[OKC] Mountains of mercury

[Shauna Lawyer Struby]

Note: This Web site, http://www.carrtracks.com/cement.htm, says we have four
cement plants in Oklahoma . don't know how accurate it is. Would be
interesting to know how much mercury these plants are emitting and how,
under the new EPA rules, Oklahoma's DEQ is dealing with the emissions in
Oklahoma.


Mountains of mercury


The pollution costs of cement production 

News - From the January 11, <http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.1>  2010 issue of
High Country News by Jeremy Miller 

 

The whole matter of the missing mercury might have slipped by, unnoticed.
But Patty Jacobs, a permit writer for the Oregon Department of Environmental
Quality, decided to check the math. 

In 2005, after a federal mercury-reduction rule was passed (since vacated by
the U.S. Court of Appeals), Jacobs and the nation's other regulators began
paying attention to coal-fired power plants, a major source of the mercury
building up in the nation's waterways. The Boardman plant, a coal-fired
facility 160 miles east of Portland, reported that it had put 281 pounds of
it into the air that year. That ostensibly made the plant the largest
mercury source in Jacobs' territory, which covered much of central and
eastern Oregon.

Even small amounts of mercury can cause harm. Once the metal is deposited in
a lake or river, bacteria convert it to an organic form called
methylmercury. From there, it works its way upward through aquatic
microorganisms and insects, intensifying in the tissue of fish and,
eventually, in the animals and people that consume them. Exposure to high
levels of mercury causes reproductive declines and developmental problems in
wildlife. Human babies exposed in utero suffer an increased risk of
neurological disorders, including attention deficit and impaired
coordination. In adults, mercury consumption has been linked to memory loss,
muscle tremors and impaired vision.

 

Other highlights from the article:

 

On the way to Durkee, we passed the husk of the old cement plant at Lime,
which operated from 1922 to 1980. Hayes commented that it would make a good
set for a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-type action film. He's right, but the
site is unlikely to be used for anything anytime soon. According to the
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, its soil is heavily contaminated
with PCBs, arsenic, residual petroleum and hydrocarbons -- the toxic
byproducts of six decades of cement manufacturing.

 

During heating, the limestone is chemically transformed into "clinker,"
pebble-like pellets that are mixed with a little gypsum and ground into the
fine flour we know as cement. The process releases large quantities of
carbon dioxide and - in the case of Durkee - vast amounts of mercury vapor.
Mercury is also released from the coal burned as fuel in the kiln, but the
amount is minuscule compared to what's baked out of the limestone. 

 

Even if the laws could be tightened tomorrow - and mercury emissions could
be "turned off" like water from a tap - the problems would persist for
decades, says Don Essig, a water quality specialist with the Idaho
Department of Environmental Quality. Like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,
mercury remains in aquatic ecosystems for a long time.

 

Worldwide, cement production contributes significantly to climate change,
with cement plants accounting for roughly 5 percent of manmade carbon
dioxide emissions. Coal and petroleum coke are the most common fuel sources,
but a number of plants are permitted to burn "alternative" fuels, including
slaughterhouse waste, old tires and railroad ties.

 

The mercury reduction agreement reached between the company and state in
2008 requires an 85 percent cut in emissions. However, that will be
overridden if the EPA rules go into effect next year, says Douglas Welch, an
engineer with the Oregon State Department of Environmental Quality. The new
federal rules would require the Durkee plant to cut mercury by about 98
percent by 2013, a goal Welch doubts is attainable.

 

Full article here :::
http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.1/mountains-of-mercury/article_view?b_start:int
=2
<http://www.hcn.org/issues/42.1/mountains-of-mercury/article_view?b_start:in
t=2&-C> &-C=.  

 

Shauna, OKC

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