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

[David Wimberly]

Hi Maureen,
Here is another article on this important issue.  Since it is Lafarge it 
is especially relevant to sludge issues since the often include sludge 
based products which are a significant source of mercury.
And some of the worst materials come from Canada.
Please publish this to sludge-watch.
David Wimberly

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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.




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