EPA TO RE-EVALUATE COMPANIES THAT BURN HAZARDOUS WASTES

The Environmental Protection Agency has embarked on a plan to re-evaluate the combustion industry and the burning of all types of hazardous waste materials.

The program, announced recently by EPA administrator Carol Browner, has attracted the interest of the commercial incineration and cement kiln industries, which include several Missouri businesses, including Lone Star Industries Inc. of Cape Girardeau.

The commercial incinerator industry, which invested heavily in new plants and equipment during the booming 1980s, are seeing their profits cut as cement kilns are gathering more of the market share of burning hazardous wastes.

Now incinerator operators are calling for more stringent emission standards, which would favor their industry. Also, the Association for Responsible Thermal Treatment is urging the EPA to regulate cement dust.

"Cement kilns are burning more than 50 percent of the hazardous wastes as supplementary fuel," said Ed Buckner of the Air & Toxic Division of the EPA. "The cement kilns have become very sophisticated in a couple of areas."

Meanwhile, the Cement Kiln Industry, which represents companies that use hazardous wastes as supplementary fuel, is trying to offset the efforts of incinerator interests.

"The incineration industry would like to see us shut down," said Martha Lindauer, a spokeswoman for the kiln industry.

"Our goal is to work with the EPA in developing combustion standards," said Lindauer.

She said the industry already offers a set of more stringent emission standards and limits on the amount of energy produced by kilns.

Any industry -- commercial incinerators, boilers and cement kilns -- had to meet extensive emission levels before being approved by the EPA.

"We already have rigid standards in place," said John Smith, of the EPA's branch of waste management division. "They did extensive testing at Lone Star Industries at Cape Girardeau in 1992, and they will have to do another round of testing next year to keep their license.

"We want to evaluate these standards to see if additional standards are needed."

At full capacity, Lone Star is licensed to burn 2.4 tons of shredded rubber and more than 1,200 gallons of waste fuel each hour.

Harry Philip, of Lone Star, said the conversion of its coal-burning cement kiln was not "something we just jumped into. We've been looking into burning supplemental fuel for a number of years."

The cost of permits, construction and modification of the plant represented a $3 to $4 million investment by Lone Star. Other waste-burning kilns in Missouri operate at Clarksville, Festus and Hannibal.

More than 20 percent of the portland cement made in this country comes from plants that burn hazardous waste as a fuel supplement.

But ARTT, which has hired three former national legislators, recently conducted a hearing in Pennsylvania, demanding the EPA investigate cement dust. One ARTT leaders is Jim Florio, a former New Jersey governor and former congressman. Other former legislators involved with the organization are Robert W. Kasten from Wisconsin and Dennis Eckart of Ohio.