Groups call for monitoring of cement plants

Mercury emissions from Frederick, Carroll kilns noted in report

‘‘It has just taken EPA forever to get to this problem. It’s frustrating to bring lawsuit after lawsuit to get an agency like EPA to attack a problem like mercury,” said Eric Schaeffer, director of the Environmental Integrity Project, based in Washington, D.C.

The Maryland plants in the report are Essroc in Frederick and Lehigh Portland Cement Co. in Union Bridge.

The report, based on EPA data, says 23,000 pounds a year are emitted by the nation’s cement plants. The report does not provide precise numbers on each plant’s emissions, Schaeffer said.

‘‘But in general at least half the mercury is either particle bound or in gas phase and those are locally deposited. No reason to believe that’s different for cement kilns,” he said.

One-seventieth of a teaspoon can poison a 20-acre lake, making the fish unfit to eat, he said. The cement plants pose a particular problem for mercury emissions because the limestone used to create cement naturally contains mercury, and the coal used to fire the limestone also contains mercury, said Marty Sinclair, chairperson of the Sierra Club National Air committee, in Cincinnati.

Sinclair, Schaeffer, and James Pew of Earthjustice, based in Oakland, Calif., spoke to reporters Wednesday afternoon via a telephone press conference.

According to the data, Essroc’s Frederick plant releases 31 pounds of mercury a year and Lehigh’s Union Bridge plant releases 35 pounds. Marco Barbesta, Essroc’s director of communication, had little to say about the report.

The Frederick plant is decommissioning and shifting operations to a West Virginia plant, he said. The groups also are calling for continuous monitoring of plant emissions.

A spokesman for Lehigh could not be reached for comment.