EPA UPS WASTE-BURNING REGS; ACTION WILL AFFECT LONE STAR'S CEMENT PLANT HERE

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the strictest standards yet for controlling air pollutants generated by burning hazardous waste.

The tentative regulations would affect 162 commercial incinerators and 22 cement kilns nationwide that combined burn 4 million tons of hazardous waste annually.

The Lone Star Industries cement plant in Cape Girardeau is one of four in Missouri that would be affected by the new regulations. Five hazardous waste incinerators in Missouri, including the one at Times Beach, also would be covered by the regulations.

The EPA wants to reduce dioxin, mercury, lead and other emissions by varying amounts, ranging from 80 to 98 percent. Plants would have to continuously monitor emissions and install state-of-the-art equipment to clean the air.

EPA Administrator Carol Browner estimated Wednesday it would cost the industry $136 million annually to comply.

But Norris Johnson, who manages the burning of hazardous waste at the Lone Star plant, said the EPA's cost estimate is probably too low.

"The EPA is not known for good cost estimates," said Johnson. "It usually costs you two to three times more than whatever they project."

Lone Star has burned hazardous waste, such as tires and oil-based materials such as paint thinners and solvents, since May 1992.

Johnson said the plant burns the waste because it reduces the amount of coal the plant has to burn, saving on fuel costs.

It costs about $100 to $150 a ton to burn hazardous waste at Lone Star. The plant receives some money from hazardous waste suppliers for disposing of the materials.

If new regulations make burning hazardous wastes too expensive, the plant likely would go back to burning just coal, he said.

But Johnson said the Lone Star plant is a state-of-the-art facility which should have less trouble meeting the proposed standards than older cement kilns.

Browner said the EPA will take public comments on the proposed regulations over the next 60 days. The regulation could take effect later this year.

The cement kiln and incinerator industries have pressed Congress to block the new regulations, but so far with no success.

Browner said the stricter regulations come under two federal laws: the Clean Air Act, and the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act.

The goal, she said, is to protect the health and safety of the American people. Some 53 million Americans live in counties where hazardous waste is burned.

"We look at what comes out of the smokestack," Browner said in a telephone conference call with reporters from newspapers in 10 cities across the nation, including Cape Girardeau.

Incinerators and cement kilns account for 80 percent of the hazardous waste burned annually in the U.S. The other 20 percent is burned in industrial boilers and furnaces.

"The people who live near these facilities have a right to public health protection," Browner said.

Exposure to high amounts of lead can cause brain damage, while dioxin poses a possible cancer risk, Browner said. "Children are often the most at risk."

Browner said, "The Clinton administration believes we should serve the public interest, not the special interests."

But Johnson said the air emissions from the Lone Star plant don't pose a health risk.

"If I thought there was anything emitted from the Lone Star plant that caused health effects in the community, we would never burn hazardous waste," he said.