During the Bush years the EPA was neither encouraged to establish tougher standards nor aggressively enforce pollution laws for many industries such as the cement industry. The Sierra Club and the National Lime Association filed a lawsuit against the EPA to mandate that Toxic Pollutants for cement plants be properly regulated as are other industries as part of the Clean Air Act. On December 15, 2000 the court ruled in favor of the Sierra Club and National Lime Association (NESHAP: Portland Cement Notice of Reconsideration and NSPS for Portland Cement) requiring the EPA to establish toxic and particulate limits for Portland cement manufacturing. (See Proposed Amendments To National Air Toxics Emission Standards For Portland Cement Manufacturing Fact Sheet from EarthJustice.)
At long last, on April 21, 2009, the EPA announced its proposal amendment to the Clean Air Act for toxic emission standards for Portland cement manufacturing (EPA's proposed amendment Fact Sheet). On August 9th, 2010 EPA announced its new standards for the amendment to the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollution (“NESHAP”) for Portland cement manufacturing for mercury, total hydrocarbons, hydrochloric acid and particulate matter from both new and existing cement kilns (see EPA Regulation) to take effect on August 9, 2013.
Pressures from the cement industry resulted in the loosening of these proposed standards (see comparison below) prior to its announcement, but in spite of these somewhat looser standards the overall effect was to reduce regulated toxic pollutants by about 80-90%. This is a major victory for all who live near cement plants. The rules will take effect in 3 years saving lives and improving the health of residents in the Cupertino area. Lehigh Southwest Cement Plant will be forced to reduce their 550lbs (arguably 1,248 lbs) of mercury annually to a maximum of about 88 lbs per year, an 85% reduction. Had the original proposed rules been used mercury would have been limited to 69 lbs per year.
However the Portland Cement Association is currently suing to modify portions of the rule. In addition House Republicans (House defeats EPA mercury requirement that would affect cement companies) have passed an amendment to suspend EPA funding for implementation and enforcement of the new rules. So things are not yet settled. However there is more light at the end of the tunnel than not.
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|
Proposed Limits |
Final Limits |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pollutant |
Existing Source Kilns |
New Source Kilns |
Existing Source Kilns |
New Source Kilns |
|
Mercury |
43 pounds per million tons of clinker produced, averaged over 30 days [Lehigh limit 69 lbs/yr] |
14 pounds per million tons of clinker, averaged over 30 days [Lehigh limit 22.4 lbs/yr] |
55 pounds per million tons of clinker, averaged over 30 days [Lehigh limit 88 lbs/yr] |
21pounds per million tons of clinker, averaged over 30 days [Lehigh limit 34 lbs/yr] |
|
Total Hydrocarbons |
7 parts per million by volume (ppmv) for all kilns, averaged over 30 days |
6 ppmv for all kilns, averaged over 30days |
24 parts per million by volume (ppmv), averaged over 30 days |
24 ppmv, averaged over 30 days |
|
Particulate Matter (as a surrogate for toxic metals other than mercury) |
0.085 pounds per ton of clinker |
0.080 pounds per ton of clinker |
0.04 pounds per ton of clinker, averaged over 30 days |
0.01 pounds per ton of clinker, averaged over 30 days |
|
Hydrochloric acid (major sources only) |
2 ppmv, averaged over 30 days |
0.1 ppmv, averaged over 30 days |
3 ppmv, averaged over 30 days |
3 ppmv, averaged over 30 days |
Note: Lehigh's license limits production to 1.6 million tons of clinker/year maximum
Some News Articles and References:
Fact Sheet: Proposed Amendments to National Air Toxics Emission Standards - EPA - 6/12/2009 [5 page document]
Fact Sheet: New Source Performance Standards and National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants - EPA - 8/9/2010 [6 page document]
EPA Sets First National Limits to Reduce Mercury and Other Toxic Emissions from Cement Plants- EPA 8/9/2010
EPA Adopts Strong Protections Against Air Pollution from Cement Kilns - Earthjustice 8/9/2010
EPA clamps down on cement plant pollution - USA Today 8/9/2010
EPA finalizes tighter pollutant rules for cement plants - Chicago Tribune 8/9/2010
Cementing cleaner air - The Baltimore Sun 8/9/2010
EPA Sets First National Limits to Reduce Mercury - Concrete Construction 8/17/2010
Cement Emissions and Social Justice - BuildingProductMarketing.com 8/27/2010
EPA Regulatory Impact Analysis: Amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants and New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry - Final Report (2.3Mbytes) - August 2010
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants - EPA 8/6/2010 [This is the actual report published by the EPA. It is 461 pages long]
Proposed Amendments to National Air Toxics Emission Standards: Comment Period Extension and Public Hearings - EPA 8/9/2010
EPA: What's New - the latest from EPA - see 8/9/2010