For more information email Tina Barbaccia at tina@betterroads.com. or call her at (630) 364-2306

Cement industry backs new PM standard.

A recently proposed standard for particulate matter for the cement industry will allow plants to develop new control and compliance strategies to address this and other emissions while preserving vital manufacturing jobs, according to the Portland Cement Association (PCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already announced new proposals for the national emission standard for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for the portland cement manufacturing industry, specifically, a modification to the emission standard for particulate matter (PM). It also proposed to reset the compliance deadline from September 2013 to September 2015 to address the new PM standard.

The proposal is strongly supported by the data EPA possesses in the rule record, says PCA. In 2009, the association argued that the PM standard should be revised to reflect inherent variability of emissions over time. In reviewing the standard as part of the reconsideration process, EPA came to the same conclusion says PCA. The new proposed standard, says the association, now more accurately reflects the variability of emissions experienced by cement kiln control devices during extended periods of time.

PCA also says it believes the new standard will reduce the number of cement plants that otherwise would have been forced to close, thereby avoiding hardship in many communities throughout the country.