Lone Star permit revisions aired

Sunday school superintendent Thomas D. White came to the Cape Girardeau Public Library Wednesday night to find out whether his congregation's health could be threatened by changes Lone Star Industries wants to make in its cement-making process. Rhema Word Breakthrough International Ministries is located near the plant on South Sprigg Street.

White and others who came to the informal hearing say they are satisfied that the revisions Lone Star proposes in its Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources permits do not pose an increased danger.

Lone Star wants to make its cement with fly ash containing higher levels of beryllium and chromium than allowed in its permits.

The metals would be in the raw materials used to make the cement. They would not be in the hazardous waste the plant burns for fuel. Fly ash is a byproduct of burning coal. Lone Star will save money by switching to fly ash with higher concentrations of the two metals.

Below agency limits

David L. Maschler, an environmental engineer with the DNR, and EPA project manager Kenneth Herstowski both said the increases -- from 0.25 pounds per hour to 1 pound per hour for beryllium and from 23.7 pounds per hour to 50 pounds per hour for chromium fed into the cement kiln -- both are several orders of magnitude below the limits set by their agencies.

Norris Johnson, alternative fuels manager for Lone Star, said negligible amounts of the two metals are emitted from the stack as particulate matter in the cement-making process.

Maschler and Herstowski said the company is improving the environment by burning the fly ash instead of taking it to a landfill.

About 10 people had come by during the hearing.

Written comments can be made to the EPA through March 4.

They should be sent to: Ken Herstowski, project manager, EPA Region 7, 901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, Kan. 66101, e-mail: herstowski.kenneth@epa.gov.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182