Downwinders At Risk - Press Room

Latest Cement Plant Outrage: Citizens Catch TXI and State in Secret

2009-06-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

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?"

DFW TO HOST NATIONAL PUBLIC HEARING on June 17

2009-06-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

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 17^th, 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 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 21^st 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 1/24^th 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 21^st 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:

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/portland_prop_fs042109.pdf

DFW to Host National Public Hearing on June 17

2009-06-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

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.

For more information about the rules, you can download the official EPA fact sheet at:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/portland_prop_fs042109.pdf

Channel 8 Green Cement Story

2009-01-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

January 5, 2009

http://www.wfaa.com/video/mjepson-index.html?nvid=318857

TXI Sued in California

2008-07-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

From Bloomberg News, July 8, 2008

Texas Industries Sued over Carcinogen

TXI's cement plant in Riverside, California was sued Monday by California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who said the plant exposes people to hexavalent chromium without providing required warnings.

Hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen present at levels as much as 50 times those requiring a public warning under California law, was traced to dust piles on a 4-acre plot at the cement plant, Mr. Brown said in a prepared statement.

The piles of dust are a byproduct of grinding and heating raw materials, according to the statement.

Kenneth Allen, a spokesman for Dallas-based Texas Industries, didn't return a call seeking comment.

Texas Industries rose 76 cents to $52.97.

Not-So-Clean-Air Plan: EPA should demand revision from TCEQ

2007-07-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, July 25, 2007, Dallas Morning News Editorial

From the get-go, the state's clean-air plan for North Texas should have been a no-go.

When regulators first unveiled a draft of their proposal to reduce ozone, it was evident that state officials were settling for just squeaking by instead of aggressively reducing pollution. Their plan let power plants, cement kilns and cars off easy. Worse, the proposed restrictions fell short of federal air quality standards.

But the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality wasn't done.

Before approving the final version, regulators quietly removed the few teeth included in the original plan. The new-and-inferior proposal was so weak that Richard Greene, the regional administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, warned the TCEQ that the plan could be rejected.

Still, state officials insisted that, despite evidence to the contrary, Dallas-Fort Worth would somehow comply with ozone standards.

But an in-depth analysis by a Southern Methodist University professor leaves little doubt that North Texas' anti-pollution plan is inadequate. Al Armendariz, an assistant engineering professor, dissected the state's air models and analyzed pollution trend data.

His examination revealed that ozone levels must plummet at an unprecedented pace for Dallas-Fort Worth to come close to meeting federal standards. The state's own models project that four local monitors will exceed ozone limits – two of them by a wide margin.

That alone should disqualify the proposal.

His analysis underscores that for too long, the state has made only half-hearted attempts to reduce pollution, continuing a cycle of delays and failure.

Dr. Armendariz's report is not just an esoteric exercise in trend lines and number crunching. If, as the report predicts, North Texas fails to attain clean-air goals, residents will continue to breathe lung-scarring ozone.
But we could do better.

The EPA should reject the state's plan and require additional pollution cuts. The Armendariz report outlines a game plan for reducing ozone levels that includes expanding emissions restrictions on local power plants to include central and East Texas. Further limiting pollution from nearby cement kilns and regulating natural gas compressor engines also would reduce ozone. And reducing speed limits on North Texas highways would improve our air as well.
The state took the easy way out with its do-little plan. The EPA should demand that North Texas do more.

Alert- Dallas City Council Vote on Green Cement Policy May 16, 2007

2007-05-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

Dear Downwinders and Friends -

In the upcoming week, ending next Wednesday, May 16th, at 9 am in the Council Chambers at Dallas City Hall, you have a chance to make a real difference for cleaner air in North Texas.

At stake is the nation's first "green cement" procurement policy. The Dallas City Council will be receiving a briefing, and then voting on a comprehensive clean air plan for Dallas. As part of that plan, staff will be giving the Council options as to how to purchase cement for city projects. We want the council to choose the option of buying cement ONLY FROM THE CLEANER "DRY PROCESS" CEMENT KILNS RATHER THAN THE OBSOLETE, DIRTIER "WET KILNS."

For the very first time, the city will be able to vote with its pocketbook to spend money on cement from cleaner plants and steer it away from the most polluting ones. Such a policy gives a financial incentive to the operators of the old wet kilns to clean up their act. A fact sheet on the policy is at the bottom of this e-mail. How do we know that it's a valuable step forward? By noting what the cement plants are doing to undermine it.

We've learned that the cement plants have hired a local Public Relations firm headed up by Rob Allyn to try and prevent the Council from taking this historic step for cleaner air in North Texas. According to an April 6, 2000, article in the Dallas Observer, Rob Allyn was a key player in the George W. Bush campaign to discredit his rival for the 2000 Republican presidential nomination Senator John McCain. Millionaire Bush supporter Sam Wyly funded Republicans for Clean Air to attack McCain in key states during the 2000 primary campaign. Rob Allyn was paid $46,000 to help create the ads.

We need your help to overcome the high dollar lobbyists and PR professionals the cement industry is using to try to defeat the Green Cement Policy, and we need it now. Here's how you can help:

1) If you live in Dallas, or know someone who does, please call or e-mail your Dallas City Council representative immediately and ask them for a commitment to vote for the green cement policy on Wednesday. "Buy city cement from cleaner dry kilns only, ban the use of dirty wet kiln cement in city projects." That's the message. Here are the phone numbers and e-mails for each Dallas City Council member:

Dist. 1 - Dr. Elba Garcia/elba.garcia@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-4052
Dist. 2 - Pauline Medrano/Pauline.Medrano@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-4048
Dist. 3 - Ed Oakley/edward.oakley@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-0776
Dist. 4 - Dr. Maxine Thornton-Reese/m.thornton-reese@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-0781
Dist. 5 - Donald W. Hill/donald.hill@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-0777
Dist. 6 - Steve Salazar/steven.salazar@dallascityhall.com/214) 670-4199
Dist. 7 - Leo V. Chaney, Jr/leo.chaney@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-4689
Dist. 8 - James L. Fantroy/james.fantroy@dallascityhall.com/214) 670-4066
Dist. 9 - Gary Griffith/gary.griffith@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us/(214) 670-4069
Dist. 10 - Bill Blaydes/bill.blaydes@dallascityhall.com/214) 670-4068
Dist. 11 - Linda Koop/linda.koop@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-7817
Dist. 12 - Ron Natinsky/Ron.Natinsky@dallascityhall.com/(214) 670-4067
Dist. 13 - Mitchell Rasansky/mitchell.rasansky@dallascityhall.com/214) 670-3816
Dist. 14 - Angela Hunt/Angela.Hunt@dallascityhall.com/214) 670-5415
Mayor - Laura Miller/Lmiller@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us/(214) 670-4054

2) Please be there in person at the Council Chambers at 9 am next Wednesday morning to speak out for the adoption of the green cement policy. Each speaker gets three minutes to make their case. We need you to come down to City Hall and let the Council know you care about this issue. Your presence will make a huge difference in the tone set for the meeting. Likewise, your absence sends a message that citizens don't care about the cement plants or cleaner air. If you can't come send a friend or family member who can speak on your behalf. It's people power versus special interests. Sign up to speak at Wednesday's Council meeting by calling the City Secretary's office at 214-670-3738, and telling them you want to speak on the clean air plan agenda item.

Please call and please show up. If you are NOT a Dallas resident, you can still speak to this issue and why you think a green cement policy is important for your own health and the region's public health. Don't think you can't have an impact just because you don't live in the Dallas city limits.

Thank you for supporting cleaner air and cleaner cement plants.
Jim Schermbeck
Staff Organizer
Downwinders At Risk
806.787.6567
schermbeck@aol.com
info@downwindersatrisk.org

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Fact Sheet On the Proposed Dallas “Green Cement” Procurement Policy

1. The proposed recommended policy by staff lets Dallas “vote with its pocketbook” for cement produced from newer, less polluting “dry process” cement plants in Midlothian, rather than obsolete, dirtier “wet process” ones.

2. The policy rewards those cement plants that are doing the best job of reducing smog and toxic air pollution, while giving the dirtiest cement plants an incentive to modernize and clean-up.

3. The three Midlothian cement plants produce half of all the industrial air pollution in the nine-county DFW ozone non-attainment area, including half of all the industrial nitrogen oxide - the pollutant responsible for the region’s smog problem. They have up to three times the impact on local ozone levels as all 17 proposed TXU coal plants combined.

4. The Midlothian wet process cement plants date from 1960 through 1975, use a process abandoned by the industry over 20 years ago, operate with no scrubbers or other modern pollution controls, and are the dirtiest smokestacks in DFW.

5. The proposed “green cement” policy extends the same environmental procurement preferences as the City of Dallas already applies to automobile fleet purchases, recycled paper, and other commodities used by city government.

