St. Lawrence Cement has been working for the past several years to obtain the necessary permits for a replacement cement plant in Greenport, N.Y., replacing the existing facility in Catskill, N.Y., and dramatically improving air quality in the region.

At a press conference held in late August in Hudson, N.Y., David Loomes, project general manager, unveiled a new design of the operation using breakthroughts in geological research to reduce the height of the plant by 115 ft.

As a result of this new plan, the facility will not be visible at all from more than 90% of the surrounding area. The new design maintains the company's commitment to be well within all environmental standards for air quality, while addressing concerns about the replacement plant's effect on the local viewshed.

The viewshed improvement will be accomplished though three key changes:

• The replacement plant, which will be situated behind the quarry walls, will have its base elevation lowered by 72 ft, effectively removing 72 ft of the plant from public view.

• The new design includes reducing the preheater tower from a five-stage to a four-stage tower. This will reduce its height by 35 ft and reduce the stack height by 43 ft.

• The company has relocated the replacement plant farther south in the quarry to take advantage of the higher ridgeline further shielding the plant from view.

The Greenport plant also will have a major economic impact by retaining current jobs for decades to come, creating more than 1,500 construction jobs and generating $800,000 per year in local tax revenue once operational.