State files lawsuit against cement plant in Mason City

The Iowa Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit against a Mason City cement plant for alledged air pollution violations. Attornery General spokesperson, Bob Brammer, says the suit was filed at the request of the Department of Natural Resources. He says the suit makes three allegations against Lehigh Portland Cement. The first is the company made major modifications without the required permits.Brammer says they also believe Lehigh increased the capacity of their cement kiln without complying with sulfur dioxide emission standards.Brammer says the company under reported emission levels and thus failed to pay the required fees for the proper level of emissions. Brammer says they want Lehigh to pay permit fees of over 456-thousand dollars as well as other possible penalties.The company could pay up to 10-thousand dollars a day for violations. He says they’ve asked for an injunction to keep the plant from continuing the violations. The lawsuit was filed today in Cerro Gordo County District Court in Mason City.