6. The proposed policy institutionalizes current practices. Dallas already buys its cement from Holcim Cement in Midlothian, which operates only newer dry plants and was the first Midlothian cement plant to use advanced pollution controls for smog.

7. There will be no cost increases in purchasing cement to Dallas as a result of adopting this policy.

8. There will be no shortage of cleaner dry plant cement. Dry process plants now produce 80% of the area’s cement.

9. Green Cement procurement has been endorsed by the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee as part of its comprehensive set of proposals to help DFW reduce its ozone pollution. Representatives from the City of Dallas, Dallas County and the Dallas Chamber of Commerce voted for the policy.

10. Dallas’ Green Cement procurement policy will establish an important template for the rest of North Texas municipalities, and other large cement purchasers to adopt. Other DFW area cities have expressed interest in following Dallas’ example. The real power of the policy is in the ability to create a “critical mass” in the marketplace that will incorporate air quality into the bottom line of DFW cement plants for the first time in history. Dallas can begin a process that will have an important, permanent impact on regional air quality.

Sam Coats

2007-04-14T10:54:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release: For More Information:
Wednesday, April 11, 2007 Jim Schermbeck 806.787.6567

Toxic Ethics: Coats Reaffirms Polluter’s Agenda
Dallas Mayoral Candidate and TXI Board Member Sam Coats Refuses to Cut Ties
To DFW’s Largest Industrial Air Polluter – Even as the Company Fights City Hall

(Dallas)—A local clean air group is deriding Dallas mayoral candidate Sam Coats decision not to quit his membership on the board of cement giant TXI, or even pledge to distance himself from the company’s campaign to defeat air quality measures backed by current Mayor Laura Miller and Dallas City Hall.

“He doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of conflict-of-interest,” said Jim Schermbeck, staff organizer of DFW-based Downwinders At Risk.”

Downwinders, the 12-year old group that has made the nation’s largest concentration of cement plants in Midlothian its central focus, met privately with Coats after his membership on TXI’s board was revealed earlier in the month. This is the first time the group has spoken out about the results of that meeting, because, representatives say, they wanted to give Coats an opportunity to differentiate himself from the company’s policies that put it at odds with cleaner air in DFW.

“We believe we were being fair and discreet in proposing the meeting, and the pledge. His public statements insisting that he’s ‘working on the inside’ to change TXI policy are not supported by any evidence we’ve seen, or that he’s offered.”

TXI owns the largest cement plant in Texas, located in Midlothian, just across the Dallas County line. It is the single largest industrial source of smog pollution in north Texas and burns hazardous wastes in circa-1960s kilns that don’t have modern pollution controls.

According to Schermbeck, a group of Downwinders members met with Coats March 30th to propose that he either quit his paid TXI board position and sell his stock in the company, valued at between $37,000 and $74,000, or sign a pledge supporting: 1) the installation of pollution controls on TXI’s older kilns in Midlothian, 2) suspension of of toxic waste burning in those same kilns, 3) a city-backed bill in the state legislature (SB 1177) mandating testing of advanced controls that could cut TXI pollution by 80-90%, and, 4) the new “clean air cement “ procurement policy, coming before the Dallas City Council in May. After giving Coats four days to consider the proposal, Schermbeck said he declined to do anything at all. “We even checked back a second time to see if any compromise was possible, but the rejection was total.”

Coats joined the TXI board in 2005, after a decade of controversy involving the company, including
a well-publicized hazardous waste permit fight, and the inclusion of Ellis County into the DFW
“non-attainment area” for smog over Congressman “Smokey Joe” Barton’s objections. But according to Schermbeck, Coats had “an appalling lack of knowledge” about the company’s Midlothian operations. “Even a casual reader of the Dallas Morning News would have known more. His lack of due diligence about the company is as disturbing as his refusal to disassociate himself from it.”

Schermbeck noted that Coats is running for Mayor and maintaining his membership on the TXI board of directors even while the company is lobbying directly against the City of Dallas and other local governments over the fate of SB1177. TXI’s also working to defeat a proposed Dallas procurement policy aimed at steering City Hall money away from the kind of obsolete kilns that burn hazardous waste at its local cement plant. A Dallas City Council vote on the procurement policy is scheduled for May 9th.

“At the same time he’s campaigning for Mayor, his company is campaigning to undermine the City’s clean air agenda. That’s the very definition of conflict-of-interest,” according to Schermbeck.

He said Downwinders At Risk is considering a variety of tactics to make sure Dallas residents know about Coats’ connection to TXI, including media buys, a door-to-door canvass, and showing up at mayoral forums to press the issue.

“We deeply regret we have to take this kind of approach. We did not intend to be spending our time this way. But In 2007, it’s unacceptable that a TXI board member could imagine they could successfully run for office in North Texas without repudiating the policies that have made the company the number one corporate enemy of cleaner air in DFW,” said Schermbeck.

###

Downwinders At Risk’s March 30th letter to Coats is attached.

Sam Coats March 30, 2007
5925 Forest Lane, Suite 501
Dallas, TX 75230

Dear Mr. Coats

We’re writing on behalf of the Downwinders At Risk board to address what we consider to be an inherent conflict of interest between your candidacy for Mayor of Dallas and your membership on the board of Texas Industries, TXI.

We have no doubt you’re sincere in your candidacy, and applaud your sense of civic duty. We have no objection to you personally running for Mayor. However, the fact that you continue to maintain your TXI board membership while you run for Mayor is troubling to us, and our Dallas supporters.

TXI is the largest industrial air polluter in North Texas. In 2005, it released 7,112,000 pounds of Nitrogen Oxide pollution, the major smog-forming pollution targeted by local, state and federal environmental agencies in DFW. That’s the equivalent pollution produced by more than 197,000 cars annually. In 2005, the last year data is available, TXI reported releasing 888,357 pounds of toxic air pollution, including Styrene, Mercury and Toluene. Four out of the five kilns that TXI operates at its Midlothian plant are considered obsolete by the cement industry and do not even have scrubbers for Sulfur Dioxide, a known respiratory irritant.

Texas Commission Environmental Quality studies have shown that TXI emissions alone can raise DFW ozone levels by as much as five and a half parts per billion. That’s the largest documented impact on smog levels of any single DFW industrial source.

It’s this enormous impact from TXI operations on DFW air quality that we feel pits your continued membership on the TXI board against the City of Dallas’ pursuit of an effective clean air plan.

Within the last 12 months, representatives of the company have denied that TXI has any adverse impact on DFW air quality, condemned the unanimous conclusions of industry experts in a comprehensive report on cement plant pollution, unsuccessfully fought against the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee adopting resolutions aimed at reducing ozone pollution from TXI and the other two Midlothian cement plants, and is now actively lobbying against the City of Dallas’ new cement procurement policy and legislation that would provide for state testing of pollution controls that could eliminate 80 to 90% of all Nitrogen Oxide emissions produced by TXI.

In every instance, the company’s positions were, and continue to be, at odds with the stated air quality goals or positions of the City of Dallas. We don’t understand how you can reconcile your continued membership on the board of such a company with the goals of cleaner air for Dallas. The two are incompatible.

Imagine if the current Mayor of Dallas had been a member of the TXU board, and not someone who was independent enough to boldly challenge the utility’s plans for a wave of new coal-fired power plants. Citizens need to be sure that their elected officeholders do not have an ulterior motive or hidden agendas when making decisions for the public good.

We urge you to resign from the TXI board and divest yourself of all TXI holdings if you are going to continue to run for Mayor. However, if you don’t resign, we urge you to sign a pledge, that as Dallas Mayor, you would: 1) publicly support pending state legislation providing for testing of advanced Nitrogen Oxide pollution controls on a Texas cement plant, 2) publicly support the installation of scrubbers on all of TXI’s Midlothian kilns, 3) publicly support the new Dallas cement procurement policy, and, 4) publicly support a cessation of burning hazardous waste in TXI’s oldest, most obsolete kilns. We believe making such a pledge would gain the confidence of those who find your unqualified allegiance to TXI at odds with the goal of cleaner air for Dallas.

It was your decision to run for Mayor. We did not initiate this controversy. But now that it has been initiated, we feel obligated to resolve it. We appreciate your willingness to discuss this matter with us personally, and hope you take to heart the information we’ve shared with you. We also hope that no matter your choice you will continue to dialogue with us on TXI pollution issues. We’re confident that after careful consideration, you’ll do the right thing, both for your own civic-minded ambitions, and Dallas residents.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
The Board of Downwinders At Risk

Alex Allred Rebecca Bedsole Bornhorst

Keri Allred Reecea Roderick Henderson

Sandy Breakfield Merle Ann Roten

P.O. Box 763844 • Dallas, TX 75376 972-230-3185
www.dfwairplan.org www.DownwindersAtRisk.org Info@DownwindersAtRisk.org

Mercury press

2007-03-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

Activists, 9 states sue over cement kiln emissions

Air quality - The EPA is accused of failing to control mercury at industrial plants in Oregon and other states
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
MICHAEL MILSTEIN

Environmental groups and nine states are suing the federal government for refusing to control toxic mercury released into the air by existing cement kilns, including one in Eastern Oregon that is among the largest sources of airborne mercury nationwide.

