1.20.2009 9:58 AM

U.S. Will Finally Crack Down on Toxic Air Pollution From Cement Plants

Making cement makes toxic mercury. See a list of the 27 most highly polluting cement kilns in the U.S.

Photo: Thaddeus Robertson

By Dan Shapley

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has caved in to pressure from eight states and a coalition of environmental groups, and will tighten regulations of air pollution from cement plants, according to a story in today's Albany Times-Union (which reports on the goings-on at several big cement plants in the vicinity of this writer's home in New York's Hudson Valley).

The EPA acknowledged that in drawing up new regulations for cement kilns, it didn't adhere to Clean Air Act mandates that it require companies to use the "best technology available" to reduce pollution.

This crackdown on dirty cement plants was a long time in the making -- more than 10 years. Even while high-profile fights were being waged over air pollution from coal-fired power plants, pollution from coal-fired cement plants went unregulated. Because cement plants typically used older technology, and because the limestone used to make cement -- like the coal burned to fire the plants -- contains mercury, cement kilns are among the largest sources of mercury air pollution in the country. (Gold mines are also biggies: See Top 10 Mercury Polluters in the U.S..)

Mercury rains down, contaminating rivers, lakes and other bodies of water. Working out of the mud, the toxic form of methylmercury accumulates in the food chain, making many wild-caught fish unsafe to eat. (EPA: Local Fish Advisories)

The cement industry is heavily consolidated and controlled by international companies that are, in many cases, based outside the United States. While the U.S. economy demands cement, the pollution is dumped domestically while the profits are exported.

Here's a list of the 27 cement kilns that emitted more than 100 pounds of mercury in 2006. (View all 100 in the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory.

Note, however, this caveat from Earthjustice, which has led the nonprofit coalition fighting mercury pollution from cement plants: "The TRI depends on voluntary emissions estimates that may significantly understate kilns' actual pollution levels. Individual cement kilns in New York, Michigan and Oregon routinely understated their emissions until being required by state officials to conduct emissions tests – at which point it was evident that their actual emissions were approximately ten times higher than previously reported. The Lafarge kiln in Ravena, New York previously reported mercury emissions of only 40 pounds. It now acknowledges emitting more than 400 pounds per year."