Earthjustice/EIP Report: Dangerous Mercury Pollution From Unregulated Cement Kilns...

Earthjustice/EIP Report: Dangerous Mercury Pollution From Unregulated Cement
Kilns in U.S. About Twice as High as Levels Previously Projected by EPA

EPA Ignored Problem For 10+ Years Even Though Some Kilns Emit More Mercury
Than Power Plants; Report Focuses on Cement Kilns in AL, CA, IA, IL, MD, MI,
MT, NY, OR, SC, TX and WA.

WASHINGTON, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For more than a decade after
Congress told it to curb dangerous mercury pollution from cement kilns across
the nation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refused to take
action. Now, a new study from Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity
Project (EIP) documents the consequences of the EPA's failure: Cement kilns
emit mercury pollution -- a threat to the health of pregnant women and
children -- at more than twice the level estimated as recently as 2006 by the
EPA, which only started to collect data on the problem in 2007.

The unregulated pollution from cement kilns is emitted in or nearby many major
U.S. urban areas and also within a few miles of such major bodies of water as
the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Huron and the San Francisco Bay. Mercury pollution
already has impaired rivers, lakes, and streams throughout the United States,
making certain fish unsafe to eat. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 8 percent of women of childbearing age in America
already have mercury in their bodies at levels high enough to put their babies
at risk of birth defects, loss of IQ, learning disabilities and developmental
problems.

Entitled "Cementing a Toxic Legacy? How EPA Has Failed to Control Mercury
Pollution From Cement Kilns," the Earthjustice/EIP report outlines specific
recommendations for EPA and state agency action based on the following key
conclusions:

-- Mercury emissions from cement kilns are almost twice as high as the agency
has previously acknowledged, and in many states kilns are among the worst
mercury polluters. EPA now estimates that cement kilns emit nearly 23,000
pounds of mercury each year, far more than the Agency's 2006 estimate of
11,995 pounds.

-- A relatively small number of cement plants that use extremely dirty raw
materials and fuels are among the worst mercury polluters in their states and,
in some cases, in the country. For example, some cement kilns release as much
or more mercury as coal fired power plants.

-- Since 1974, cement production has increased 15 percent, and further
increases are projected for the future. Rising levels of cement production in
the U.S. mean that the cement industry's mercury pollution will grow even
worse if left unregulated.

Earthjustice staff attorney James Pew said: "EPA's new data confirm that
cement plants are among the worst mercury polluters in this country. EPA has
refused to acknowledge this problem for more than a decade, and the mercury
contamination in our food and waters has grown worse every year as a result.
It is high time for EPA to do its job and make this industry clean up its
toxic emissions."

Environmental Integrity Project Director Eric Schaeffer said: "Action by the
EPA is long overdue and America's health and public waters have suffered
needlessly due to this foot dragging. Ten years after it was required to set
standards for cement kilns, EPA finally got around to requesting basic
information related to mercury emissions from nine of the major cement kiln
companies operating in the U.S. EPA claims that it will use this information
to finally propose mercury standards for cement kilns sometime in the summer
or fall of 2008, but confidence in that timeline is low given all of the
agency's stalling to date. Based on our new review of available data, it is
now long past time for EPA to regulate an industry that releases nearly twice
as much mercury into the air as the agency previously reported."

Marti Sinclair, chairperson, Sierra Club National Air Committee (Cincinnati,
OH), said: "EPA's mercury strategy has allowed polluters to contaminate our
fisheries with mercury, then warn people off eating fish. Folks who ignore the
warning or just don't know are imperiled. Those who avoid fish altogether are
eating unhealthy substitutes instead. For Americans, eating fish has become
damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don't. Only the polluters get let off the
hook."

MORE ABOUT THE DATA FINDINGS

In 2007, EPA collected data from nine companies and released data for 51
non-hazardous waste burning kilns currently operating in the United States.
The 2007 EPA collection requests were sent to the following companies: Ash
Grove Cement Company (Overland Park, KS); CEMEX, (Houston, TX); California
Portland Cement Company, (Glendora, CA); Essroc Cement Corp., (Nazareth, PA);
Holcim (US) Inc., (Dundee, MI); LaFarge North America, Inc. , (Herndon, VA);
Lehigh Cement Company, (Allentown, PA); Lonestar/Buzzi Unicem, (Bethlehem,
PA.); and Texas Industries, Inc., (Dallas, TX).

Kiln-specific findings from across the U.S. include the following:

-- The Ash Grove Cement Plant in Durkee, Oregon has the dubious distinction
of being the worst mercury polluter of any kind in the country, emitting more
mercury into the air than any power plant, steel mill or hazardous waste
incinerator. In 2006 Ash Grove reported to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory
that it emitted 2,582 pounds of mercury. Based on information Ash Grove
submitted to EPA in 2007, however, actual emissions may be as much as 3,788
pounds a year. Note that although it emits the greatest amount of mercury
(more than double the amount of the next worst polluter), it has the third
smallest production capacity of the kilns on the Top 10 Polluting Cement Kiln
list.

-- Lafarge North America, Inc., shows up on the Top 10 Polluting Cement Kiln
list twice, at rank four and rank five with its plants in New York and
Michigan. By Lafarge's own calculations the kiln in Ravena, New York emits 400
pounds of mercury per year.

