TXI to shut down highest-polluting cement kilns in Midlothian

By RANDY LEE LOFTIS - The Dallas Morning News - July 6, 2010

TXI will permanently shut down its four oldest, highest-polluting cement kilns in Midlothian and will stop burning hazardous waste as fuel, the company said Tuesday.

The Dallas-based company’s announcement ends an environmental battle that has raged in North Texas for decades.

TXI, formally known as Texas Industries, always insisted that the practice of fueling its oldest kilns with other companies’ waste was safe, but environmentalists maintained that it spread toxic pollution across the region.

TXI said it will continue to operate its newest kiln, which uses a different process and burns coal and natural gas as fuel. That kiln, which began operating in 2001, also emits less pollution than the old kilns, the oldest of which dates from 1960.

A longtime campaigner against North Texas cement plants’ air pollution hailed TXI’s announcement as a major victory for public health.

“This is a landmark day,” said Sue Pope of Midlothian, who founded the North Texas clean-air group Downwinders at Risk after researching TXI’s emissions. “I’ve been doing some crying today. Words can’t really describe how good I feel.”

TXI said the decision was based on its desire to boost efficiency in preparation for a recovery in the North Texas construction market. Improvements planned for its remaining kiln will let the Midlothian plant expand production, company spokesman David Perkins said.

TXI wanted “to find a way to operate in the most energy and fuel-efficient manner, as well as from an emissions standpoint,” Perkins said.

The four older kilns have been idle since late 2008, a response to a downturn in demand for cement. TXI does not expect to reduce its Midlothian workforce, currently about 170, because of Tuesday’s decision, Perkins said.

He said new federal rules governing toxic air emissions from cement kilns did not contribute to the decision. The rules are expected to become final in August and will take effect in the next three years.

Counting all five of its kilns, TXI has been the largest of three cement kilns in Midlothian. The other plants in the northern Ellis County city are owned by Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement, with three kilns, and Swiss firm Holcim, with two kilns.

Midlothian became a center for the cement industry because of extensive limestone deposits. Yet it also became the site of one of the country’s biggest environmental fights.

Federal law allows some cement kilns to burn hazardous waste as fuel to create the high heat required to make cement. TXI is the only company that has burned hazardous waste in Midlothian in recent years.

Environmentalists across the country and in North Texas said burning massive volumes of chemical waste needlessly endangered the public.

The cement industry and federal regulators called the process a safe way to destroy waste and to recover its energy content.

The practice also let cement companies cut fuel costs and essentially go into the waste-treatment business, although the market for hazardous-waste disposal has suffered as companies have reduced the amount they produce.

TXI said Tuesday that while its hazardous-waste enterprise had yielded economic benefits, “the dynamics of this market have significantly changed and are no longer applicable to TXI’s future operational strategy.”

The company said it would immediately give up its hazardous-waste permit.

TXI’s departure from the waste business does not end all environmental disputes regarding the Midlothian cement industry. Kilns there remain North Texas’ biggest industrial sources of nitrogen oxides, which produce regional ozone, or smog.

Environmentalists have pressed regulators, so far without success, to require the use of pollution-control technology that would slash emissions from the Midlothian kilns.

While that effort continues, Jim Schermbeck, field organizer for Downwinders at Risk, said the permanent shutdown of TXI’s oldest units would remove four major sources of regional air pollution.

TXI’s remaining unit is among the cleanest-burning kilns in Texas, he said.

“They should be congratulated for making the right choice,” Schermbeck said. “I am delighted.”

Read more in the Dallas Morning News

Mass. study: Wood power worse polluter than coal

By the Associated Press - June 10, 2010 at 7:04 PM
BOSTON (AP) — A new study has found that wood-burning power plants using trees and other "biomass" from New England forests releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than coal over time.

The six-month study, commissioned by Massachusetts state environmental officials, found biomass-fired electricity would result in a 3 percent increase in carbon emissions compared to coal-fired electricity by 2050.

Coal is considered one of the chief culprits of greenhouse gas emissions.
The report, conducted by the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, concludes that the net cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases from replacing coal-fired plants with biomass would be 3 percent greater by 2050 than from using coal to generate electricity.

Researchers arrived at the figure by comparing how much carbon is emitted into the atmosphere through the burning of wood — what they termed "carbon debt" — with the amount of carbon removed from the atmosphere from the regrowth of forests, or "carbon dividends."

