Latest Cement Plant Outrage: Citizens Catch TXI and State in Secret
Even before the company received a 10-year permit renewal from TCEQ with a promise of no increases in pollution,
it was applying for new permit to burn tires.
And no public review is allowed.
(Midlothian)- On the heels of a controversial April vote to deny citizens a hearing to challenge TXI's major air pollution permit, and on the eve of a national EPA hearing on cement plant pollution in DFW, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has ignited a new round of controversy about its ability to effectively regulate industry in the state.
Members of a citizens' watchdog group discovered last week that even before TCEQ's renewal of a TXI's Midlothian cement plant air pollution permit had been finalized - a permit predicated on the promise of no increases in pollution - the agency started processing a new TXI permit request to burn tires.
Moreover, by allowing TXI to claim a special "pollution control" exemption for burning the tires, the decision will not be subject to public notice, public hearings or even independent verification that TXI's emissions won't increase.
"This is what 'environmental regulation' has come to in Rick Perry's Texas: we just have to take TXI's word when it says that burning millions of tires won't result in any increases in pollution from their cement plant," said Jim Schermbeck, Field Organizer for Downiwnders at Risk.
The group's board members stumbled upon the tire-burning request by accident while following-up an appeal of the April renewal approval. "Otherwise, only TXI and TCEQ would have ever known about this arrangement."
For an entire week the two permits passed each other in the same bureaucratic pipeline. The 10-year renewal had been awarded on the disputed assumption that emissions that TXI's would not increase. Two out of the three Perry-appointed TCEQ Commissioners said they were convinced TXI's pollution wouldn't change under it. On June 8th, the legal clock for Commissioners to take any further action on the renewal would expire.
On June 1, however, TXI submitted paperwork requesting that the TCEQ grant the company a "pollution control" exemption to burn tires at its largest and newest Midlothian kiln.
Meant to apply to real pieces of pollution control equipment like scrubbers and filters rather than changes in fuel type, this exemption means a company doesn't have to notify the public about a project, the TCEQ doesn't have to hold any hearings, and there doesn't even have to be a "test burn" to determine what the real impact to emissions will be. "All TXI has to do is tell the TCEQ that emissions won't increase and that's the end of he story," warned Schermbeck.
He did see one advantage to the timing of the permit request - the fact that it will become fodder for a national EPA hearing on cement plant pollution rules scheduled for next week in DFW. "This is just the latest example of why the State of Texas can't be trusted to provide basic environmental protection. But it comes less than a week before the EPA will arrive from Washington to hold a hearing on tougher new emission rules for the nation's cement plants. If people needed any additional reasons to get motivated to come and speak out at that hearing, TXI and TCEQ just gave it to them."
Because DFW has the largest concentration of cement manufacturing capacity in the country, the EPA is holding one of only three hearings on new rules proposed by the Obama Administration to crack air pollution from kilns, including the first federal limits for Mercury, next Wednesday at the Grand Hyatt at DFW International Airport from 10 am to 8 pm.
In the past, Midlothian cement plants have claimed that burning tires reduces the amount of smog-forming Nitrogen Oxide they emit versus coal, and so should be considered a "pollution control" strategy in regional anti-smog plans. But test burns were always required to prove those assertions. TXI is believed to be the first plant to have its tire-burning granted an exemption from all public knowledge and review based on just the claim of reduced emissions alone.
While some kinds of pollution can decrease when tires are burned instead of coal, other kinds of pollution increase. According to Neil Carman, the Texas Sierra Club Director of Air Toxics, you could expect to see spikes in the carcinogen Benzene, carbon monoxide, certain metals like chromium and zinc, and exotic poisons such as Dioxin. The purpose of a test burn is to reveal exactly what the real impact of a change in production or fuel will be at full-scale by sampling and monitoring the emissions in a closed-loop, smaller-scale trial run. Without such a test, there is no evidence that emissions of any pollutant will decrease.
Energy costs are the largest expense of running a cement plant, and coal prices have gone up over the past several years. Burning tires reduces the amount of money TXI will have to pay for coal. It might even be able to get state subsidies for burning tires as it did for its four older "wet kilns" in 2003. TXI received over $2 million from the State to pay for tire-burning equipment to be retrofitted on kilns that were built in the 60's and 70's. But this is the first time the company has chosen to burn tires at its newer and larger "dry kiln."
