Cement kilns in Maryland and across the country emit thousands of pounds of mercury into the air and remain unchecked by federal regulators, according to a new report from an environmental watchdog group.
“It has taken [the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] forever to get to this problem,” said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, the environmental law advocacy group that released the report.
The country?s more than 150 cement kilns emit nearly 23,000 pounds of mercury each year, according to EPA estimates used in the report.
There are at least three kilns at two locations in Maryland, including Union Bridge and Frederick. Essroc?s two kilns in Frederick each emit 31 pounds of mercury a year, according to the report. Lehigh?s kiln in Union Bridge emits 35 pounds per year, but has the capacity to emit 1,539 pounds.
The EPA has not set standards to control the pollution, activists said. Making cement relies on fuels and materials that are high in mercury.
“Thanks to EPA?s neglect, the cement industry?s mercury emissions have not only gone uncontrolled, but have largely escaped public scrutiny,” the report states.
The groups called on the EPA to follow through on acommitment to regulate the mercury emissions from the kilns, saying it has taken 10 years for the EPA to take up the matter.
“The EPA has finally taken the first step to regulating the cement kiln?s mercury [emissions] and have collected data,” said James Pew, staff attorney at Earthjustice, a public interest law firm that released the study along with the Environmental Integrity Project.
EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said there are regulations in place for cement kilns, but was unable to give details of the restrictions. The agency is now evaluating whether those regulations need to be changed, and officials expect that to be complete sometime next year.
Kemery declined to respond to the groups? claims that the agency has dragged its feet in adopting mercury regulations.
Mercury air emissions have been reduced by 45 percent since 1990 through several industrial regulations, the EPA said.
The advocates also recommended state regulatory agencies test for emissions and require cement kilns to install mercury pollution control devices.
Over the past year, the Maryland Department of the Environment has incorporated mercury into the overall emissions tests, said spokesman Robert Ballinger.
“We test for that for inspection and permitting purposes,” he said.
Mercury is a neurotoxin that can be hazardous for pregnant women and small children. It falls close to the source, contaminating waterways near the kiln, such as the Chesapeake Bay, Schaeffer said.
“It?s hard to exaggerate the toxicity of this particular chemical.”