The report found that harvesting trees for biomass facilities could have "significant localized impacts on the landscape, including aesthetic impacts of locally heavy harvesting as well as potential impacts on recreation and tourism."

The study has broad policy implications for states like Massachusetts. And environmental groups called the study "a wake up call."

"The sobering conclusion is that Massachusetts cannot produce very much new energy from forest resources while also protecting the health of our forests and reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Sue Reid, a staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation.

Biomass has long been part of the state's portfolio of renewable energy sources, along with solar, wind and geothermal energy. The Patrick administration has already invested $1 million to jump-start four proposed wood-burning plants in Russell, Greenfield, Springfield and Pittsfield, as it tries to reach the state-mandated goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

Massachusetts Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles said Thursday the state is now rethinking that policy, including taxpayer incentives for wood-burning plants.
"Now that we know that electricity from biomass harvested from New England forests is not 'carbon neutral' in a timeframe that makes sense given our legal mandate to cut greenhouse gas emissions, we need to re-evaluate our incentives for biomass," he said in a statement accompanying the report.

Biomass plant owners have long argued that it's unfair to lump wood-burning plants in with coal plants. They say that every megawatt of power produced by wood-burning plants replaces a megawatt from a coal plant. But unlike coal, they argue, trees left standing can absorb the carbon dioxide released when wood is burned.

And trees cut down for fuel can be replanted. If done in a sustainable way, they say, the annual growth in trees replanted or left standing will be enough to recapture the carbon being released.

Matthew Wolfe, an executive with Cambridge-based Madera Energy Inc., which is developing the Greenfield plant, said the report ignores the fact that much of the fuel used by biomass plants is waste wood.

"By eliminating biomass as an energy option, you are by default promoting further use of fossil fuels," he said.

The report makes a series of recommendations, including forcing biomass facilities to detail where they get their supply of wood and requiring them to purchase wood from forests with approved forest management plans.

The report also recommends additional environmental protections at locations where trees are being cut down for biomass plants, including "requiring enough coarse woody debris is left on the ground, particularly at nutrient poor sites, to ensure continued soil productivity, as well as sufficient standing dead wildlife trees remain to promote biodiversity."

Bowles commissioned the study after environmental activists warned biomass power plants could add to global warming. Activists are also pushing a Massachusetts ballot question to severely restrict the amount of carbon dioxide the power plants can emit.
Massachusetts is planning a series of hearings on the report beginning in July.
___
Online:
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs: www.mass.gov/eoeea
Read more

Natural Gas Development Brings "Amazing" Levels of Carcinogens to DISH, Texas

The chemicals found in the DISH, Texas Study can be found in any area of the Barnett Shale were natural gas development occurs.

Natural Gas Development Brings "Amazing" Levels of Carcinogens to DISH, Texas

Evaluation of Town of DISH, Texas Ambient Air Monitoring Analysis

Penalties mean profit for polluters

By RICK CASEY - Houston Chronicle - July 14, 2009
Way back in the bad old days, many prosperous Texas companies made a happy discovery.
They could earn money by not paying their taxes on time.
Under the law, the penalties they faced for being delinquent on their property taxes were less than they could earn in interest over that period of time.
Tax laws have since been changed to take away the profit motive for tax delinquents.
In another arena, however, we still are in the bad old days. Very prosperous corporations understand that the fines they will be charged by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for dumping illegal amounts of pollutants into the air are likely to be much less than they would have to pay to upgrade their equipment and limit their emissions to permitted amounts.
There's no secret about this. Back in 2003 a state audit of the TCEQ found that refineries and other polluters were consistently fined less than what the law called for. What's more, the law often capped fines at considerably less than an amount that would deter polluters.
The result, according to the audit:

“Violators often have economic benefits that exceed their penalties, which could reduce their incentive to comply. For 80 fiscal year 2001, 2002, and 2003 cases we tested, the total economic benefit gained by violators during the period of noncompliance was $8,647,005. However, these entities were fined only $1,683,635, which is approximately 19 percent of the economic benefit gained from being out of compliance.”

Last year a study by the Galveston-Houston Association for Smog Prevention, a good organization with an egregiously cute acronym (GHASP), found that little had changed.

“The economic benefit gained and the cost of compliance thus far avoided are not recovered in the majority of penalties,” the report found, noting that violators thus “gain a competitive advantage over those that comply.”

