Mixing it up over cement plant pollution
A federal crackdown on toxic air pollution from cement plants is generating blowback from the industry, and an official with the company that runs a kiln in Union Bridge northwest of Baltimore warns that the plant (pictured above) may be unable to meet the new clean-air rule.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to require cement plants, among the nation's leading air polluters, to reduce emissions of mercury and other harmful pollutants by 70 to 90 over the next four years. In addition to curbing mercury, a known neurotoxin, the EPA is proposing tighter limits on cement plant emissions of hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid and fine particles.
But in hearings this week in Los Angeles and Dallas, industry representatives are contending that the pollution reductions would be so difficult and expensive to achieve that they may undermine the US cement industry, endangering thousands of jobs. There's a third hearing Thursday in Arlington, Va.
The Portland Cement Association, an industry group, has issued a statement calling the rules "excessively stringent" and so costly they could force many plants to close and make the US building industry import cement.
The future of cement making in Union Bridge in Carroll County is by no means assured, says Tim Matz, director of environmental affairs for Lehigh Hanson Inc., which owns the plant there. While Matz had said earlier that the plant should be able to reduce its emissions of mercury to comply with the proposed EPA limit, he said in an interview this week the company is not sure it can afford to curb the other pollutants as much as EPA wants.
"It's hard to say right now if we'd be able to meet them all," Matz said, "but we're investigating."
Environmentalists say the cleanup is do-able and necessary. James Pew, an attorney with Earthjustice in Washington, contends that what plants will have to do varies, but in most cases the pollutants can be controlled using "off-the-shelf" technology, such as better filters or emission scrubbers on their smokestacks.
And Pew notes that EPA estimates its rule will prevent 600 to 1,600 premature deaths a year nationwide from reducing exposure to the toxic air pollutants it's trying to reduce from cement plants.
"If power plants are doing it, why is a cement kiln different?" asks Dan Strickler of the proposed air pollution reductions. He's president of the New Windsor Community Action Project, a citizen's group formed in a town neighboring Union Bridge that is concerned about the environmental impacts of the plant.
Strickler says he's not likely to attend tomorrow's hearing in Northern Virginia, but is concerned about the Union Bridge plant's emissions of mercury - 376 pounds a year, according to the company's report to EPA. Ingesting enough mercury can cause nerve and brain damage, and the metal tends to collect in the tissues of fish.
"It’s going to come down somewhere .. even if it comes down in the ocean it has effects," said Strickler. The Maryland Department of the Environment advises women and children to eat no more than one meal a month of striped bass - the state fish, better known as rockfish - because they may have low levels of mercury in them.
The EPA hearing Thursday is at Potomac Yard South Conference Center, 2777 Crystal Drive, Arlington, Va. Go here for more information.
(Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)
Comments
This is typical of the EPA. Make the rule without checking to see if it is healthful or possible.
The amount of mercury in the American air is quickly becoming negligible, if it is not so already. The horrible mercury emissions of this plant, if spread over a 1 mile radius and drops out after a day, equate to about a quarter part per million, much lower than the toxic threshold.
Requesting a reduction in all pollutants is not unreasonable, but 90%? Any small child can understand that those are crippling regulations.
Posted by: Ben | June 18, 2009 8:25 AM
I happen to agree with Ben on this one. It seems like a lot of these restrictions might be a little unreasonable. 90% reductions in air pollutants? Come on. I'd like to see how the EPA arrived at their conclusions that these drastic reductions are attainable in such a short period of time. I'm led to believe that some bean counter pulled these numbers out of a hat. I'm all for cleaning the air, but jeez.....
Posted by: wishbone | June 18, 2009 11:05 AM
I am concerned by the comment made by the Director of Environmental Affairs for Lehigh Hanson, Inc, concerning the future of the Lehigh Cement Company plant in Union Bridge, Maryland as it relates to the proposed tougher EPA emission requirements. In saying "The future of cement making in Union Bridge in Carroll County is by no means assured", he implies that the proposed requirements may force the closure of the plant. Such a comment is in all likelihood simply a shallow scare tactic, especially in light of all the investments currently being made by Lehigh in its Union Bridge operation.
Just recently Lehigh completed a $265 million modernization/expansion project of the Union Bridge facility. It is now the largest of Lehigh's 12 plants and the most modern "state of the art" cement plant in North America.
In addition, Lehigh is currently in the process of opening a new quarry near New Windsor, Carroll County that company officials have testified in public hearings will supply the Union Bridge plant with limestone for 100 years.
It is safe to say that those knowledgeable of the cement industry recognize that a facility such as the the Union Bridge plant will not be closed due to the tougher proposed EPA requirements. On the other hand, older and less productive plants may close. However, that will be a bottom line decision made by cement companies to no longer invest in those facilities for a multitude of reasons.
No one needs to worry that the Lehigh Cement Company plant in Union Bridge will be closing any time soon. Therefore, the proposed tougher EPA emission regulations for cement plants are definitely good news for everyone living down wind from Union Bridge.
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Posted by: Cement Plant Manufacturers | July 2, 2009 6:51 AM