State of the Art-Ful Dodgers.
Permit Changes and Fines
Show Midlothian's New Cement Plants Aren't As Green as Advertised
Like the French police captain in the film Casablanca, we are shocked,
SHOCKED that the new dry process cement plants being built by Holcim and TXI
in Midlothian are exceeding their permitted maximum emissions before they
even open for business.
According to their own testing data, Holcim has violated their allowable
emission rates for Particulate Matter, Volatile Organic Compounds, Nitrogen
Oxides and Carbon Monoxide, while TXI went over the line in emissions of
Total Hydrocarbons and Sulfuric Acid Mist.
Now, before the ribbon is cut for either plant, both are seeking permit
amendments to increase their emissions.
By far, Holcim is the worst offender. It started its “test burns” on both
its refurbished Kiln 1 and the brand new Kiln 2 in March of 2000. According
to the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission such a test is
supposed to only take 180 days or approximately 6 months. That’s the length
of time the TNRCC gave Holcim in a special permit. But Kiln 1’s took 7
months and Kiln 2’s test lasted 10 months.
And what those tests revealed was embarrassing for the cement company.
During that time, Holcim exceeded its emission rate for Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)
- the pollutant that the EPA has identified in DFW as the major contributor
to smog - for a total of 1905 hours or approximately 80 days.
This has resulted in Holcim’s submitting a “permit amendment “ to the
TNRCC, which seeks an increase of 2,000 tons a year in NOx emissions over
the limit established in the 1998 permit for the new plant. It’s also 1500
more tons a year than the plant was producing in 1996 - the baseline year
used by the TNRCC in its DFW smog clean-up plan. As a result, this amendment
further weakens that plan.
Holcim’s permit amendment is sitting in Austin with the TNRCC.
Downwinders, State Senator Royce West, and others have requested a public
hearing, but so far no date has been set.
But the NOx emissions were only the tip of the testing iceberg if you
believe the TNRCC’s “Agreed Board Order” which lays out the fines for
Holcim’s regulatory sins. Also listed are 14 other charges, including that
the company failed to maintain its pollution control equipment in good
working order; failed to comply with dioxin and furan testing procedures,
failed to install pollution control devices as stated in the original
permit, and reported erroneous Particulate Matter emission figures from 1990
to 1999.
For all this, TNRCC is making Holcim pay a fine of $111, 563 and donate
the equivalent of that sum to the Midlothian Fire Department in the form of
Hazmat response equipment. A Commission hearing on the entire Agreed Order
is taking place in Austin on May 22 at 9:30 in the morning (Postponed after
so many responses to the Order were received).
By the way, the TNRCC did not allow a contested public hearing on the
1998 original Holcim new plant permit because the company promised emissions
would actually be reduced by the new permit.
Although it’s supposedly similar to the Holcim cement plant, TXI’s new
kiln #5 however, might foreshadow a new round of familiar problems with
Sulfur pollution.
Based on its tests of the new kiln, TXI is seeking to raise its Total
Hydrocarbons limit by at least a third and its rate for Sulfuric Acid Mist
by 500%.
The increase in Sulfuric Mist is problematic because of TXI’s past
problems with “odor” and health effects from too much smokestack sulfur.
Although it has written the TNRCC that it is planning on seeking a permit
amendment, no formal application has been received by the Commission from
TXI.
Looking at the results from the two new plants that use the same
controls, one is tempted to say that Holcim should be looking to TXI for
advice on NOx control and TXI should take a page from Holcim on Sulfur
emissions. But why tinker with your equipment when tinkering with your
permit is so much easier? |
