| March 6, 2009
Revised Regulation Reduces Emissions from Outdoor Material Storage and
Requires Additional Monitoring and Analysis of Cancer-Causing Hexavalent
Chromium
The South Coast Air Quality Management
District today strengthened an existing regulation that will further reduce
particulate matter emissions (PM10), as well as the toxic chemical,
hexavalent chromium, from cement manufacturing facilities.
The new regulation stems from the air quality agency’s
discovery last year of elevated levels of hexavalent chromium in dust
blowing from the TXI Riverside Cement Co. in Rubidoux, one of two cement
plants in the area.
Additional sampling traced these emissions to the
loading, unloading and transferring of “clinker” material – a primary
component that helps form cement and is comprised of limestone and other
materials.
“AQMD has spent months working with those in the cement industry and the
residents who live in the vicinity to strengthen this rule,” said AQMD
Governing Board Chairman William A. Burke, Ed.D. “We are confident these
well thought-out measures will reduce emissions from these facilities and
provide public health protection.”
The other cement plant affected by the amended rule,
California Portland Cement Co. in Colton, will cover open storage piles of
clinker material with tarps and build wind barriers. TXI Riverside Cement
Co. no longer has this type of operation. In addition, ambient air
monitoring from both cement operators is now required, along with a
compliance monitoring plan for hexavalent chromium. Each facility
will collect and analyze hundreds of samples per year. If elevated chrome
levels occur, the rule contains contingency measures that would require full
enclosure of clinker piles.
The new regulation also calls for wind monitoring with a
two-hour halt on “clinker” material handling if wind gusts exceed 25 m.p.h.
Rule 1156 was originally
adopted in November of 2005 and requires cement manufacturing facilities to
comply with specific requirements applicable to various operations. It
required cement manufacturing facilities to control dust from open
storage piles, internal roadways, and various processes including loading
and unloading, transferring, crushing, screening and milling, and storage of
materials.
In an enforcement action against TXI, a settlement between AQMD and the
Texas-based company was announced in June 2008. Under the terms of the
settlement, TXI paid $600,000 in penalties and cost reimbursement to AQMD
and will also incur an additional $400,000 in costs to implement several
measures to reduce dust emissions at the plant.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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