More on EPAs Recent Action Involving Cement Plant Mercury Emissions

From Mercury News

It is hard to see how the recent legislation can meet the requirements of the courts orders. But the debate continues days after passage.

James Pew, a lawyer with Earthjustice in Washington says, "The EPA decided to allow every cement kiln to continue to emit as much mercury as it likes," (sic)

Keith Barnett, an EPA environmental engineer who helped craft the mercury rule says,"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 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.
Cement kilns are required to report mercury emissions to EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory, but the reports can be estimates instead of measurements. Environmentalists say some plants that voluntarily began measuring their mercury releases found amounts 10 times greater than their previous estimates. A cement plant in Tehachapi, Calif., reported having emitted more than 2,500 pounds of mercury in 2004, the most in the country. Here are the reported mercury releases of some other plants in 2004:

_Blue Circle/Lafarge, Harleyville, S.C., 260 lbs.
_Ash Grove Cement, Midlothian, Texas, 150 lbs.
_Rinker Portland Cement Corp., Miami, 106 lbs.
_Giant Cement, Harleyville, S.C., 100 lbs.
_Holcim Inc., Midlothian, Texas, 60 lbs.
_Holcim Inc., Holly Hill, S.C., 33 lbs.
_TXI Operations, Midlothian, Texas, 30 lbs.
_Lafarge Corp., Sugar Creek, Mo., 26 lbs.
_Medusa Cement, Clinchfield, Ga., 18 lbs.

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