State Sen. Mario Gallegos introduced a bill this spring that would have required that all fines would be equal to or more than the amount the company saved by not installing nonpolluting equipment and procedures.
If you breathe Houston's air, you won't be surprised to learn that the bill was buried early.
Still, some Houston clean-air activists took heart last month when Attorney General Greg Abbot filed a lawsuit against BP Petroleum on behalf of the TCEQ.
The suit seeks more than $100 million in fines, alleging that BP illegally dumped pollutants into the air at least 46 times, starting when 15 people were killed in 2005 at the company's Texas City plant.
The suit was filed after negotiations between BP and the TCEQ failed.
One clean air advocate said the suit against BP is “a big deal” that supports a local perception that in the past year TCEQ staff has been quietly increasing its enforcement activities while trying not to draw the attention of the agency's business-friendly board.
Others are more skeptical.

“I think it's a long time coming,” said Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit. “I think they're basically piling on after the EPA fined BP with a huge penalty.”

Still, he said he was glad for the suit, if skeptical that it will go far enough.
Metzger has standing to speak. His organization and the Sierra Club last year sued Shell Oil Co. for allegedly exceeding its permitted emissions at its Deer Park plant by 5 million pounds.
They won a settlement of $6 million plus an agreement by Shell to reduce its emissions by 80 percent within three years or face more penalties.
Metzger says more suits are in the works.
Here's a sweet competition for you: Can the TCEQ and the attorney general enforce clean air laws better than a little old nonprofit? Any bets?
Read more in the Houston Chronicle

Drillilng in the Barnett Shale contributes to air pollution in the NT Region

See video and documentation on Blue Daze

Republican Control Leads Texas to Lowest Lows

From the Dallas Morning News

Texas - at or near the bottom:

• A child is born into poverty every 7 minutes.
  
• Has the highest rate of people living in poverty.
• A child is abused or neglected every 10 minutes.
• Texas ranks 50th for the highest teen birth rate.
• Texas leads the country in executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976
• 80-90% of the homeless population living on the streets are affected by mental illness. One in four is a veteran.
• Texas ranks 50th in the nation for the most people without medical insurance.
• Texas has the second highest rate of incarceration.
• Texas has the second highest income gap between rich and poor.
• Texas is the first in the nation for cancerous emissions into the air and toxic chemicals released into water.
• Texas is home to three of the poorest counties in the nation.
  
• Texas is home to three of the most polluted cities in the U.S.
• PortArthur, Beaumont and Orange have the highest rate of cancer incident and death in the state. (hydrocarbon toxins and emissions)
• 5.6 million do not have health insurance.
• Texas has the highest teen birth rate and the most repeat teen births in the nation. (Texas requires middle schools to teach abstinence as the only method that is 100% effective in preventing pregnancy.)
  

PLEASE watch these videos and look at the images! We MUST do better! This is clear proof of the ruination that is the Republican party.

Thanks to Burnt Orange Report.

Study says 9 Texas power plants among worst polluters,

A liberal dose - Copyright © 2007 - July 27, 2007
Texas is home to many of the nation's worst-polluting power plants for emissions of toxic mercury and greenhouse gases linked to global warming, according to a new study by a national nonprofit advocacy group.

Four East and East Central Texas power plants operated by TXU Corp. are highlighted in the study titled 'Dirty Kilowatts,' released Thursday by the Environmental Integrity Project, which ranked the nation's 50 biggest polluting power plants based mostly on 2006 federal data.

TXU's Martin Lake plant in Rusk County, about 170 miles east of Fort Worth, is the nation's top mercury polluting power plant, and the fifth-biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the chief manmade greenhouse gas, according to the 63-page study.

But Dallas-based TXU announced last month that it will add pollution controls at the 2,250-megawatt Martin Lake plant, and three others, to reduce emissions of mercury, a dangerous neurotoxin linked to birth defects and developmental disorders.

'We're retrofitting these plants with state-of-the-art emission controls,' said Tom Kleckner, a company spokesman. 'We've worked with federal regulators to address emissions in the past and will continue to do so.'

Energy industry representatives note that carbon dioxide emissions from power plants decreased slightly from 2005 to 2006.

Still, more than 100 new power plants are planned nationwide in the next 25 years. These plants will dramatically increase carbon dioxide emissions over the next two decades unless the federal government regulates carbon for the first time, said Ilan Levin, an Austin attorney and the report's lead author.

'The best way to stop making the problem worse is to put a cap on carbon emissions,' said Bruce Nilles, Sierra Club's national coal campaign director.

The issue

Nine Texas power plants rank among the biggest emitters of toxic mercury and/or carbon dioxide, according to a study by the Environmental Integrity Project.

