Cement Factories Release Huge Quantities of Toxic Mercury Into the Air

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: cement, mercury, health news

(NaturalNews) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is targeting cement plants in California as a major source of mercury and other toxic emissions.

The agency has issued new proposed regulations for Portland cement kilns that it says would reduce the cement industry's mercury emissions by between 81 and 93 percent. Because a total of 90 percent of all airborne mercury emissions in California come from these kilns, the rule would have a significant and immediate impact on air quality in the state.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that is particularly dangerous to children and pregnant women.

"This regulation will help all Californians breathe easier, particularly the dozens of California communities neighboring cement kilns," said Riverside high school student and American Lung Association representative Otana Jakpor, testifying before the EPA on the proposed rule. "It will reduce hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic chemicals that harm young people. And it will do so with technology that already exists. ... As a young person who lives in an area with some of the worst air pollution in the country, I feel especially passionate about this."

The toxic emissions in the cement industry come primarily from the burning of coal, petroleum coke or even industrial waste to produce the energy that powers the manufacturing process.

"We think of California as not having coal-fired power plants, but we really do," said Miriam Rotkin-Ellman of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We have these cement kilns that basically operate as small coal-fired power plants, and some of them aren't so small."

Mercury and other toxic substances are also emitted from the raw materials that go into cement, and are produced as byproducts.

California is the country's largest cement producer. The EPA estimates that the proposed rule could save hundreds of lives every year.

The agency will accept public comments about the rule through Sept. 4.

Sources for this story include: www.latimes.com.