Good for the EPA! Crack Down on Mercury Pollution

[G_j]

http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/federal-government-cracks-down-on-mercury-pollution-from-cement-kilns.html

Federal Government Cracks Down on Mercury Pollution From Cement Kilns

Air pollution rules from new administration will cut mercury pollution by between 81 and 93 percent

April 21, 2009

Washington, DC -- The federal government is proposing, for the first time, to reduce airborne mercury pollution from cement kilns with new rules issued today. The new standards will cut mercury pollution from the nation's more than 150 cement kilns between 11,600 and 16,250 pounds (or a reduction of 81 to 93 percent), according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Led by Lisa Jackson, the EPA Administrator newly appointed by President Obama, EPA is proposing first time standards for cement kilns of mercury, hydrochloric acid, and toxic organic pollutants such as benzene. In addition, the agency is strengthening the outdated standards for particulate matter to better control kilns' emissions of lead, arsenic, and other toxic metals.

Local and national environmental and public health advocates cheered the news, which follows a decade of delay and represents a hard-fought victory for those who have long pushed for these mercury limits. The new standards are being proposed as part of a court settlement reached between the US Environmental Protection Agency, the nonprofit environmental law firm Earthjustice representing Sierra Club and community groups in New York, Michigan, Montana, California and Texas, and the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Earthjustice prevailed in a string of lawsuits aimed at forcing EPA to set limits for airborne mercury pollution from cement kilns for nearly a decade. Such limits were due under the federal Clean Air Act in 1997.

"This is great news and is a promising sign that the new leadership at EPA and in the White House is serious about protecting public health and the environment," said Earthjustice attorney Jim Pew. "By stopping pollution at its source, we can keep mercury from poisoning the fish we eat. Bit by bit, we can reclaim our nation's waters and protect our children's health and our environment from dangerous mercury pollution."

Although cement kilns have avoided controlling their mercury pollution until now, they are one of the largest sources of mercury emissions nationwide and the worst mercury polluters in some states. But kilns can curb their mercury emissions by using cleaner raw materials, cleaner fuels, and readily available technology like scrubbers and activated carbon injection.

..more..


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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/23/cement-industry-mercury-a_n_190478.html


Cement Industry: Mercury And Toxins Must Stay!

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JOHN FLESHER | April 22, 2009 05:06 PM EST |

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A group representing the U.S. cement industry says a federal government plan for cutting emissions of mercury and other air toxins at its plants is unrealistic.

The Portland Cement Association said Wednesday a regulation drafted by the Environmental Protection Agency would cause some plants to close. The group said there would be shortages of cement, the key ingredient in concrete.

The industry also predicted more cement imports from countries with weaker standards.

EPA's proposed rule would require the nation's 99 cement plants to make steep reductions in releases of pollutants such as mercury, hydrochloric acid, hydrocarbons and soot.

The agency says cement kilns are America's fourth-largest source of airborne mercury. It says the proposed limits would save up to 1,600 lives a year.

[Ian David]

1. About time...

[Canuckistanian]

2. Cement kilns are a nasty source of pollutants

This should have been done long ago.

I seem to remember that Bill Clinton, as one of his last acts as president imposed new regulations for mercury.

And one of the FIRST acts of Smirky McFlightsuit was to remove them.

Maybe this political football can finally be put to rest.

[G_j]

4. similar story with Carter

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0503-22.htm


Published on Tuesday, May 3, 2005 by CommonDreams.org

Carter Tried To Stop Bush's Energy Disasters - 28 Years Ago
by Thom Hartmann

In his recent news conference, George Bush Jr. suggested that our nation's "problem" with high gasoline prices was caused by the lack of a national energy policy, and tried to blame it all on Bill Clinton. First, Junior said, "This is a problem that's been a long time in coming. We haven't had an energy policy in this country."
This was followed by, "That's exactly what I've been saying to the American people -- 10 years ago if we'd had an energy strategy, we would be able to diversify away from foreign dependence. And -- but we haven't done that. And now we find ourselves in the fix we're in." As is so often the case, Bush was lying.

Consider President Jimmy Carter's April 18, 1977 speech. Since it was given nearly three decades ago, when many of the reporters in Bush's White House were children, it's understandable that they don't remember it. But it's inexcusable that Bush and the mainstream media (which, after all, has the ability to do research) would completely ignore it. It was the speech that established the strategic petroleum reserve, birthed the modern solar power industry, led to the insulation of millions of American homes, and established America's first national energy policy. "With the exception of preventing war," said Jimmy Carter, a man of peace, "this is the greatest challenge our country will face during our lifetimes."

He added: "It is a problem we will not solve in the next few years, and it is likely to get progressively worse through the rest of this century. "We must not be selfish or timid if we hope to have a decent world for our children and grandchildren.

"We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us." Carter bluntly pointed out that: "The most important thing about these proposals is that the alternative may be a national catastrophe. Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation." He called the new energy policy he was proposing, "he 'moral equivalent of war' -- except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy."

When Carter had become president three months earlier, the nation was still recovering from the "oil shock" of the 1973 Arab oil embargo, and scientists were realizing our nation was just then hitting the point of domestic peak oil production predicted more than a decade earlier by scientist M. King Hubbert. (The rest of the world is hitting the Hubbert Peak right now.) As Carter noted in his speech, "The oil and natural gas we rely on for 75 percent of our energy are running out. In spite of increased effort, domestic production has been dropping steadily at about six percent a year. Imports have doubled in the last five years. Our nation's independence of economic and political action is becoming increasingly constrained." Hubbert had predicted that the peak of oil production for the USA would come in the 1970s, and it did, hitting us with a shock.

,,more..

[valerief]

3. Wow, I hadn't realized mercury was in the air from cement. We only

hear about the industrial dumping into our water supply.

:kick: