Back in December, we mentioned that Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement Company -- which operates a cement-manufacturing plant in Midlothian -- filed a massive lawsuit against Dallas, Plano, Fort Worth and Arlington, among others, in which the company claimed that those cities' decision to purchase cleaner, "greener" cement would cost Ash Grove big business. According to court documents I just spent a little while browsing, that suit died with a whimper on March 31, when the court granted Ash Grove's motion to cancel a preliminary injunction hearing with Fort Worth, after they'd worked out some kind of an "agreement." (Note to self: Find out what kind of agreement.) But by that time, Fort Worth was the only defendant left in the case.
Which may be why Ash Grove has decided to file yet another lawsuit in Dallas federal court, this time singling out Plano, which has opted to buy its concrete from companies using the newer dry-kiln method, as opposed to the dirtier, antiquated wet-kiln method. The entire 22-page complaint is after the jump, but here's a highlight from the introduction:
On April 28, 2008, Defendant adopted a cement-purchasing resolution that purportedly had as its primary objective the promotion of "cleaner air." Although Defendant's stated objective in adopting this resolution was laudable, the resolution has done little, if anything, to actually improve air quality. Instead, what the resolution has accomplished is to unfairly stifle competition in the cement industry and jeopardize jobs and economic growth in what are already extremely challenging economic times. Moreover, in passing and implementing the resolution at issue herein, Defendant has blindly trampled upon Ash Grove's constitutional and statutory rights.
