Clean up the stacks
CEMEX needs to fix emissions before burning tires
October 25, 2005
Boulder County District Judge Roxanne Bailin's ruling on a narrow administrative question Monday seems to pave the way for a cement plant near Lyons to resume burning tires in its kilns.
Colorado law permits the burning of tires as a fuel source, so long as they do not make up more than 19 percent of total fuel burned. CEMEX first received a special-use permit from Boulder County to burn tires in 1989, but ceased the practice in 1993, when prices for other fuels dropped.
The company announced its intention to begin burning tires again in 2002. The Sierra Club sued, arguing that CEMEX should have to apply for a new special-use permit. Under county law, such permits expire if not used for more than five years.
The county Board of Adjustment decided in 2003 that because CEMEX had maintained equipment used for tire-burning, it had not, technically, ceased to use the permit. Bailin upheld that ruling Monday, arguing that the county had relied on a reasonable definition of use and that the special-use permit was still valid.
The county commissioners have agreed to hold a public hearing on the matter, but have acknowledged that they have little control over the matter.
Opponents are concerned about tire burning, because it can result in the release of dangerous toxins known as dioxins and furans.
Those toxins can form when certain organic compounds or chlorine — found in small amounts in tires — are heated to extremely high temperatures. Cement kilns and other industrial uses can be a source of the toxins, as can forest fires, diesel exhaust, wood-burning stoves and even cigarettes. Opponents say it's too risky to let industrial companies burn tires, pointing to studies that have shown that tire-burning releases eight times more dioxins and furans than coal burning.
Environmentalists say that tires — 3.5 million of which are disposed of in Colorado landfills each year — can now be recycled in other ways, without resorting to burning them and potentially releasing toxins.
CEMEX is already on the hot seat for coal-burning emissions at the plant. The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment cited the company for air-quality violations in late September, charging, among other things, that CEMEX operated kilns at excessive temperatures — which can catalyze emissions of dioxins and furans — "on approximately 72,067 occasions during 2004." The state found that CEMEX "has failed to develop and/or implement a qualifying quality-control program." The company may face noncompliance penalties of up to $15,000 per day for those and other violations.
CEMEX says the problems are due to a computer malfunction, but that temperatures actually were not exceeded. The Boulder County Department of Public Health issued a statement expressing concern about the alleged violations, but noted that "the accuracy of the data must first be verified before changes in the operating conditions at the plant can be considered."
So obviously, there are reasons for neighbors of the plant to be concerned. The Sierra Club plans to appeal Bailin's ruling, and neighbors say they'll keep fighting.
Given that the Environmental Protection Agency and state and county health departments have signed off on tire-burning, and that the commissioners say their hands are all but tied, it seems likely after Bailin's decision that CEMEX will get into the tire-combusting business in the future.
But tires or no tires, if CEMEX can't get its emissions under control, then the state can, and should, revoke its permit to burn anything.