Cement
[Jonah Goldberg  03/21 04:31 PM]

An excerpt from a reader:

....Anyway, I did want to mention, since I happen to work for a cement and concrete producer (though not one with plants in Texas), that there is more to the story than Rod surmises. Restrictions surrounding the development of cement plants (which involve huge capital expenditures) make it nearly impossible to build a new plant, and a long, arduous and expensive procedure to update one. It would sure make sense to have the owners of Rod's nearby plants spend capital to invest in a newer, cleaner facility somewhere further outside the sprawling Dallas metro area (which was not quite as much of an issue when the plant was built, I'd bet). However, since that's all but impossible for regulatory reasons, even if a new plant could be built, it would have to be built on the exact same spot that already hosts it, and the additional expense related to permits and regulations even for that move probably contribute to a reluctance to consider such a move.

So, for what it's worth, well-meant environmental regulations are probably making the problem worse. Of course, you could just shut all cement plants down, but I doubt Rod would go that far in opposing development. Though perhaps John Lukacs would.