|
| |
|
Air quality in
North Texas has been deemed unfit for breathing by the Environmental
Protection Agency. While the state environmental agency (TCEQ) has
asked for citizens to do their part to help clear the air, the state has
been negligent in asking the smoggiest North Texas contributors to do their
fair share.
The largest
industrial polluters lie just south of Dallas in Midlothian, Texas.
While the state has given the impression that the air stops at the Ellis and
Dallas County line we know this just ain't so.
Downwinders at Risk
has actively worked toward cleaning up these industrial sources, to improve
regional air quality, and to help write the Citizen's Implementation Plan.
All North Texas residents are "downwind" of the Midlothian Industrial
Complex, hence the organization's name Downwinders at Risk
Throughout this
site is a slew of information on cement kilns and North Texas Air Pollution
Problems. Enjoy. |
Here’s Your Chance to Tell EPA You Want Cleaner Cement Plants and Cleaner
Air
Wednesday June 17th
10 am to 8 pm
Grand Hyatt/DFW Int’l Airport
inside Terminal D
Because of its large concentration of cement kilns, the
Environmental Protection Agency has announced that DFW will
host one of only three national public hearings on new rules limiting cement
industry pollution, including the first ever limits for Mercury emissions.
On June 17th, the Environmental Protection Agency will take public
testimony at the DFW
Airport Hyatt Regency from 10 am to 8 pm on new federal rules
that would significantly decrease some of the most dangerous kinds of air
pollution cement plants release, including Mercury,
Particulate Matter, or soot, Hydrochloric Acid, and chemicals
contributing to smog called Total Hydrocarbons. Two other hearings will
take place that week in Washington D.C. and
Los Angeles.
The
cement industry is lobbying hard against these new rules. That’s why we need
you to come and support President Obama’s EPA in its first attempt at
regulating some of the country’s worst polluters.
Please plan on attending the
June 17th
hearing.
EPA officials from
Washington DC will be attending because they anticipate that
the DFW hearing will be the best attended of the three. Let's not disappoint
them. Your presence in support of these new rules is critical in showing EPA
there is widespread consensus on the need for these wet kilns - and all the
cement kilns - to install the best possible
pollution control equipment. <
/font>This event is for average citizens who want
their voice to be heard over the noise of big business.
Talking Point >> |
Cement Kilns Must Clean Up Toxic Air Pollution
|
Talking Points For Your
June 17th Comments:
1) DFW has the largest concentration of
cement kilns of a ny region in the country, and more obsolete and
dirtier "wet kilns" than any other part of the country. These cement kilns
account for fully half of all
industrial air pollution in
North Texas.
2) Studies show these cement plants can have a big impact on DFW air
quality. We're directly downwind of these plants for most of the year.
3) EPA's proposed rules would hasten the modernization or replacement of
the older wet kilns - the dirtiest smokestacks in North Texas - and the
reason many local governments
in DFW have passed "green cement" resolutions. This means cleaner air in
North Texas.
4) Cement kilns are some of the biggest mercury polluters in the country.
Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin that can impair a child's ability to walk,
talk, read, write and learn. Mercury also interferes with the brain and
nervous system and can affect blood pressure, fertility, can cause
memory loss and
tremors.
4) Reducing Total Hydrocarbons from the kilns will help our ozone pollution
problem. While we're close to meeting the old ozone standard, that standard
is being replaced by one that's much tougher. We n eed all the reductions in
ozone-forming pollution we can get to reach that goal.
5) Reducing soot, also called
Particulate Matter, will help keep DFW from exceeding national
Particulate Matter standards which are overdue to be lowered to
protect public health, and which we hover close to at th e current levels.
Scientists now say that there is no safe level of exposure to Particulate
Matter, so any decrease will improve Public Health.
6) All the
pollution control technologies needed to meet EPA's new emissions
standards are on cement plants in the US right now. All the industry has to
do is combine these at each plant. EPA estimates that these rules will cost
the entire US cement industry less than $1 billion a year, but save the
public $4 to 12 billion a year, along with saving 600 to 1,600 lives
annually.
If you want to know more about the rules, you can download the official
EPA fact sheet at:
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t3/fact_sheets/portland_prop_fs042109.pdf |
|
|
***
|
