EPA denies Cemex request to burn tires

By Lauren Heaton

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Monday denied a permit exemption that would have allowed the Cemex cement plant on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road to conduct a test to burn tires as an industrial fuel. The denial means Cemex is not currently authorized to burn tires.

According to Jenny Marsee, abatement unit supervisor for the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, the application was denied at the discretion of Ohio EPA Director Chris Korleski because of Cemex’s failure to resolve an alleged kiln violation from 2005.

“I am concerned that CEMEX has not yet resolved the alleged Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Notice of Violation (NOV) and Finding of Violation (FOV) that U.S. EPA issued to the CEMEX Fairborn Plant in March, 2005,” Korleski wrote in the denial letter to Cemex. “I believe it would be inappropriate to approve any additional exemption... until the alleged PSD violations have been resolved and CEMEX’s emission status made clear.”

The Ohio EPA granted Cemex a year-long Title V permit exemption in 2006 so that the company could run a three-month tire burn test without violating emissions regulations. Cemex did not complete the test within the year and acquired an extension until Dec. 11, 2007. According to the denial letter, Cemex was again unable to complete the test on time “due to delays in funding and contracting,” and in October requested a second extension from the EPA.

Cemex, one of the largest cement and aggregate producers and distributors in the world, had also delayed its tire burn test partially due to complications regarding a corporate takeover of the Australia-based Rinker Group earlier this year, according to Cemex Environmental Manager Mike Henry. The merger threatened antitrust regulations, and according to the U.S. Department of Justice Web site, Cemex was ordered by the DOJ in April to divest 39 ready-mix plants in Florida and Arizona. As part of that settlement, Cemex also agreed to give up the Fairborn Cemex plant as well as a plant in Wampum, Pa.

The divested assets, including the Fairborn Cemex plant, are currently being considered for purchase by CRH, a building materials group based in Ireland, according to the CRH Web site.

In January of this year, the Green Environmental Coalition appealed Cemex’s first permit extension to test-burn tires with the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission. But according to Linda Adams at ERAC, the appeal is not related to Cemex’s request for a second extension. The appeal is currently on joint reporting status, with reports from both the GEC and Cemex due on Jan. 8, and no hearing for judgement is scheduled, Adams said.

GEC chairperson Dawn Falleur has been waging a campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of hazardous air emissions caused by burning tires in an incinerator that was not originally designed to burn rubber, as the Fairborn Cemex kiln is not. According to Falleur, this fall an information packet the GEC distributed about burning tires prompted hundreds of Greene County residents to write letters to the Ohio EPA opposing the tire burn test at Cemex.

Burning tires, even with controlled combustion, releases carcinogenic compounds that have stronger mutagenic effects than the combustion of oil, coal or wood, according to Chris Rolitsky, a doctor with Valley Pathologists, Inc. The metals that burning tires release into the air, according to Falleur, include mercury, lead, dioxins, furans and chlorine, as well as fine particulate matter that can cause asthma.

Though Cemex’s permit extension has been denied for now, according to Korleski’s letter, the EPA acknowledges the importance of disposing of scrap tires and also recognizes Cemex’s investment in preparing for the permit extension and “would be willing to consider an application for another temporary PTI exemption,” or permit to test-burn tires, “once the alleged PSD violations have been resolved.” According to the letter, Cemex also has the option of appealing the EPA’s denial with ERAC.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com