The study's authors want federal regulators to crack down on mercury from power plants and to regulate carbon dioxide for the first time. They warn that emissions of carbon will increase substantially over the next 25 years without carbon regulations.

Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, an industry trade group, said emissions from the proposed power plants 'are technologically advanced and well-controlled.'

What it means

Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin, and five power plants in East and East Central Texas are among the 10 biggest mercury polluters in the country, according to the study.

In addition, Texas already leads the nation in emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary manmade component of global warming. Two plants in East Texas rank among the 11 biggest carbon polluters.

Texas plants

The nine Texas power plants that rank among the leaders for emissions of mercury and/or carbon dioxide are:

Martin Lake, in Rusk County, operated by TXU Corp., ranked No. 1 for mercury emissions and No. 5 for carbon dioxide.

Monticello, in Titus County, operated by TXU, ranked No. 4 for mercury and No. 11 for carbon dioxide emissions.

Big Brown, in Freestone County, operated by TXU, ranked No. 6 for mercury emissions.

H.W. Pirkey, in Harrison County, operated by American Electric Power, ranked No. 8 for mercury.

Limestone, in Limestone County, operated by Texas Genco, ranked No. 10 for mercury, and No. 34 for carbon dioxide.

W.A. Parish, in Fort Bend County, operated by NRG Energy, ranked No. 16 for mercury and No. 6 for carbon dioxide.

Sandow, in Milam County, operated by TXU, ranked No. 41 for mercury.

O.W. Sommers, in Bexar County, operated by the city of San Antonio, ranked No. 43 for mercury.

Sam Seymour, in Fayette County, operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority, ranked No. 49 for carbon dioxide.

Local Leaders Criticize State Clean-Air Effort

By Scott Streater, Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Thursday, 7 June 2007
Local leaders are becoming frustrated with the ongoing efforts to devise a plan to clean up ozone in Dallas-Fort Worth.

The state approved a clean-air plan last month, but federal regulators say it is flawed and may not do enough to cut pollution and bring the region into compliance with ground-level ozone standards by a 2010 deadline.

Failure to meet that deadline would subject the nine-county region to severe federal sanctions that limit economic development.

The state's plan has been roundly criticized by local leaders for not doing enough to crack down on the cement kilns in Ellis County or on the tons of pollution emitted from the millions of cars and trucks that pass through the Metroplex each day.

Local leaders want to be involved in deciding what revisions are made to the plan.

"Right now we're outside the loop," Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said. "In serious public health issues like air quality we should all be rowing in the same direction, but somebody dropped an oar."

The issue

Richard Greene, the Environmental Protection Agency's regional administrator in Dallas, has warned that the State Implementation Plan -- which outlines exact steps the region will take to meet federal ozone standards -- is flawed and may not be approved by the EPA.

Among the problems: The state appears to have seriously underestimated the amount of pollution emitted by small compressor engines that power natural gas rigs and transmission pipelines in the region.
State regulators say the plan is fine, but they have indicated that they will make revisions to the plan where needed.

Why it's important

Ozone is a health concern. Ozone concentrations above federal health-based standards can trigger asthma attacks and worsen the conditions of those suffering from emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory ailments.

The nine-county region -- Tarrant, Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker and Rockwall counties -- faces severe federal sanctions if it fails to complete a federally approved clean-air plan, including the possible loss of tens of millions of dollars in highway funding.

What's next

The EPA will meet again with state environmental regulators, perhaps as early as this month, to try and resolve concerns that the clean-air plan won't work.
Read more

Babcock & Wilcox to continue work on three TXU coal-fired projects

Houston Business Journal - April 19, 2007

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. has reached a settlement with affiliates of TXU Corp. over eight coal-fired boilers and other equipment ordered for TXU's solid-fuel, power-generation program in Texas.

Dallas-based TXU (NYSE: TXU) ordered the units in June 2006, but announced its intent to curtail the projects in February 2007. The companies now have agreed to terminate five of the contacts. TXU has paid B&W an additional $79.3 million in respect of these projects and will take title to the equipment and materials produced or procured for them.

Meanwhile, B&W, a subsidiary of Houston-based McDermott International Inc. (NYSE: MDR), will continue to fulfill its contracts on the remaining three units and will supply them to TXU.

The combined remaining value associated with the three contracts was about $350 million as of Dec. 31.

Read more about Babcock & Wilcox
Read more about McDermott International