The Environmental Protection Agency decided in December that it would be too expensive for cement companies to refit their plants to cut down on mercury emissions. The new lawsuits filed Friday and Tuesday contend that the EPA defaulted on an earlier court decision that ordered the agency to regulate mercury from the plants.

The case has a direct impact on Oregon because a cement plant next to Interstate 84 in Durkee released an estimated 1,534 pounds of mercury into the air in 2005, the last year with numbers available. Emissions from the plant operated by Ash Grove Cement Co. are about 10 times as high as those from Oregon's next largest industrial mercury source -- Portland General Electric's coal-fired power plant near Boardman.

Although state regulators are mandating mercury restrictions on the Boardman plant, they are still considering how to address mercury from the cement kiln.

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is awaiting results from new testing of the cement kiln's emissions conducted in December, said Linda Hayes Gorman, eastern regional manager for air quality at the DEQ.

Mercury collects in the food chain -- especially in fish -- causing neurological damage and birth defects in people who consume too much contaminated fish. Some forms of the compound fall out of the air quickly, while others can travel thousands of miles around the globe.

The DEQ wants to know more specifically what forms of mercury come from the cement plant.

Mercury emissions from the cement kiln are believed to be unusually high because of mercury levels in rock that is mined nearby to make the cement. The rock is heated during the manufacturing process, which allows mercury to vaporize into the air.

Emissions from the plant are calculated based on limited testing from more than five years ago.

In 2004, the Durkee plant was the third-largest source of airborne mercury in the country, according to estimates the company reported to the EPA. However, its releases declined in 2005.

Nine Eastern and Midwestern states sued the EPA on Tuesday for not controlling cement kilns, following a similar lawsuit filed last week by environmental groups including the Sierra Club, Downwinders at Risk, Desert Citizens Against Pollution, and Montanans Against Toxic Burning.

A judge last year found the EPA "grossly delinquent in making serious efforts to comply" with direction by Congress to limit hazardous toxic compounds in the air. The judge said the EPA was instead devoting time to rule changes, "many of which make existing regulations more congenial to industry."

The EPA said it is reviewing the new lawsuits and would "respond appropriately in due course."

James Pew, an Earthjustice attorney representing the environmental groups, said the EPA appeared to act based more on politics than on the legal mandates of the Clean Air Act.

"They really have nothing to lose by forcing everyone into another round of lawsuits," he said. "From a political appointee's point of view, it's probably preferable to get a tongue-lashing from the court than a tongue-lashing from political supporters."

Michael Milstein: 503-294-7689; michaelmilstein@news.oregonian.com

States sue Bush administration over cement plant emissions
The Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Nine states have sued the Bush administration for what officials claim is a failure to regulate mercury and other pollutants from cement plants.

The suit was filed Tuesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia. State officials from New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania contend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule regarding Portland cement plants violates the federal Clean Air Act. The states say the latest rule wouldn't force lowering of emissions.

"This coalition of states is resorting to the federal courts in an effort to compel the EPA to follow the law and establish limits for the most dangerous pollutants," said New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"The agency will review the matter and respond appropriately in due course," EPA spokesman John Millett said.

The EPA says it has reduced mercury air emissions by 45 percent since 1990 and has programs in place to limit mercury emissions from power plants. Last year, the EPA announced new emission limits for cement kilns to cut mercury and hydrocarbon releases.

The cement is made nationwide and used widely in road and building construction.

Feb. 21, 2007, 9:13AM
9 States Sue Over Mercury Emissions
By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press/Houston Chronicle
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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - Michigan and eight other states sued the Bush administration Tuesday, saying the White House failed to adequately regulate emissions of mercury and other pollutants at cement plants.

The states contend a rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency in December does not comply with the federal Clean Air Act.

Mercury comes from raw materials used to make cement _ such as limestone, clay, sand and iron ore _ and from fuels such as coal, which fires the kilns where the ingredients are baked at high temperatures.

In December, the EPA announced new limits on mercury and hydrocarbon emissions from cement kilns built after Dec. 2, 2005.

But for kilns built earlier, the agency imposes lesser requirements such as operating kilns properly to ensure complete combustion and removing kiln dust when it can no longer be recycled.

Critics say the Clean Air Act requires the EPA to limit mercury from all kilns, not just new ones.

"I think they should have explored some of the options a bit more in detail than they did," said Vince Hellwig, air quality chief with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, where several environmental groups filed a separate action last week. The other eight states are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

EPA spokesman John Millett said the matter was under review and declined to comment further.

The agency says it has reduced mercury air emissions by 45 percent since 1990. It estimates the nation's 118 cement plants give off a combined 12,000 pounds of mercury a year, although some state regulators say the actual amount is higher.

Taking toxic fight national
Friends of Hudson joins legal challenge to EPA on mercury emissions from cement plants

By BRIAN NEARING, Staff writer
Albany Times Union
Wednesday, February 21, 2007

HUDSON -- A local environmental group is part of a national lawsuit that claims the federal government has turned a blind eye on mercury pollution from cement plants.

Friends of Hudson is among six groups from across the country that sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week over rules issued in December on cement plant emissions.

Two coal-fired plants in the Hudson River valley -- LaFarge Building Materials in Ravena and St. Lawrence Cement in Catskill -- were the two largest mercury polluters in the state, according to EPA's Toxic Release Inventory.

The two plants pumped about 660 pounds of mercury into the air, or nearly 40 percent of statewide emissions during 2004, the most recent year for which records were available. Mercury is a toxic material known to cause developmental problems in fetuses and children.

The EPA places limits on mercury emissions following a 2000 federal court ruling that ordered the agency to address the problem under the Clean Air Act on cement plants built after Dec. 2, 2005.

"EPA refuses to exercise its obligations," said Susan Falzon, executive director of Friends of Hudson. "The public can draw only one conclusion -- that the EPA refuses to protect children and newborns. People are at risk throughout the state, just not near the source of the pollution."

Other environmental groups in the lawsuit include the Sierra Club, California-based Desert Citizens Against Pollution, Texas-based Downwinders at Risk, Michigan-based Huron Environmental Activist League, and Montanans Against Toxic Burning.

In April 2006, DEC gave LaFarge permission to burn 4.8 million scrap tires each year for fuel, which the company said could replace about 20 percent of the coal and coke, a coal byproduct, burned to make cement. The company expected to start burning the tires sometime this year.

Last week's lawsuit asked that EPA be forced to reconsider the December cement plant rules, said James Pew, a lawyer for Earthjustice, a Washington, D.C., group that filed the challenge.

"We think that these rules are unlawful," Pew said. "We want a court to tell them to go back and do it right."

On Tuesday, EPA spokesman John Millett said, "The agency will review the matter and respond appropriately in due course."

Airborne mercury that rises from a smokestack can settle in water, contaminating fish and other wildlife, making them unsafe to eat. Mercury and PCBs are the main contaminants of fish in the state.

Because of such pollution, the state Department of Environmental Conservation has set limits on eating fish from the Hudson River and other state waters.

Preliminary information about mercury levels in the Adirondack and Catskill Mountain regions suggest that some larger, older specimens of pickerel, northern pike, smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye and yellow perch often have relatively high levels of mercury in their flesh, higher levels than similar fish from other regions in the state, according to the DEC.

The department recommends that infants, children under 15 and women of child-bearing age avoid those fish from Adirondack and Catskill Mountain waters.

Predators that eat fish-eating animals are also at risk: mercury has been found in eagles, otters and endangered Florida panthers.

Brian Nearing can be reached at 454-5094 or by e-mail at bnearing@timesunion.com.

Local group takes on EPA over cement plant emissions
By Patricia Doxsey, Kingston (NY) Freeman staff
02/22/2007

NEW York is among nine states challenging U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules that fail to regulate the emission of mercury and other pollutants from cement plants.

State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday announced the multistate effort to have a federal court overturn the EPA rule by finding it violates the Clean Air Act.

A similar challenge is being brought against the federal agency by a consortium of environmental groups, including the Hudson-based Friends of Hudson.

There are two coal-fired cement manufacturing plants in the Hudson Valley - St. Lawrence Cement in Catskill and LaFarge Building Materials in Ravena.

According to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory, those plants were the two largest mercury polluters in the state.

In a prepared statement issued Tuesday, Cuomo called "shameful" the failure of the EPA to promulgate the standards required under law.

