The EPA will hold a public hearing on June 18th in the Washington DC–area on a proposal to reduce mercury and other emissions from Portland cement kilns It will be the first of three hearings to take public comment on the agency’s April 21 proposal that sets the nation’s first limits on mercury emissions from existing kilns, left, and toughens the limits for new kilns.The proposed standards also would set emission limits for total hydrocarbons and particulate matter from cement kilns of all sizes, and would reduce hydrochloric acid emissions from kilns that are large emitters. EPA is now planning to hold two more hearings in the Dallas and Los Angeles areas. The Portland Cement Association (PCA) has said the proposed rule threatens to undermine the balance between environmental protection and economic viability for the cement industry. The proposed rule may well shift investment patterns away from US plants, enhancing dependence on foreign sources of supply, constraining infrastructure development, and even increasing global greenhouse emissions.
Cement Kilm Diagram
The cement industry has taken its environmental performance seriously. Over the course of the last decade, PCA and its members have addressed rising demand for Portland cement – the most intensely consumed commodity on the planet (by weight) after water – by adopting environmentally and socially responsible business practices. PCA says the proposal not only has technical flaws (in setting a different MACT standards for each air emission addressed in the proposal, no one cement plant in existence can meet the current standard), but it also sets standards that make expansion of existing capacity or building new capacity to meet the needs of the just-passed stimulus legislation exceedingly difficult. (Frank Maisano)
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