Sludge Watch ==> Michigan cement plants draw scrutiny for mercury emissions

[David Wimberly]

Hi Maureen,
Since sludge is so commonly burned in cement kilns this story will be of 
interest to sludgewatch readers.  Please post it.
David Wimberly
Nova Scotia


http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/061119/x111902A.html#skip300x250

Michigan cement plants draw scrutiny for mercury emissions

Published: Sunday, November 19, 2006 | 12:22 AM ET

Canadian Press: JOHN FLESHER

ALPENA, Mich. (AP) - Retired mail carrier Bill Freese's house is just 
across the road from Thunder Bay on Lake Huron, where his father once 
ran a bait shop.

"We lived on the fish in this bay," Freese says, gazing across the 
wind-rippled water at his longtime adversary on the opposite shore: the 
Lafarge North America cement plant. "But I won't eat it now."

State regulators last year discovered the plant, one of the nation's 
biggest cement producers, belches up to 263 kilograms of mercury a year 
into the atmosphere - about 10 times more than previously believed. Only 
an electric power station near Detroit generates more airborne mercury 
in Michigan.

A nationwide ranking of cement plant emissions isn't available because 
of unreliable data. But environmentalists consider the plants an 
underrated source of mercury pollution, which can damage the human 
nervous system, and are prodding the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency to regulate them.

Lafarge and the state Department of Environmental Quality tentatively 
agreed on emissions limits in August. They would have required a slight 
decline until 2010, then a permanent annual ceiling of 176 kilograms. 
Freese, a local activist who has battled Lafarge over hazardous waste 
pollution for years, thinks that's still too high.

But as the DEQ pondered whether to implement the settlement, a county 
judge in October rendered it moot. Because Michigan has no laws or 
regulations dealing specifically with mercury from cement plants, the 
department exceeded its authority by getting involved, the judge ruled.

Lafarge North America, a subsidiary of French building-materials maker 
Lafarge SA, pledged voluntary cutbacks. Meanwhile, a task force of 
outside experts is helping the DEQ write mercury emission rules for the 
cement industry.

If Michigan appears to be playing catch-up, it's still ahead of most 
other states - and the U.S. government.

The EPA in 2005 ordered reductions in mercury pollution from the primary 
coal-fired electricity plants. Many states, including Michigan, have 
tougher requirements than the EPA's.

But federal officials have paid comparatively little attention to the 
nation's 118 cement plants, which the EPA says generate a combined six 
tonnes of mercury a year - a figure based largely on industry estimates.

Once spewed into the atmosphere as a vapour, mercury falls into waters 
and can move up the aquatic food chain. Pregnant women who eat tainted 
fish can pass the toxic heavy metal to their fetuses, which - along with 
young children - are particularly susceptible to brain and neurological 
damage.

Cement is the primary component in concrete. Contents may include 
limestone, chalk, sand, clay, shale and iron ore. They are crushed, 
mixed and baked at up to 1,650 C. Mercury emissions come from the 
superheated ingredients and from kiln fuels, primarily coal.

Despite two court orders to set nationwide limits, the EPA says there's 
no cost-effective way to curtail mercury emissions from cement kilns. 
Raw materials vary among plants, depending on what is mined locally, 
making a one-size-fits-all policy unworkable, spokesman John Millett says.

Electric utilities are experimenting with injecting powdered carbon to 
remove mercury from the emission stream. But the Portland Cement 
Association, an industry group based in Skokie, Ill., says carbon 
injection would create more solid waste by making kiln dust less fit for 
recycling.

The EPA says the technology would be highly expensive. But Jim Pew, an 
attorney with the law firm Earthjustice who sued the EPA over the issue, 
says Congress and the courts have ordered the agency not to base 
clean-air standards on costs to industry.

Millett says the EPA is reconsidering its position and will announce a 
decision in December.

Pressure for federal regulation is mounting as smokestack tests at 
several plants around the country have shown unexpectedly high mercury 
readings.

The Ash Grove Cement Co. plant in Durkee, Ore., originally reported 286 
kilograms in 2004 but changed the figure to 976 kilograms after an error 
was detected in the company's test data, said Andy Ginsburg, air quality 
administrator with the Oregon DEQ. The next year's figures also were 
adjusted from 425 kilograms to 698 kilograms.

The Lafarge plant in Alpena for years reported annual mercury emissions 
of 22-36 kilograms to the EPA for its national toxic release inventory. 
Then, in 2005, the company applied for a revised state air quality 
permit because it planned to boost cement production 20 per cent - to 
3.3 million tonnes a year.

The DEQ wanted an annual mercury ceiling of 176 kilograms - seemingly no 
problem, considering the company's previous reports. But stack tests 
produced shocking results: The plant was generating so much mercury that 
if operated continually for a year, the total would hit 263 kilograms.

What happened? Two things, says Mark Stephens, regional DEQ field inspector.

Lafarge - like many cement manufacturers - had calculated its mercury 
estimates using EPA guidelines that understated emissions, Stephens 
says. Millett acknowledges the formula was better suited for some plants 
than others but says each was responsible for the accuracy of its estimates.

Secondly, in the mid-1990s Lafarge began adding fly ash from a Canadian 
coal-burning plant to its raw materials for cement. The ash contains so 
much mercury, it produces over half the total emitted while making up 
just five per cent of the raw material volume, Stephens says.

Lafarge spokesman Craig Ryan insists the company didn't know the ash 
would send mercury emissions through the roof. Lafarge will consider 
using less ash - and other steps, including new technology - as it 
develops a mercury strategy, Ryan says.

Environmentalists are skeptical, but hope the company - which provides 
250 jobs and pumps US$6 million a year into the local economy - will 
honour its commitment to reduce emissions.

"Our families swim in these waters, breathe the air, drink the water and 
eat fish and other wildlife that also ingest mercury within the food 
chain," says Kay Cumbow, director of Citizens for Alternatives to 
Chemical Contamination.




Pat Costner
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