of high quality cement products.  Buzzi Unicem USA serves the Midwest, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast regions of the country.

Buzzi Unicem USA also operates 34 cement terminals across the country, which distribute its cement products to over 30 states. Buzzi Unicem USA has over 1,400 valued employees, and supplies portland and masonry cement products to ready-mix concrete businesses, highway and airport paving firms, concrete block companies and concrete product firms.