In 2000, a federal court ordered the EPA to set standards under the federal Clean Air Act for various hazardous air pollutants, including mercury. The rules released by the EPA in December 2006 exempt existing cement plants from meeting those standards.

"This is just another instance in a long line of examples of the Bush administration caving to industry lobbyists at the expense of the health concerns of ordinary citizens," Cuomo said.

In addition to New York, the states challenging the EPA rules are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Susan Falzone, executive director of Friends of Hudson, said that in 2004, the Catskill and Ravena plants were responsible for nearly 40 percent of all mercury emissions in New York.

"It's obvious to us that the cement industry and ... cement factories in our area are not being held to standards to limit mercury, and that is a public health issue," Falzone said.

"There's no question about mercury and it's potential hazards," she said.

Mercury is a heavy metal that can damage the central nervous system, the endocrine system, the kidneys and other organs. Over time, it can result in brain damage and death.

The Washington-based environmental law firm Earthjustice is representing Friends of Hudson and the Sierra Club in the suit, as well as Downwiders At Risk of Texas, Desert Citizens Against Pollution of California, Montanans Against Toxic Burning and the Huron Environmental Activist League of Michigan.

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Posted on Wed, Dec. 13, 2006
Standard for cement kilns criticized
By JAMES ROSEN
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Environmental groups are upset over a new federal effort to cut mercury emissions at dozens of cement plants around the country, saying it defies a court order to toughen controls on the highly toxic air pollutant.

The Environmental Protection Agency defended the standard as an important step to curb the flow of noxious fumes from industrial smokestacks.

The more than 200 cement kilns in the United States are the nation's second-largest mercury emitters after coal-fired power plants, which are installing pollution-control equipment under state programs required by the EPA. North Texas is home to three of the nation's largest mercury-emitting cement plants, owned by Ash Grove Cement, Holcim Inc. and TXI Operations.

James Pew, a lawyer with Earthjustice in Washington, said the mercury standard that the EPA announced Monday applies only to new or modernized cement plants. He said the regulation doesn't require the owners of existing kilns to retrofit them with scrubbers or other equipment to reduce mercury emissions.

"The EPA decided to allow every cement kiln to continue to emit as much mercury as it likes," Pew said. "This is part of a long string of agency refusals to obey the law."

About 80 percent of the cement used in the United States, Pew said, is produced at plants owned by foreign companies, among them giant firms in France, Switzerland and Mexico.

Keith Barnett, an EPA environmental engineer who helped craft the mercury rule, said it satisfies the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, in which Congress listed 189 of the most toxic pollutants and directed the EPA to set limits on them.

"We determined that what cement kilns are currently doing meets the minimum requirements under law," Barnett said. "This is a judgment call that we have to make when we evaluate each [pollutant] source category."

The new EPA standard also targets cement kiln emissions of hydrocarbons, a class of pollutants that's less toxic than mercury.

Mercury, a heavy metal whose consumption has been linked to memory loss, birth defects and other neurological disorders, enters waterways from rain. Its toxicity is then concentrated by a type of water bacteria. Fish transmit mercury to people, with tuna and other species higher in the food chain carrying higher levels.

At least 40 states have warned residents about eating mercury-laden fish from their lakes, rivers and creeks.

The owners of cement kilns say they release 12,000 pounds of mercury a year into the air. Environmentalists say the total is probably much higher because most mercury emissions reported to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory are estimates, not measurements. The EPA said its new rule will reduce mercury emissions from cement plants by 1 ton -- 2,000 pounds -- a year, or one-sixth of the current reported level.

Some cement companies have voluntarily started measuring their plants' mercury emissions. The estimated annual emission of 58 pounds from a cement factory in Alpena, Mich., rose tenfold after its operators began measuring the emissions, according to Pew.

"EPA doesn't require them to measure," Pew said. "If they were taking this issue seriously, they could have done that years ago."

Andrew O'Hare, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Portland Cement Association in Washington, said winds can carry airborne mercury thousands of miles. Much of the mercury contamination in the United States, especially in the West, comes from factories in China and other rapidly industrializing parts of Asia, he said.

The three cement kilns in North Texas have long been a source of controversy; some Midlothian residents have complained that the plants are harming people. The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, along with Texas health officials, is conducting a study designed to determine whether emissions from TXI's plant in Midlothian have adversely affected nearby residents' health. The study is expected to be completed early next year.

Ash Grove's Midlothian plant is the largest mercury-emitting cement plant in Texas, according to the federal statistics, discharging 150 pounds of mercury and mercury compounds in 2004. The plant ranked 27th nationwide. Holcim's Midlothian cement kiln ranked 60th nationwide for total emissions of mercury and its compounds; TXI's plant ranked 77th.

Cement plant officials aren't talking much about the new mercury rule.

Lance Latham, an Ash Grove spokesman, said the company is still reviewing the rule and referred questions to the Portland Cement Association, the industry trade group.

Holcim also declined to discuss the specific mercury rule. But Michel Moser, the Midlothian plant's manager, defended the company's commitment to environmental issues, noting the cement kiln installed scrubbers there in 2000 to reduce plant emissions, including mercury.

Randy Jones, TXI's vice president of corporate communications and government affairs for the Dallas-based company, did not return three phone messages seeking comment.

Staff writer Scott Streater contributed to this report.

IN THE KNOW

Mercury emissions

Cement kilns are required to report mercury emissions to EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory, but the reports can be estimates instead of measurements. Here are the reported mercury releases of Texas plants in 2004:

Ash Grove Cement, Midlothian, 150 pounds

Holcim Inc., Midlothian, 60 pounds

TXI Operations, Midlothian, 30 pounds

SOURCE: McClatchy Newspapers
Click here to find out more!

Older cement kilns get EPA pass on mercury
Plants built more than a year ago, including 11 in California, won't have to upgrade controls.
By Janet Wilson, LA Times Staff Writer
December 12, 2006

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday it would not require cement manufacturers - including the nation's largest emitter, in Tehachapi, Calif. - to upgrade plants to control mercury.

Cement kilns are an integral part of the building boom in Southern California and elsewhere, turning raw limestone and waste ash from coal plants into the material used to build highways, tract homes and commercial developments.

Mercury, which can be emitted when stone or coal ash is processed, is a potent neurotoxin that can harm developing brains. The emissions also pollute water bodies.

Environmental groups that sued under the federal Clean Air Act to force tighter controls said the decision ignored two court orders.

The EPA's ruling will require kilns built in December 2005 and onward to limit and measure actual emissions. The agency said that would reduce emissions by as much as 3,000 pounds, in an industry estimated to emit 6.6 tons of mercury annually. But the regulators said that upgrading existing plants would be too costly for industry and the resulting air-quality improvements would be too scant.

Parts of the decision, signed late Friday by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, closely follow industry requests to the agency. Industry officials also met with White House staffers Nov. 30 to discuss the pending decision, and EPA staffers phoned in to the meeting, records show.

The decision sparked outrage from environmental groups and residents downwind of kilns, who have fought for years to get stricter emission controls.

"The news today is not good. EPA has decided to let every existing cement kiln in the country emit as much mercury as it likes," said James Pew, an attorney with Earthjustice, which twice has won a court order requiring the EPA to set mercury standards for cement plants under the Clean Air Act. Pew said the agency had ignored the court orders and issued "the same measures rejected as unlawful more than five years ago…. EPA clearly thinks it can just thumb its nose at the law."

Eleven of the 94 factories with cement kilns in the United States are in California, including in Colton, Mojave and the Lucerne Valley. The single worst mercury polluter in the country is the Lehigh Southwest cement kiln in Tehachapi, which reported in 2004 that it had emitted more than 2,500 pounds of mercury, according to the federal Toxic Release Inventory. A company environmental officer declined comment.

Under the new rules, existing plants still must control dust containing mercury. Cement manufacturers will continue to be allowed to emit coal ash produced by power plants, as long as they do not use a certain type of boiler technology. No kilns in the U.S. currently use the technology, but some of the estimated 25 plants that may be constructed in coming years could use it.

"I think the bottom line is that we reviewed all the information that we were required to under the law," EPA spokesman John Millett said. "We weighed the information and came to a decision about what was feasible for existing plants under the regulation - and we also issued stringent regulations on new sources."

EPA environmental engineer Keith Barnett, of the agency's air-quality planning and standards office in North Carolina, said it would cost a cement manufacturer "$1.5 million per year per kiln for a wet scrubber" that might reduce emissions by 42%, which he said was not a large enough reduction to justify the cost.

Marti Sinclair of the Sierra Club said $1.5 million would be a small price to protect the public, noting that one of the nation's leading cement producers had reported revenue of $1.1 billion last year and had already installed such technology in Switzerland, where it was required.