A 20-year veteran of cement plant permit fights, Schermbeck said even he was shocked to hear about TXI's tire burning request and TCEQ's complicity in insulating it from any public input. "With TCEQ these days, you quit asking "Can they really do that?" and you start asking, "What won't they do?"
Because of its large concentration of cement kilns, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced that DFW will host one of only three national public hearings on new rules limiting cement industry pollution, including the first ever limits for Mercury emissions.
On June 17th, the Environmental Protection Agency will take public testimony at the DFW Airport Hyatt Regency from 10 am to 8 pm on new federal rules that would significantly decrease some of the most dangerous kinds of air pollution cement plants release, including Mercury, Particulate Matter, or soot, Hydrochloric Acid, and chemicals contributing to smog called Total Hydrocarbons.Two other hearings will take place that week in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
“The EPA has finally begun to combat the under-regulated toxic emissions from cement plants, and having this hearing in DFWis a acknowledgement that North Texas residents are on the front lines of that fight” said Jim Schermbeck, of Downwinders At Risk, the local clean air group that sued the Agency beginning over a decade ago to get new emissions standards. “Everyone who’s concerned about regional air quality should come and speak out in favor of these overdue regulations. You don’t need to be a scientist or public official to tell EPA you want to breathe air that won’t kill you or make you sick.”
Midlothian, on the southern tip of the DFW Metroplex, has the largest concentration of cement kilns in the U.S.It also has more kilns left over from the 60’s and 70’s – called “wet kilns” because of their reliance on large amounts of water - than any other part of the country.These wet kilns do not have many of the pollution control technologies newer “dry kilns” have, and are expected to be hit hardest by the new rules. “It’s way past time these industrial dinosaurs were brought into the 21st Century,” said Schermbeck.
Dallas, Ft. Worth, Arlington, Plano, Denton, the Dallas County Public School District and Tarrant County have all passed “green cement” policies which favor the purchasing of cement from area dry kilns over the older and dirtier wet kilns in hopes of their being replaced or modernized. Ash Grove Cement, which operates three wet kilns in Midlothian, is suing in federal court to stop them.
EPA and Texas Commission On Environmental Quality studies have shown that the Midlothian cement plants can have a big impact on air pollution levels in DFW. Combined, they account for half of all industrial pollution in North Texas. Last year, a report by students at the University of North Texas concluded that the Midlothian cement plants plus an adjacent steel mill had reported releasing approximately one billion pounds of air pollution from 1990 to 2006, including 10,000 pounds of Mercury, 21 million pounds of Total Hydrocarbons,
35 million pounds of Particulate Matter, and 400 million pounds of Sulfur Dioxide – a chemical closely associated with Hydrochloric Acid.
According to leading scientists, as little as 1/24th of an ounce of Mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and all the fish in it. Using this measuring stick, the 10,000 pounds of Mercury released by the Midlothian cement plants and steel mill is enough to contaminate over 133 million 20-acre lakes. Joe Pool Lake is within five miles of all the Midlothian cement plants.
Nationally, EPA predicts the rules will reduce cement plant pollution by a total of between 320 and 380 million pounds annually and save 600 to 1,600 lives every year. Costs to the entire industry will remain under $1 billion a year while public benefits range from $4 to 11 billion annually.
EPA’s hearing comes as DFW has experienced a string of “orange” pollution watch days in May, meaning the air is considered ”unhealthy to breathe” according to state and federal officials. The North Texas region has been in violation of the Clean Air Act for ozone, or smog pollution since 1991 despite numerous “clean air plans” administered by the state.
EPA’s proposed rules are the latest chapter in a legal saga going back to the George H.W. Bush Administration. Mercury regulations for cement plants were ordered in 1990 as part of an amendment to the Clean Air Act. The order gave the EPA until 1997 to adopt regulations. The agency missed the deadline and there has been a series of legal challenges ever since. Downwinders’ At Risk began joining those efforts in the late 1990’s.In 2006 the EPA set emission standards for new plants but refused to do so for existing plants, forcing another round of lawsuits that ended with the release of these new rules on April 21st of this year.
“This two-decade episode is another example of why it’s important for citizens to remain persistent and keep fighting for cleaner air,” said Schermbeck.