-- Lehigh's Union Bridge, Maryland, plant is located approximately 75 miles
northwest of Baltimore. It is the fifth largest cement kiln in the United
States, able to produce nearly 2 million tons of clinker annually. The Lehigh
cement kiln at Union Bridge reported to TRI in 2006 emitting only 35 pounds of
mercury pollution; but the data show that this kiln also has the capacity to
emit as much as 1,539 pounds of mercury a year. This is particularly
significant given the plant's proximity to the Chesapeake Bay.

-- The largest concentration of cement manufacturing in the entire country is
just outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in Midlothian, Texas. Citizens
of Midlothian are burdened by five plants operated by Holcim, Ash Grove and
Texas Industries, all within a 6.5 mile radius of each other. Combined, these
plants emit just under 200 pounds of mercury on an annual basis, and thousands
of tons of other dangerous toxic air pollutants.

-- In the San Francisco Bay Area, Hanson Permanente Cement operates a kiln in
Cupertino, California. This kiln is located within a major residential area in
close proximity to several Cupertino schools. It is also located within five
miles of the San Francisco Bay, which is currently contaminated with mercury.
The Hanson Permanente kiln reported emitting a staggering 494 pounds of
mercury pollution in 2006 to the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory. EPA failed to
include Hanson Permanente Cement in any of its information requests, leaving
open the possibility that its mercury emissions could be even worse.

-- The CEMEX kiln in Davenport, California is of similar concern. That kiln,
located right beside homes and farms along California's coastline and only 40
miles north of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary, reported emitting 172 pounds of
mercury pollution to the Toxic Release Inventory in 2006. The Davenport kiln
is one of those for which EPA refuses to release data gathered in 2007.

-- The Lafarge site in Alpena, Michigan is a five-kiln plant, and in 2006 was
the nation's third largest cement plant. These kilns collectively reported
emitting 360 pounds of mercury in 2006. The Alpena cement plant is of
particular concern because it sits on the banks of Lake Huron and in close
proximity to residential areas of Alpena.

In a clear sign of the limitations of the initial EPA data, the federal agency
released no data on one cement industry leader, CEMEX, which has claimed that
the information EPA requested -- information directly related to the amount of
mercury it releases into our air and waters -- is confidential business
information. All of the data reviewed by the EPA was self-reported by the kiln
companies. For a complete discussion of the data sources considered and
methodology, see Appendix B of the Earthjustice/EIP report at
www.earthjustice.org/cement.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

The Earthjustice/EIP report calls for the following steps to be taken:

-- EPA must swiftly follow through on its commitments to propose and adopt a
mercury standard for cement kilns.

-- State regulatory agencies should regularly test cement kiln emissions for
mercury.

-- Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) should be installed to
measure mercury emissions at every kiln.

-- State regulatory agencies should require cement kilns to install mercury
pollution control devices.

UNDERSTANDING HEALTH DANGERS FROM MERCURY POLLUTION

The process for making cement often relies on fuels and raw materials that are
high in mercury content. While the large quantity of mercury emissions from
cement kilns is not widely known, it is hardly surprising. Just over 150
cement kilns operate in the United States and, each year, they "cook"
thousands of tons of rock -- primarily limestone -- at more than 2,600 degrees
Fahrenheit. To fuel this cooking process, cement kilns burn primarily coal.
Both the rock and the coal contain mercury, a highly volatile metal that
evaporates at room temperature. Virtually all the mercury in the coal and
limestone is vaporized in the cement production process, and the vast majority
of that mercury enters our air through the kilns' smokestacks.

Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin, interfering with the brain and nervous
system. Exposure to mercury can be particularly hazardous for pregnant women
and small children. During the first several years of life, a child's brain is
still developing and rapidly absorbing nutrients. Prenatal and infant mercury
exposure can cause mental retardation, cerebral palsy, deafness and blindness.
Even in low doses, mercury may affect a child's development, delaying walking
and talking, shortening attention span and causing learning disabilities. The
National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council estimated in a 2000
report that approximately 60,000 children per year may be born in the US with
neurological problems due to in utero exposure to methylmercury. Mercury
poses a threat to adult men, as well as women and children. In adults,
mercury poisoning can adversely affect fertility and blood pressure regulation
and can cause memory loss, tremors, vision loss and numbness of the fingers
and toes.

ABOUT EARTHJUSTICE AND EIP

Earthjustice (www.earthjustice.org) is a non-profit public interest law firm
dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and
wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy
environment. Earthjustice brings about far-reaching change by enforcing and
strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations,
coalitions and communities.

The Environmental Integrity Project (www.environmentalintegrity.org) is a
nonpartisan and nonprofit organization established in March 2002 to advocate
for more effective enforcement of environmental laws. EIP was founded by Eric
Schaeffer, who was director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's
Office of Regulatory Enforcement. He resigned in 2002 after publicly
expressing his frustration with efforts of the Bush Administration to weaken
enforcement of the Clean Air Act and other laws.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A streaming audio replay of the July 23, 2008 news event will
be available on the Web at www.earthjustice.org/cement as of 6 p.m. EDT on
July 23, 2008.

SOURCE Environmental Integrity Project, Washington, D.C.; Earthjustice,
Oakland, CA

Ailis Aaron Wolf, +1-703-276-3265 or aawolf@hastingsgroup.com, for
Earthjustice and Environmental Integrity Project