California and several other states had asked the EPA to require cement factories to monitor and accurately measure mercury emissions. Although federal law requires cement plants to report emissions, it does not require those reports to be based on actual measurements. Both industry and environmental groups noted that mercury content could vary widely in raw materials.

"There is no law or rule on the books that requires cement kilns to measure mercury emissions," Barnett confirmed. "They are required to report their mercury emissions…. They use whatever data they can find."

But when kilns have tested emissions, the data have shown earlier reporting to be "gross understatements," according to the Sierra Club. A cement plant in Alpena, Mich., reported annual mercury emissions of about 50 pounds, but when the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality required the plant to test actual smokestack emissions, the kiln was found to be emitting more than 10 times what the plant had reported.

"If reporting from the rest of the cement industry is as inaccurate as the reporting from Alpena, this industry could be putting out between 25 and 50 tons of mercury every year," said Jane Williams, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's Air Toxics Task Force.

"That would put cement kilns in the same category as coal-fired power plants, which have long been recognized as the worst culprit for mercury contamination."

Representatives of three California cement plants declined to comment Monday, and staff for the Portland Cement Assn. did not return phone calls. Portland cement is the mostly widely produced and used type of cement.

In a statement, the association said it was studying the impact of the rule on the industry and on its plans for a $3.6-billion expansion - including constructing plants and modernizing and enlarging existing ones - to meet "record demand for cement."

"The industry will continue to conduct research to identify strategies for addressing mercury emissions and will share its findings with the EPA to ensure that industry standards are based on sound science and support our shared mission to protect human health and the environment," the statement said.

It continued: "PCA-member plants use state-of-the-art technologies to continuously minimize emissions … while costeffectively producing a high-quality product."

janet.wilson@latimes.com

Posted on Mon, Dec. 11, 2006
Federal government limits mercury from new cement plants
JOHN FLESHER
Associated Press

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - The federal government has set limits on airborne mercury emissions from cement kilns six years after a court order required them, but they apply to future plants instead of existing ones.

Once fully in effect, the rules announced Monday will prevent between 1,300 and 3,000 pounds of mercury nationwide from escaping into the atmosphere each year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. Mercury can damage the nervous system and cause developmental problems for children.

The nation's 118 existing cement plants give off a combined 12,000 pounds of mercury, the EPA says, although that figure is based largely on company estimates that some state regulators say may be drastically understated.

Tests last year determined the Lafarge North America plant in Alpena was emitting mercury at a rate that could produce 581 pounds annually, about 10 times more than previously reported. Other Michigan cement plants are located in Charlevoix and Dundee.

Cement and chlorine plants are the top producers of mercury in the U.S. manufacturing sector, said Marti Sinclair, chairwoman of the Sierra Club's National Air Committee.

The EPA also set new limits on hydrocarbons - chemical compounds in fossil fuels - that it said would limit emissions by 1,100 tons while helping cut back on sulfur dioxide, another airborne pollutant.

Meeting the mercury and hydrocarbon requirements will cost about $5.4 million for each new kiln, the agency said.

Environmentalists who had sued the EPA for refusing to set mercury standards for the cement industry said by giving existing plants a pass, the new rule doesn't comply with the court orders or the Clean Air Act.

"There's this gigantic problem out there that isn't getting fixed," said Jim Pew, a lawyer with the law firm Earthjustice in Washington, D.C. "What we're really looking at here is an agency which thinks it's completely above the law."

Earthjustice is considering its legal options, Pew said.

Keith Barnett, the EPA's lead engineer for the rule, said: "We do believe we've satisfied the court ruling."

Cement manufacturers bake raw materials such as limestone, clay, sand and iron ore in rotating kilns at temperatures up to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. Once cooled, the mixture is combined with gypsum.

Mercury comes from the ingredients and fuels used to heat the kilns, primarily coal.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit told the EPA in 1999 to consider cement kiln emission standards for mercury, hydrogen chloride and hydrocarbons. After the agency failed to produce a mercury rule, Earthjustice won another court order in 2004.

Barnett said the agency concluded that cement producers already met minimum requirements and decided against ordering them to go further, which could mean costly and disruptive changes in raw materials or fuels.

Many plants were built long ago in locations where there was abundant limestone, the chief ingredient in cement, Barnett said. "They can't go out and find another limestone quarry somewhere" if the local supply is found to have elevated mercury levels, he said.

Pew said the clean air law doesn't make the EPA responsible for deciding how companies would meet the requirements.

"Congress just wanted a standard reflecting the actual emissions levels that the best performing kilns were achieving," he said. "It would be up to the kiln owners to figure out how to match that."

The only requirements of existing plants under the new rule are to make sure kilns operate properly and to avoid using kiln dust with excessive mercury as a raw material.

The rule also prohibits making cement with fly ash from electric power plants that use certain emission controls likely to boost the ash's mercury content. But those controls are still experimental, so the requirement again wouldn't apply to existing cement producers.

State officials say the Lafarge plant's mercury emissions jumped after it began using fly ash from a Canadian power generator in the 1990s.

A GUEST OPINION ON A BURNING ISSUE
EPA Rule Could Increase Mercury Pollution In Montana

By Joe Kerkvliet, Guest Writer, 1-19-07
New West Bozeman

In December, the Environmental Protection Agency completed new rules governing mercury emissions by the nation's 94 cement producers. The EPA will now strictly control mercury emissions for new and future plants, but it will exempt, or “grandfather,” currently operating plants from the new rules. By grandfathering, EPA is essentially granting a license to existing cement plants, including one in Three Forks and one in Montana City, to emit mercury forever without paying for the pollution controls required of new plants.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin linked to many health problems, including defects in newborns, mental disturbances, and autism. Mercury contaminates many Montana streams and lakes, and Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks has issued statewide fish consumption guidelines because of high mercury content in some larger sport fish.

Grandfathering bad policy

EPA's grandfathering is bad policy because it tilts the playing field in favor of existing plants. By doing so, EPA fails to regulate the largest sources of mercury emissions in the cement industry. Worse, the grandfathering rule will probably result in more mercury emissions than no rule at all.

There are four reasons to expect this perverse result. First, EPA estimates that existing plants, with their annual mercury emissions of 13,200 pounds, will have a cost advantage of 1 percent to 7.2 percent over new plants.

To retain this advantage, existing plant owners have incentives to keep their plants open longer than they would otherwise. A similar EPA rule governing electric power plants has kept older, more polluting power plants in operation 10 or more years beyond their normal life span.

Second, the existing plants' cost advantage will retard construction of new, less polluting, more efficient plants. Why would investors build new plants when they will be saddled with millions of dollars in pollution control costs not borne by existing plants? Yet if newer plants were built, they would be less polluting because of improved technology and easier installation of pollution control equipment. EPA estimates that just five new cement plants, if they replaced existing plants, would reduce mercury emissions by 1,300 to 3000 pounds.

Third, owners of multiple plants, including some subject to the EPA's new rules, will shift cement production away from new plants toward the relatively low-cost, but more polluting, older plants.

Spurring more litigation

Finally, EPA's grandfathering rule will likely discourage plant owners from modernizing their existing plants. When owners of a grandfathered plant consider investments in maintenance and modernization, they must first negotiate EPA's reconstruction review. EPA uses the review to determine whether the investments will push the plant over the line between a grandfathered plant and a new plant subject to stricter pollution controls. With millions of dollars at stake and the prospect of lengthy review, some investors are discouraged from making new investments.

When considering a similar EPA review process for other types of pollutants, the 2003 Economic Report to the President suggests that the prospect of review “might lead firms to delay or forgo plans to modernize their facilities in ways that could benefit the environment.”

A 2004 published study of New York manufacturing plants finds that the EPA's review requirements have retarded investments, resulting in more, rather than less, pollution.

Another unintended but sadly inevitable result of grandfathering is to make environmental regulation increasingly litigious. Reconstruction review is part and parcel of grandfathering because of the need to distinguish between grandfathered and new plants.

With thousands of ways of modernizing plants, this distinction will always contain legal ambiguities, setting the stage for lengthy, rancorous and expensive legal battles. Evidence clearly suggests that mercury is destructive to human and ecological health.

Recent evidence suggests that cement plants are a significant source of mercury emissions and EPA is doing the right thing in developing strategies to control emissions. However, states like Montana can set higher standards and should resist EPA's grandfathering policies and encourage rules that apply equally to all cement plants. Otherwise, the new rule may be worse than no rule at all.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Joe Kerkvliet, of Bozeman, is an economist for The Wilderness Society, specializing in environmental, natural resource and ecological economics.