For more information about the rules, you can download the official EPA fact sheet at:
9 am Wednesday, June 3, 2009 For More Information Jim Schermbeck 806-787-6567 schermbeck@aol.com
DFW TO HOST NATIONAL PUBLIC HEARING ON OBAMA EPA CEMENT PLANT POLLUTION RULES
Because of its large concentration of cement kilns, the Environmental Protection Agency has announced that DFW will host one of only three national public hearings on new rules limiting cement industry pollution, including the first ever limits for Mercury emissions.
On June 17th, the Environmental Protection Agency will take public testimony at the DFW Airport Hyatt Regency from 10 am to 8 pm on new federal rules that would significantly decrease some of the most dangerous kinds of air pollution cement plants release,including Mercury, Particulate Matter, or soot, Hydrochloric Acid, and chemicals contributing to smog called Total Hydrocarbons. Two other hearings will take place that week in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
“The EPA has finally begun to combat the under-regulated toxic emissions from cement plants, and having this hearing in DFW is a acknowledgement that North Texas residents are on the front lines of that fight” said Jim Schermbeck, of Downwinders At Risk, the local clean air group that sued the Agency beginning over a decade ago to get new emissions standards. “Everyone who’s concerned about regional air quality should come and speak out in favor of these overdue regulations. You don’t need to be a scientist or pu blic official to tell EPA you want to breathe air that won’t kill you or make you sick.”
Midlothian, on the southern tip of the DFW Metroplex, has the largest concentration of cement kilns in the U.S. It also has more kilns left over from the 60’s and 70’s – called “wet kilns” because of their reliance on large amounts of water - than any other part of the country. These wet kilns do not have many of the pollution control technologies newer “dry kilns” have, and are expected to be hit hardest by the new rules. “It’s way past time these industrial dinosaurs were brought into the 21st Century,” said Schermbeck.
Dallas, Ft. Worth, Arlington, Plano, Denton, the Dallas County Public School District and Tarrant County have all passed “green cement” policies which favor the purchasing of cement from area dry kilns over the older and dirtier wet kilns in hopes of their being replaced or modernized. Ash Grove Cement, which operates three wet kilns in Midlothian, is suing in federal court to stop them.
EPA and Texas Commission On Environmental Quality studies have shown that the Midlothian cement plants can have a big impact on air pollution levels in DFW. Combined, they account for half of all industrial pollution in North Texas. Last year, a report by students at the University of North Texas concluded that the Midlothian cement plants plus an ad jacent steel mill had reported releasing approximately one billion pounds of air pollution from 1990 to 2006, including 10,000 pounds of Mercury, 21 million pounds of Total Hydrocarbons, 35 million pounds of Particulate Matter, and 400 million pounds of Sulfur Dioxide – a chemical closely associated with Hydrochloric Acid.
According to leading scientists, as little as 1/24th of an ounce of Mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake and all the fish in it. Using this measuring stick, the 10,000 pounds of Mercury released by the Midlothian cement plants and steel mill is enough to contaminate over 133 million 20-acre lakes. Joe Pool Lake is within five miles of all the Midlothian cement plants.
Nationally, EPA predicts the rules will reduce cement plant pollution by a total of between 320 and 380 million pounds annually and save 600 to 1,600 lives every year. Costs to the entire industry will remain under $1 billion a year while public benefits range from $4 to 11 billion annually.
EPA’s hearing comes as DFW has experienced a string of “orange” pollution watch days in May, meaning the air is considered ”unhealthy to breathe” according to state and federal officials. The North Texas region has been in violation of the Clean Air Act for ozone, or smog pollution since 1991 despite numerous “clean air plans” administered by the state. EPA’s proposed rules are the latest chapter in a legal saga goin g back to the George H.W. Bush Administration. Mercury regulations for cement plants were ordered in 1990 as part of an amendment to the Clean Air Act. The order gave the EPA until 1997 to adopt regulations. The agency missed the deadline and there has been a series of legal challenges ever since. Downwinders’ At Risk began joining those efforts in the late 1990’s. In 2006 the EPA set emission standards for new plants but refused to do so for existing plants, forcing another round of lawsuits that ended with the release of these new rules on April 21st of this year.
“This two-decade episode is another example of why it’s important for citizens to remain persistent and keep fighting for cleaner air,” said Schermbeck.
