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"It's been my policy since I came on the job here that it we have an inspector on the site, I want every employee to know that so people aren't doing something stupid," he says. "It's like an, 'All hands on deck. You guys pay attention to what you're doing."' We read off a list of allegations made to the state and Boulder Weekly by the whistleblower: poor maintenance of equipment; intimidation of staff; improper disposal of chemicals; lack of attention to overall maintenance resulting in dust problems; bad dust conditions for workers and the neighborhood; and lack of attention to the dust pit. The most serious allegation involved Lohr's alleged decision to shut several workers in the cooler room to clean up a chemical leak in an attempt to hide the leak from the inspector, who was on site. Lohr doesn't deny that workers were shut in the room, saying only that the door was not locked, but he says the chemical involved in that incident is not hazardous to human health. "In terms of being locked in a room, no, that is not the case," he says. "It's in an enclosed space that more resembles your basement than anything else with a tremendous amount of air moving through there" As for the other allegations, Lohr says Cemex spends about $5 million a year on maintenance and manages to keep its kiln operating more than 90 percent of the year-a higher-than-standard result. As Cement making is a largely automated process involving a chain of machines, problems in one place result in halts in the process. A kiln that operates 90 percent of the time or higher is an indication of a plant in which machinery is well maintained, he says. Questions answered, we head off on our tour with hardhats, earplugs and protective eyewear. We walk past the raw mill, where steel grinding balls crush rock to powder. We also view the finish mill, in which steel balls crush clinker, gypsum and limestone into cement powder-the final product. We get a guided tour of the lab where chemists run regular tests on the product from start to finish through the manufacturing process to make certain it has the correct chemical and crystal structure to become high-quality Portland cement. We also visit the control room, where Reed Settle, a relief console operator, keeps his eyes on the entire operation. One monitor shows him a view of the entire plant. Another reveals wind speeds. Another shows the blazing red-actually infrared-of the interior of the superheated kiln. Our path takes us up and down stairs, through hallways, across raised steel walkways and ends with a drive around the periphery of the plant. In the mills, a fine coating of dust covers the steel stairs and railings. When touched, it burns the skin. But the air is clear, and water coats the streets surrounding the plant, streets which have clearly been swept today- and which are still being swept-to keep dust from being picked up 6y the 25 mph winds blowing in from the west. Is this the canned tour of Cemex? Clearly, it's not the Cemex shown in the insider's videos. No easy answers 14