Cement Kiln Mercury Pollution

2007-03-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 20, 2007

Contact: James Pew, Earthjustice (202) 667-4500
Virginia Cramer, Sierra Club (202) 675-6279
Rebecca Bornhorst, Downwinders At Risk (214-912-2093)

EPA Do-Nothing Rule on Cement Kiln Mercury Pollution Ignores Court Order, Public Outcry
Activists back in court to challenge EPA’s latest refusal to control toxic mercury emissions

Washington, D.C. – Environmentalists challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s latest refusal to limit cement kilns’ mercury emissions late last week in a federal lawsuit against the EPA. Earthjustice is representing Sierra Club, Downwinders At Risk (Texas), the Huron Environmental Activist League (Michigan), Friends of Hudson (New York), Desert Citizens Against Pollution (California) and Montanans Against Toxic Burning in the lawsuit. New York state is also expected to challenge this rule in a separate lawsuit today.\

The groups filed the lawsuit February 16 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In December 2000, a federal court found that EPA’s refusal to control cement kilns’ mercury emissions violated the Clean Air Act, and ordered the agency to set the missing standards. Six years later, EPA has issued only do-nothing housekeeping requirements that will have “essentially … zero” impact on the kilns’ toxic pollution. The agency estimates that approximately 118 cement kilns emit over 11,000 pounds of mercury each year- making cement kilns one of the largest sources of mercury pollution. The nation’s single largest mercury polluter of any kind is a cement kiln in southern California, which emitted over 2,500 pounds of mercury in 2004.

“Once again the EPA has failed to put public health first,” said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director. “The agency ignored the law. They have ignored the courts and they have ignored public health for too long. It’s time for the EPA to do what they should have been doing all along- reducing the toxic mercury pollution that is harming our health and the health of our children.”

In addition to defying the Clean Air Act and repeated court orders, EPA’s refusal to set mercury standards ignores the pleas of more than 20,000 people who wrote to the agency urging EPA to finally bring cement kilns’ mercury pollution under control.

“Under this administration, EPA’s disregard for Congress and the courts has hit a new low,” said Earthjustice attorney James Pew. “The Clean Air Act required EPA to set mercury standards for cement kilns almost a decade ago. A federal court ordered EPA to issue those standards six years ago. Still it refuses. This is an agency that thinks it is above the law.”

Mercury is a dangerous and powerful neurotoxin that can cause developmental problems in newborns and young children. Mercury pollution is deposited in waters and eventually ends up in our food supply. People are exposed to unhealthy levels of mercury when we eat mercury-contaminated fish. EPA estimates that 15% of women of childbearing age, or one out of every six, have enough mercury in their blood to put a baby at risk of cognitive and developmental damage.

“There is a very real, very sad human cost to not cutting toxic mercury emissions at these cement plants,” said Kathy Flanagan, a member of Downwinders At Risk and stepmother of an 18-year old ADHD/autistic son. “You hear a lot about the cost to industry to install new controls, but the human cost, the cost to families, and a clean future never seem to make it onto EPA's ledger when the government is deciding what to do about so much mercury coming out of cement plant smokestacks.”

Downwinders At Risk is just one of the groups working both locally and nationally to clean up pollution from cement plants. Based in Midlothian, Texas, members live in the nation’s largest concentration of cement kilns in one area. Three cement plants operating ten different kilns cause air pollution problems for the entire region, which is about 40 miles south of Dallas/Ft. Worth.

The EPA has been under fire recently for its failure to implement required rules to reduce toxic air pollution from a variety of industrial pollution sources. In July 2006, the Government Accountability Office issued a report that blasted EPA for failing to take action on scores of specific pollution control measures that Congress required the Agency to complete years ago. Later that summer, a federal court found that EPA's implementation of key toxics requirements in the Clean Air Act has been “grossly delinquent” and that, “EPA … currently devotes substantial resources to discretionary rulemakings, many of which make existing regulations more congenial to industry, and several of which since have been found unlawful.”

Just this month, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held an oversight hearing on EPA, where chairwoman Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), said in a statement that, “The pattern of these year-end actions is striking—the public interest is sacrificed and environmental protection compromised. Who gains from these rollbacks? Just look at who asked for them, like Big Oil and the battery industry. EPA’s actions and proposed actions make it clear who EPA is protecting.”

Citizens and Environmental Groups to Challenge ...

2007-01-31T12:04:00.000-08:00

Media Advisory
For Release: JANUARY 31, 2007

Contacts:
Rita Beving, Dallas Sierra Club, 214-373-3808
Becky Bornhorst, Downwinders at Risk, 972-230-3260, 214-912-2093 cell
Tom "Smitty" Smith, Public Citizen, 512-477-1155, cell 512-797-8468
Gary Stuard, Interfaith Environmental Alliance, 214-564-9329

CITIZENS AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS
TO CHALLENGE STATE ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY
as DRAFT DFW AIR PLAN FALLS SHORT OF FEDERAL STANDARDS
AND PROTECTING HUMAN HEALTH

PRESS CONFERENCE and PUBLIC HEARING

Tonight citizens and environmental groups will testify and lay challenge to
the draft DFW air plan during a public hearing regarding the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ) draft DFW clean air plan.

Citing that the region has already dealt with two failed air plans, citizens
will claim that the 9-county region will once again face probable failure in
meeting federal standards as the plan falls short of the mandated requirements
under the Clean Air Act.

Testimony will identify that the plan misses its goal, barely achieving a
technical, legal solution with no margin of error. Groups will claim that in the
final analysis, incomplete and inconclusive data was used in producing the
draft plan.

Additionally, citizens will state that the draft air plan lets two of the
biggest polluting industries "off the hook" once again – namely the cement plants
in Ellis County and the coal-fired electric generating power plants.

The new air plan does not take into account the existing power plants in East
Texas or the 17 proposed coal-fired power plants currently moving through the
TCEQ's permitting process. Emissions from the coal trains that would be
traveling daily through the region carrying Wyoming powder basin coal to at least
14 of those plants were also not considered in developing the plan.

Additional public hearings will be held tomorrow Feb.1st at 2 pm at
Arlington City Hall and at 6:00 pm at the Midlothian Civic Center with written
comments taken by the TCEQ through February 12, 2007.

The TCEQ must submit its final plan to the EPA by June 2007. The EPA is
expected to rule on the plan by the end of the year.

WHEN: Wednesday, January 31
Press Conference at 6:30 pm in Dallas Downtown Library Lobby
Public Hearing at 7:00 pm in the Library auditorium

WHERE: Dallas Downtown Library, 1515 Young St., corner of Young/Ervay

WHO: Dallas Sierra Club, Downwinders at Risk, Public Citizen, Interfaith
Environmental Alliance

PHOTO OPS: Citizen wearing badges and giving testimony to the state
Smokestack float featuring Rick Perry and Dirty Industries

###

Rick Perry’s Smoke Stack Love World Tour

2007-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

“The Float that TXU Doesn’t Want You to See” Hits the Road Again
to Publicize Public Hearings on Perry Air Plan for DFW

(Dallas--) Today Downwinders At Risk announces a sequel to the infamous “ Rick Perry’s Smoke Stack Love World Tour.” The group’s controversial 12-by-16 foot Mardi Gras-style float of a stack-smooching Governor Perry will be on the road again in DFW to promote public protest of a new state air quality plan for North Texas.

Last seen on a widely-publicized statewide tour in October, this time the giant editorial cartoon will stay in the DFW area, shadowing the three public hearings on Governor Perry’s new DFW air plan that begin tonight (Wednesday) at 7 in Dallas’ Central Public Library downtown, move to Arlington’s City Hall at 2 pm on Thursday, and end in Midlothian Civic Center at 6 pm Thursday evening.

The float will be on hand for tonight’s scheduled 6:30 pm kick-off press conference in front of the Dallas Public Library called by public health and environmental groups before testimony starts.

Although Downwinders was threatened with a lawsuit by TXU over the use of its corporate logo on the dirty smoke stack Perry is puckering up to kiss on the float, the group isn’t worried about what its members call the utility’s scare tactics. “As long as the first amendment is being enforced in this country, we’re safe,” stated board member Becky Bornhorst of DeSoto.

Bornhorst believes the float is the best, if also the most humorous, embodiment of the widespread view that the proposed Perry Air Plan for DFW is the culmination of an unhealthy coziness with the state’s largest industrial polluters. “Things like this new plan are the reason the float was made,” she said. “It represents some of the tightest intertwining of state government with corporate power we’ve ever seen. It’s turned the state into one of the biggest purveyors of junk science. All because Governor Perry puts his relationship with large corporations above those of the public at large.”

###

RICK PERRY'S SMOKE STACK LOVE WORLD TOUR

2006-11-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

RICK PERRY'S SMOKE STACK LOVE WORLD TOUR
Coming to Austin Friday

“The Float that TXU Doesn’t Want You to See” Features Smoke Stack-Kissing Governor, Spotlights Air Quality While State Writes New Plan

(Dallas--) Vowing not to be cowed by threats of a TXU lawsuit, DFW-based anti-pollution group Downwinders at Risk is sending its12 by 16-foot float of a smoke stack smooching Governor Perry across the state on a seven day swing through Central Texas that includes a visit to Austin on Friday.

