EPA Sets New Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Portland Cement Industry

On August 9, 2010, EPA issued finalized amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) and to the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) that specifically target facilities manufacturing Portland Cement. The new rules, weighing in at 461 pages, can be found here: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1/fr_notices/portland_cement_fr_080910.pdf.

 

Scope of Rules: 

   

EPA’s final changes to NESHAP establish emission limits for mercury (Hg), total hydrocarbons (THC), and particulate matter (PM) for all new and existing kilns at cement facilities. New limits on hydrochloric acid (HCL) apply to both new and existing facilities that are “major sources”, meaning they produce 10 tons of any one toxic pollutant or 25 tons of several toxic pollutants in a given year. NESHAP treats new and existing cement facilities differently, with the standards for new facilities being more stringent. Under NESHAP, any facility that commenced construction, modification, or reconstruction after May 6, 2009 is considered a new facility.

 

    The changes to the NSPS, which apply only to facilities that commenced construction or modification or reconstruction after June 16, 2008, set new emission standards for PM, opacity, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur dioxides (SOx).

 

    EPA’s new rules will not affect existing facilities for three years (2013), but the standards for new facilities will begin to have legal effect 60 days after the new standards are published.

 

Mercury Standard: 

 

Under the new mercury standard, an existing cement facility must emit no more than 55 lbs of mercury for every one million tons of cement clinker they produce. New cement facilities are limited to 21 lbs of mercury for every one million tons of clinker produced. A 30 day average will be used to measure compliance with these standards.

 

The 55 lb mercury standard is less demanding than the 43 lb standard that EPA originally proposed last year, but is still considered to be a severe regulation by the Portland Cement Association. http://www.cement.org/econ/pdf/Cement%20Consumption%20Outlook-mercuryfinal.pdf.

 

A large portion of a cement plant’s mercury emissions can be traced to the characteristics of the raw materials that are used in the production process, namely the type of limestone used and the type of coal that is burned to heat the kilns. Since most cement facilities are anchored to a local quarry, and in many cases have been in continuous operation for nearly 100 years, the industry tried to persuade EPA to adopt an emission standard that measured not the total mercury released but instead the percentage of mercury that could have been emitted but was captured. EPA refused to subcategorize facilities according to the type of limestone or coal they use, leaving cement plants that use limestone or coal with elevated mercury content especially vulnerable under the new rules. http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/08/09/general-industrials-or-cement-plant-mercury_7837141.html?boxes=techchannelAP

 

Method Used to Calculate New Standards: 

 

    EPA’s new emission rules are known as maximum achievable control technology (MACT) standards. To set MACT standards, EPA looks for the most effective pollution control technology that is currently available on the market while taking into consideration the purchase price, energy requirements, and environmental impacts that are associated with the technology. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set MACT standards no less stringent than the average emissions being achieved by the best performing 12 percent of cement plants for each category of pollutant. In the event there are fewer than 30 plants emitting a certain pollutant, the MACT standard is based on the top 5 best performing facilities. 

   

Costs to the Cement Industry: 

 

    While EPA predicts that the new emission standards will bring about significant health improvements to society, as with any new regulations these improvements come with a significant price tag for the cement industry. In total, cement factories will have to pay a total of $2.2 Billion to upgrade equipment with annualized costs of $377 million.

  

EPA admits that these new rules will likely lead two cement facilities to permanently shut down because they will be unable to reduce their current mercury emissions by 98% to meet the new standards. Additionally, EPA predicts that 10 additional cement factories around the country will shut down or sit idle until the price of cement improves. Overall, domestic production of cement is expected to fall by 11%, the price of Portland Cement to consumers will likely rise by 5.4%, and the portion of cement coming from imported sources will rise significantly.

 

This article was authored by Aaron S. Heishman, Jackson Kelly PLLC.  Aaron can be reached by phone at (304) 340-1048 or by email at asheishman@jacksonkelly.com.