Companion bills Sen. Wendy Davis (Ft. Worth, District 10) and Rep. Vicki Truitt (Southlake, District 98) have introduced in the Texas Legislature allow government agencies procuring portland cement, directly or through contract awards, to give preference to suppliers milling the powder with the dry process versus wet process methods
Sources: Texas Legislature; Ash Grove Cement, Overland Park, Kan.; CP staff
Companion bills Sen. Wendy Davis (Ft. Worth, District 10) and Rep. Vicki Truitt (Southlake, District 98) have introduced in the Texas Legislature allow government agencies procuring portland cement, directly or through contract awards, to give preference to suppliers milling the powder with the dry process versus wet process methods. In addition to favoring portland cement from a kiln that utilizes a dry raw material feed precalciner pyroprocessing technology, the bills also stipulate preference to powder from an operation that meets or exceeds regulatory requirements for emissions of nitrogen oxide.
The identical, narrowly focused bills (H.B. 2174, S.B. 1467) appear to curtail or eliminate state or local agenciesÌ use of wet process-derived cement from the 1 million ton/year Ash Grove Texas L.P. plant in Midlothian, just south of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Countering the Davis and Truitt billsÌ language concerning nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, the North Texas Clean Air Coalition named Ash Grove Texas the 2008 Working for Cleaner Air Employer of the Year award winner. The recognition followed installation of pollution controls reducing NOx to levels Ash Grove contends are lower than nine of TexasÌ 13 dry-process kilns.