“’Rick Perry’s Smoke Stack Love World Tour’ is proceeding as planned, and no amount of huffing and puffing by TXU attorneys is going to stop it,” said Jim Schermbeck, a Downwinders board member who is volunteering to drive the float on a trip that will see it go all the way to New Braunfels and back to DFW in the next eight days.

A week ago, the group was told by the state’s largest utility to quit displaying the TXU corporate logo on the smoke stack that the cartoon Rick Perry is kissing, or get sued. Downwinders dismissed the threat as so much hot air.

“There are some things TXU’s money can’t buy,” said Schermbeck, “including the first amendment of the U.S. constitution.” Logos of Midlothian cement makers TXI and Ash Grove also adorn the float, which belches theatrical smoke, but so far only TXU has said it will sue Downwinders over the project.

TXU’s threat has overshadowed the original purpose of the float, which was to spotlight Governor Perry’s continued favortism of some of oldest, dirtiest smoke stacks in the state, even while writing a new clean air plan for DFW. The group complains that Perry is refusing to require modern pollution controls for Midlothian cement plants that could greatly reduce air pollution in DFW and dramatically improve public health. They accuse him of doing the same thing with the wave of 17 proposed new coal-fired plants. At stops along the way, Schermbeck will be showing a PowerPoint presentation that outlines the group’s case to media and the public.

On this trip, Downwinders plotted a course for the rolling editorial cartoon that will take it through
(continued)
2
Austin, home to Governor Perry and often downwind of what Schermbeck calls a new “Smog Belt” that will result from the construction of so many new power plants without the best pollution controls. “Austin definitely has a dog in this fight, “ said Schermbeck. “We’re talking about facilities that will be pouring out tens of thousands of tons of poisons into the air for the next 40 years. I really don’t think folks in Austin want to breathe the same kind of air Houston or Dallas residents are forced to breathe.”

Schermbeck said the float’s target in Austin would be the Governor’ s mansion. “The person who can make the decision to demand the best pollution controls in this new clean air plan is Rick Perry. Rick Perry lives in the Governor’s Mansion. In our own way, we’re trying to bring the problems our members face every day to the literal front step of where the Governor lives.

Schermbeck says he expects to be parked across from the Mansion all day on Friday, or circulating around the Governor’s neighborhood, belching smoke and all.

“At least for one day, we want his home to be directly downwind, just like ours are,” said Schermbeck.

Response to the head-tuning piece of protest art has been great, said Schermbeck. “Positive reactions outnumber negative ones by 50 to 1 every time we hit the road.” And what about Governor Perry, who saw the float un-officially join his entourage on a recent bus tour of North Texas? “I don’t think he has much of a sense of humor about it.”

GROUP DEFIES TXU LAWSUIT THREAT OVER PERRY FLOAT

2006-11-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, October 24th, 2006

GROUP DEFIES TXU LAWSUIT THREAT OVER PERRY FLOAT
Tells Utility to Go Jump in a Smoke Stack

Fight Over Stack-Smooching Latest Twist in Pollution Controversy

(Dallas---) Dismissing a TXU ultimatum to quit displaying its corporate logo on a smoke stack being kissed by a giant mock-up of Governor Rick Perry or be sued, longtime DFW-based anti-pollution group Downwinders At Risk today told the utility its threat was just so much hot air.

“Rick Perry’s Smoke Stack Love World Tour will stay on the road as is, and no amount of huffing and puffing by TXU attorneys is going to stop it,” said Becky Bornhorst, a Downwinders board member, referring to the group’s traveling, smoke-belching, sculpture by its official name. “There are some things TXU can’t buy, including the First Amendment of the US Constitution.”

Bornhorst, and fellow DAR board member Merle Roten, sent a letter to TXU today that rejected the company’s claims that use of the TXU logo on the group’s satirical float was a trademark infringement. Today was the last day of a ten-day period that TXU had given Downwinders to remove the logos, or face legal action.

At the center of the fight is a huge, eight-foot tall Styrofoam bust of Governor Perry puckering up to a smoke stack adorned with the company logos of DFW cement plant owners TXI and Ash Grove, as well as TXU. Mounted atop a hay trailer like a politicized Mardi Gras entry, the piece is head-turning commentary on what Downwinders says is Perry’s favoritism toward DFW’s oldest, dirtiest polluters. They complain that Perry is refusing to require modern pollution controls for Midlothian cement plants that could greatly reduce air pollution in DFW and dramatically improve public health. They accuse him of doing the same thing with new coal plants.

The group has vowed to travel the state with its rolling editorial cartoon, shadowing Perry as much as possible as long as he refuses to require modern controls on the cement plants.

As a result of the media attention given the float when it debuted outside the gubernatorial debate in Dallas on October 6th, TXU Executive Vice President and Corporate Counsel David Poole, sent a certified letter to Downwinders saying use of the company’s “starmark” trademark on the smoke stack that was the object of the over-sized Perry’s affections was against the law.

(continued)
-2-
According to TXU’s letter, unless Downwinders removed the logo from its float, “TXU will have no choice but to protect its trademark from infringement and pursue all available legal remedies for the infringement and dilution of TXU’s registered trademark. Please be clear it is not TXU’s objective to have to bring litigation related to this matter but your immediate cessation of the infringement of TXU’s registered trademark is necessary for you to avoid TXU being forced to do so.” It gave Downwinders 10 days from receipt of he letter to reply in writing to the utility.

Today that reply came and it was a defiant refusal to back down by Downwinders. Citing what they said were “laughable” legal arguments by TXU, Dallas ACLU attorney Michael Linz and Washington DC-based Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy argued that the First Amendment trumps any claim of corporate exclusivity regarding the company’s logo.

“Really, TXU should be ashamed of itself for sending out this threat of litigation, presumably in the hope of intimidating citizens who want to participate in the political process,” said Levy in a letter to the utility’s General Counsel.

Added Jim Schermbeck, another Downwinders’ board member, “After 12 years of battling DFW’s largest industrial polluters, the EPA and the state of Texas, we’re not ones to run from a fight when there are fundamental principles at stake. And we’re sure as hell not giving up our American citizenship just because TXU says ’boo.”

With Downwinders’ formal rejection of its demands, the next move is up to TXU. Suing Downwinders would only draw more attention to the air pollution issue, and the utility’s closeness to the governor, at a time when it’s trying to portray itself as environmentally friendly and defend against charges of manipulating the market.

As of Tuesday, there haven’t been threats of lawsuits over the float from either TXI or Ash Grove, but Schermbeck said he wouldn’t be surprised if all three companies end up trying to take some sort of legal action.

“These guys are not used to hearing the word “no.” Especially since they’ve been dealing with Rick Perry for the last six years. Their first response will be to try and punish us uppity citizens, constitutional rights be damned. But at the hourly rates their lawyers charge, it would be a very expensive mistake.”

TXU’s October 11th letter threatening legal action can be viewed at:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/txudemandletter.pdf
Downwinders At Risk attorney Paul Levy’s October 24th response to TXU can be viewed at:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/responsetotxu.pdf
-###-

2006 North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee Resolutions on Midlothian Cement Plants

2006-11-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

NORTH TEXAS CLEAN AIR STEERING COMMITTEE RESOLUTION SUPPORTING
PREFERENCE IN PURCHASING POLICIES FOR CERTAIN CEMENT
WHEREAS, the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee (the Committee) was
created after several counties in North Central Texas were declared to be in violation of
the ozone standard under the Federal Clean Air Act; and
WHEREAS, the Committee has worked closely with the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
recommending and developing control measures to enable the region to achieve
compliance of the ozone standard; and
WHEREAS, Point Sources of NOx emissions are among the causes of the region's
ozone nonattainment status; and
WHEREAS, scientific evaluation and studies by TCEQ and EPA demonstrate that
emissions from cement kilns in Ellis County directly contribute to elevated ozone levels
in the North Central Texas ozone non-attainment area; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT THE NORTH TEXAS CLEAN
AIR STEERING COMMITTEE EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR:
Section 1: That local governments and special districts within the region's
ozone non-attainment area be strongly encouraged to include
criterion in their bidding policies that rewards or give special
consideration to cement from the companies operating kilns
with the lowest NOx emission levels.
__________________________________
Honorable Judge Ron Harris, Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Collin County Judge
I hereby certify that the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee adopted this
resolution on October 20, 2006.
__________________________________
Honorable Judge Margaret Keliher, Co-Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Dallas County Judge

