E-M:/ EPA ALLOWS CEMENT KILNS TO SPEW TOXIC POLLUTION

[anne.woiwode@sfsierra.sierraclub.org]

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Enviro-Mich message from anne.woiwode@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
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ENVIRO-MICH:  Cement Kilns have been a big topic in Michigan for years -- this
lawsuit brought nationally will be of interest to folks in Michigan.  AW



     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CONTACT:
     August 16, 1999                            Jane Williams, 661-256-0968
                     Jim Pew, Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, 202-667-4500
     
     
     ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, EPA ALLOWS CEMENT KILNS TO SPEW TOXIC POLLUTION
     
     Sierra Club Files Lawsuit to Protect Families from Airborne Poisons
     
     WASHINGTON -- In an effort to cut pollution that causes lung diseases 
     and cancer, the Sierra Club today filed a lawsuit aimed at cutting the 
     amount of harmful chemicals spewed into the air by cement kilns.  
     Although cement kilns are among America's worst polluters, the federal 
     government has done very little to control the pollution they release 
     into our air.  Because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
     has recently released standards that continue their do-nothing 
     approach, Sierra Club has asked a federal appeals court to force the 
     agency to take action to protect people from the release of mercury 
     and other dangerous chemicals.  
     
     "Cement kilns foul our air, land and food.  These cement kilns make it 
     tougher for kids with asthma to breathe, fill our lungs with toxic 
     chemicals, and poison the food we eat," said Jane Williams, Vice Chair 
     of Sierra Club's National Waste Committee.  "The government has been 
     asleep at the wheel, letting the cement industry pollute as much as 
     they can.  Sierra Club's lawsuit will prod the government to wake up 
     and force cement-makers to stop poisoning our lungs."
     
     In 1990, Congress passed amendments to the Clean Air Act requiring the 
     U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set rules to control the 
     amount of pollution emitted by cement kilns.  By the EPA's own 
     admissions, the standards set by the EPA will allow cement kilns to 
     continue to emit tons of highly toxic pollution.  The rule will do 
     nothing to reduce emissions of mercury and fails to adequately limit 
     releases of dioxins and other chemicals that cause cancer and other 
     diseases.
     
     Over 110 cement kilns operate in the U.S., producing "Portland 
     cement," commonly used for construction.  These kilns are major 
     sources of highly poisonous persistent, bioaccumulative toxins 
     including mercury, carcinogens and particulate matter, small particles 
     that lodge deep in the lungs and cause respiratory disease.  Cement 
     kilns burn large amounts of coal to fuel their enormous energy 
     requirements, and many also burn waste including iron slag, tires and 
     other materials.  
     
     "By completely failing to limit mercury emissions, the EPA's rule for 
     reducing pollution from Portland cement kilns flies in the face of the 
     Clinton Administration's Mercury Action Plan," Williams said.  "The 
     EPA has not lived up to President Clinton's promises to make our air 
     cleaner and safer to breath."
     
     "I don't think that the cement industry should have a right to poison 
     our air and sacrifice our community," said Betty Schmidt, a resident 
     of Lucerne Valley, California, which is home to the Mitsubishi Cement 
     Kiln.  "Our air has been polluted, our quality of life worsened, our 
     properties devalued and our health compromised.  We are not 
     expendable, and the EPA needs to curtail these toxic emissions."
     
     "It's long past time for the cement industry to clean up its act," 
     said Ross Vincent, whose hometown of Pueblo, Colorado, is the proposed 
     site of a new limestone strip mine and cement plant.  Vincent, a 
     chemist and chemical engineer, chairs the Sierra Club's national 
     pollution prevention efforts.  "Cement makers have lagged way
     behind even mediocre performers in the industrial sector in reducing 
     pollution.  The EPA's new rules won't do anywhere near enough to bring 
     cement kilns up to the reductions that Congress intended when it 
     passed the Clean Air Act."
     
     Sierra Club, which is represented by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, 
     filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
     
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