The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing final rules to cut emissions of mercury, particle pollution and other harmful pollutants from cement manufacturing, the third-largest source of mercury air emissions in the United States.
The rules are expected to yield $7 to $19 in public health benefits for every dollar in costs.
Mercury can damage children’s developing brains, and particle pollution is linked to a wide variety of serious health effects, including aggravated asthma, irregular heartbeat, heart attacks, and premature death in people with heart and lung disease.
Mercury in the air eventually deposits into water, where it changes into
methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish. People are
primarily exposed to mercury by eating contaminated fish. Because the
developing fetus is the most sensitive to the toxic effects of
methylmercury, women of childbearing age and children are regarded as
the populations of greatest concern.
This action sets the nation’s first limits on mercury air emissions from existing cement kilns, strengthens the limits for new kilns, and sets emission limits that will reduce acid gases. This final action also limits particle pollution from new and existing kilns, and sets new-kiln limits for particle and smog-forming nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.
When fully implemented in 2013, EPA estimates the annual emissions will be reduced:
- Mercury – 16,600 pounds or 92%
- Total hydrocarbons – 10,600 tons or 83%
- Particulate Matter – 11,500 tons or 92%
- Acid gases – (measured as hydrochloric acid): 5,800 tons or 97%
- Sulfur dioxide (SO2)– 110,000 tons or 78%
- Nitrogen oxides (NOx) – 6,600 tons or 5%
EPA estimates that the rules will yield $6.7 billion to $18 billion in health and environmental benefits, with costs estimated at $926 million to $950 million annually in 2013.
"Americans throughout the country are suffering from the effects of
pollutants in our air, especially our children who are more vulnerable
to these chemicals," EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said.
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