NORTH TEXAS CLEAN AIR STEERING COMMITTEE RESOLUTION
SUPPORTING LoTox AND/OR SELECTIVE CATALYTIC REDUCTION
TECHNOLOGIES FOR ADDITIONAL CEMENT KILN EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS
WHEREAS, the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee (the Committee) was
created after several counties in North Central Texas were declared to be in violation of
the ozone standard under the Federal Clean Air Act; and
WHEREAS, the Committee has worked closely with the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
recommending and developing control measures to enable the region to achieve
compliance of the ozone standard; and
WHEREAS, Point Sources of NOx emissions are among the causes of the region's
ozone nonattainment status; and
WHEREAS, scientific evaluation and studies by TCEQ and EPA demonstrate that
emissions from cement kilns in Ellis County directly contribute to elevated ozone levels
in the North Central Texas ozone non-attainment area; and
WHEREAS, scientific evaluation and studies by TCEQ and EPA demonstrate that
emissions from cement kilns in Ellis County directly contribute to elevated ozone levels
in the North Central Texas ozone non-attainment area.
WHEREAS, a 2005 study commissioned by TCEQ concluded that technology exists
which can reduce NOx emissions from cement kilns by up to 80 percent; and
WHEREAS, that technology, known as LoTox and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR),
is believed to be compatible with Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction Control (SNCRC)
technology.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED BY THE NORTH TEXAS CLEAN
AIR STEERING COMMITTEE:
Section 1: That TCEQ require the kiln owners to have a pilot test(s)
conducted for LoTox and/or SCR technologies, conditioned
upon an initial demonstration that each technology will be
economically, technologically, and environmentally effective
and will not adversely affect plant operations and/or facilities.
Section 2: That all efforts be made to seek funding assistance from
outside sources to offset costs of the cement industry for said
pilot test(s).
Section 3: That said pilot test(s) be conducted as quickly as possible and
completed no later than September 2007 so that cost effective
emission reductions demonstrated from the use of the pilot
tested technology can be incorporated into the 2009-2010
State Implementation Plan.
Section 4: That cement kilns producing nitrogen oxide emissions no
greater than 1.9 lbs per clinker ton of cement produced during
the ozone season shall be excluded from the mandatory pilot
testing.
Section 5: That EPA, TCEQ, the North Central Texas Council of
Governments, cement plant owners, local environmental
groups, and local governments be involved in monitoring pilot
testing.
__________________________________
Ron Harris, Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Collin County Judge
I hereby certify that the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee adopted this
resolution on October 20, 2006.
__________________________________
Margaret Keliher, Co-Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Dallas County Judge

NORTH TEXAS CLEAN AIR STEERING COMMITTEE RESOLUTION SUPPORTING
SELECTIVE NON-CATALYTIC REDUCTION TECHNOLOGY FOR CEMENT KILN
EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS
WHEREAS, the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee (the Committee) was
created after several counties in North Central Texas were declared to be in violation of
the ozone standard under the Federal Clean Air Act; and
WHEREAS, the Committee has worked closely with the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
recommending and developing control measures to enable the region to achieve
compliance of the ozone standard; and
WHEREAS, Point Sources of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions are among the causes of
the region's ozone nonattainment status; and
WHEREAS, scientific evaluation and studies by TCEQ and EPA demonstrate that
emissions from cement kilns in Ellis County directly contribute to elevated ozone levels
in the North Central Texas ozone non-attainment area; and
WHEREAS, it is generally accepted in the cement industry and confirmed by a scientific
study performed for TCEQ that Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction Technology is
capable of reducing NOx emissions from kilns in a range of 30 percent to 50 percent.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT THE NORTH TEXAS CLEAN
AIR STEERING COMMITTEE EXPRESSES STRONG SUPPORT FOR:
Section 1: That TCEQ require the kiln owners to install SNCR technology
on all kilns in Ellis County.
_________________________________
Honorable Judge Ron Harris, Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Collin County Judge
I hereby certify that the North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee adopted this
resolution on October 20, 2006.
__________________________________
Honorable Judge Margaret Keliher, Co-Chair
North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee
Dallas County Judge

Clean Air Fund

2006-09-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Once on the Outside, Local Clean Air Groups Now Bankroll Government Programs

What: News Conference Announcing New Clean Air Fund for North Texas
When: Tuesday, September 26th at 2 PM
Where: 201 East Shady Grove Road, Grand Prairie
Who: Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher, EPA, Downwinders At Risk, Blue Skies Alliance
Visual: Crushing a clunker car to make sure it never pollutes again

Since it’s founding in the mid-1990’s, DFW-based Downwinders At Risk has battled Fortune 500 companies and government bureaucracies over industrial air pollution from the three cement plants in Midlothian. The group fought permit fights, struggled to gain support through legislation and sought regulatory relief. It did this with a pittance of funding, relying like a neighborhood youth soccer league on garage sales and concession stand work for all of its money.

For their part, industry and government did their best to ignore the vocal group’s demands to clean up the three worst air polluters in North Texas.

But that’s all changing now.

On Tuesday, Downwinders At Risk, along with the group it founded to work on area-wide air pollution problems, Blue Skies Alliance, will be presenting a check for $133,000 to Dallas County Judge Margaret Keliher for countywide implementation of a program to get the worst-polluting cars permanently off the road or repaired. A highlight will be seeing one of the offending cars crushed at Granutech Saturn Systems of Grand Prairie, Texas, an local metal recycler.

The check is the very first grant from an unprecedented $2.3 million clean air fund that both groups now control. Named after the founder of Downwinders, the Sue Pope North Texas NOx Reduction Fund is the largest privately held bank for clean air initiatives ever created in the state of Texas. And it came about because of Mrs. Pope’s legal intervention on behalf of the group in one of those hard-fought permit fights way back in 1999.

Holcim Cement of Midlothian settled with the groups when it found it could not deliver on a promise to cut its smog-forming pollution after building a new plant. After almost a year of negotiations, the company pledged over $2 million to fund programs that would reduce the same kind of pollution in DFW. Downwinders went from pauper to prince overnight.

More grants are to follow. All the money must be spent on anti-pollution efforts and none goes to support the group. So even while they play the Donald Trumps of clean air, they still have to keep fundraising to support their own advocacy efforts. These days, those efforts are aimed at the new DFW clean air plan and, you guessed it, trying to get modern pollution controls on the Midlothian cement plants.

TCEQ Backslides on Monitoring As Pollution Prevails in North Texas the State Environmental Agency Allows Removal of Pollution Monitoring Devices at Re

2003-05-23T13:17:00.000-07:00

(Dallas, Texas -- Friday, May 16, 2003) This week the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) approved a permit amendment that will allow for the removal of pollution control monitoring at the region’s largest industrial polluter. Texas Industries (TXI) the controversial cement kiln which burns both hazardous waste and tires as a fuel source received permission this week from the state environmental agency to remove pollution control monitoring devices.

TXI which manufactures portland cement is a commercial industrial and hazardous waste incinerator located in Midlothian, Texas. On March 19, 1999 following a contested case hearing TXI was granted a permit to burn hazardous waste for a period of ten years.

“During the hearing the only concession granted to citizens was the telemetric monitoring system that TXI has now been granted the right to remove” said Becky Bornhorst, Co-Chair, Downwinders At Risk. “This is another example of the agencies willingness to rollback the publics right-to-know in favor of TXI.”

In response to the 94 commenters the TCEQ stated that the “Executive Director does not agree that disconnecting TXI’s telemetric system constitutes a roll-back in the public’s right-to-know” and disagrees that the “telemetric system is a useful tool”. This response mirrors that of TCEQ Commissioner Ralph Marquez. Commissioner Marquez in a joint hearing before Congress stated that “The problem, Congressman [Joe Barton], is that placing a new monitor is taking a great risk that if a monitor shows an exceedance of 1 hour (the measurement for an ozone day), it may cause for a new area now to become non-attainment. So the practical reality is that people do not want to put additional monitors.” [1]

Translation: The agency wouldn’t want to know what’s happening at a facility or in a county in regards to air pollution because they’ll be asked to do something about it.

The controversy over the real time data link mounted last summer when TXI began its trial burn for tires. Last summer, citizens in the area complained to the agency over an odor that was coming from the facility and asked the TCEQ to investigate the compliant. After following-up, Debbie Markwartz discovered that the telemetric monitoring system was offline.

“I called the agency, after smelling this horrific odor coming from TXI. I knew that they were beginning to burn tires in their kiln in an experimental process” said Markwartz. “I was shocked to learn that the monitoring on TXI’s stacks had not been working during a period of two months.”

Coincidentally, the link to the agency went offline as the plant began a practice run for its new tire burning process.
-30-
---------------------------------------------------
[1] Testimony of R.B. (Ralph) Marquez, Commissioner Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Commerce House of Representatives (104th Congress) November 9, 1995, Serial No. 104-55.