Green Environmental Coalition comments to EPA

The time that the USEPA is accepting public comment on their proposal to cut mercury emissions from the nation’s cement kilns is coming to an end. Thank you to all who signed our petition of support for this proposal. If you would like further information, please visit our website at www.greenlink.org . Today, GEC sent the USEPA our petition along with the following comments:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

RE: Comments on Proposed Rules on National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants from the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0051

To Whom It May Concern:

On behalf of our membership and the residents of Ohio, especially those in communities near cement kilns, the Green Environmental Coalition (GEC) submits these comments regarding your proposed changes to the National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) applicable to portland cement manufacturing facilities. We applaud the USEPA’s efforts to strengthen the standards for the portland cement industry, It is only by the USEPA stepping in with stronger regulations on the toxic emissions, that the residents of communities around these facilities will be protected. Ohio has some of the most toxic air in the Union, yet, the Ohio Legislature has declined to pass rules protective of public health and the environment in almost all instances. These federal regulations are necessary to set minimum standards that states like Ohio must meet.

Overview

In general, GEC would like to express its support of the USEPA’s efforts to carry out the requirements of the Clean Air Act by strengthening NESHAP from the cement industry and thereby protecting the residents who live near an operating cement manufacturing kiln. Too long these kilns have gone without adequate emissions detection and regulation. The young and elderly especially pay the price for the lack of adequate regulation of the toxic substances emitted by these facilities.

Specific Comments

1. GEC agrees with the requirement that continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) be used for emissions monitoring and recording rather than traditional stack tests. The current system of infrequent stack tests at these cement plants is inadequate to provide sufficient data to regulators and the public. CEMS, however, will provide emissions data, not only during normal operations, but also during violations so that appropriate actions can be taken to remedy the impact of the violations. Furthermore, this requirement should have minimal impact on the industry since the funds that will be saved by not having to perform traditional stack tests can be used to purchase and implement the CEMS. However, to ensure that the health of the public and the environment are adequately protected, there must be frequent reporting and meaningful enforcement. To earn public confidence the data should be reported every thirty days and the monitoring results be made available to the public online. Additionally, if other forms of monitoring, such as opacity monitoring, would be eliminated, CEMS must be in place to provide the data an opacity monitor would normally provide.

2. It is important to factor in and deal with the great number of start ups, shut downs, malfunctions (SSMs) and upsets that occur at kiln facilities. We agree that the thirty day rolling average requirement is an appropriate minimum reporting duration given the SSMs and upsets that occur at such facilities. We question, however, whether this minimum standard is sufficiently protective of public health and the environment. We encourage the USEPA to consider more protective standards in this regard. For example, malfunctions at the CEMEX cement plant in Fairborn, Ohio, are often designated as “not preventable” by CEMEX. There have been, on average, two malfunctions per month at this facility. One month there were malfunctions several days in a row at this plant. During these violation periods, toxins were emitted from the plant in unknown quantities. The 30-day rolling average requirement will provide more accurate data on the emissions during such malfunction periods. However, the regulations should impose limits on such malfunctions and should impose penalties for multiple malfunctions in order to provide incentive for cement plants to avoid them. It is very important that regulators spend adequate time observing functioning kilns in the field and not rely solely on the cement plants’ self-reporting and lab simulations.

3. We also support the requirement to have a bag house leak detection system to ensure that plants maintain a well operating bag house. A bag house leak detection system is crucial in detecting particulate matter emissions. The industry too often uses bags until they break.

4. Dioxin is not specifically addressed by these proposed regulations. We hope that dioxin will be dealt with specifically in the not too distant future, and we urgently request the USEPA do so.

5. If implemented in their current proposed form, the impact of these regulations will be limited without a sufficient definition of solid waste in place. Specifically, there must be a definition of solid waste set forth that addresses and limits the substances that cement kilns can burn as fuel. Residents in our community have been threatened by the local CEMEX plant that obtained permission to test whole scrap tires as fuel for the kiln. If whole scrap tires were properly designated as hazardous waste under the solid waste rules, the burning of such tires as fuel would not be permitted and the erratic functioning of a kiln that was not designed to burn such substances would be avoided. We realize the coal currently used as fuel in this facility is not a clean fuel, however, the coal is pulverized and injected into the hottest end of the kiln. Whole scrap tires on the other hand are usually added to the kiln at the cooler end, resulting in inadequate combustion and, consequently, the emission of toxic substances which are damaging to public health and the environment. We urgently request that the USEPA address this situation.

6. As reflected in these proposed rules, we support the standard of prohibiting the use of fly ash when the mercury content of the fly ash has been increased through the use of activated carbon.

Thank you for considering these comments. The Green Environmental Coalition urges the USEPA to not weaken the standards reflected in these proposed regulations when they are finalized. We also urge the USEPA to continue promoting the goals of the Clean Air Act through other regulatory actions.

Sincerely,


Kathleen Boutis
President
Green Environmental Coalition