6/26/2003
Boulder County Board of Adjustment
PO Box 471
Boulder, Colorado 80306
Re:
A remand to the Board of Adjustment to determine whether there has been
a five-year period of inactivity
under the Permit (SU-88-21) since the
enactment of Boulder County Land Use
Code 4-604(C).
Re:
SU-88-21 Rubber recycling facility to use discarded tires as fuel in the
manufacture of cement. (Issued in 1989)
Dear Members of the Board of
Adjustment,
We respectfully request that the
Board of Adjustment determine that a five
year period of inactivity existed
for the following reasons:
No intent to burn tires: 1993 until
May 2002
Mr. John Lohr, (plant manager at
Cemex-Lyons-formerly Southdown), and I
served on the Northern Boulder
County Environmental Health Community Task Force
established by the Boulder County
Board of Health from February 1999 until
October 2002.
As members of the Task Force, we
discussed tire derived fuel. I asked
Mr.
Lohr if Southdown had any intention
of burning tires as fuel?
Response: Mr. Lohr advised,
"the company has no intention of burning tires."
Change of intent to burn tires: June
2002
In an interview in Cement American
(August 2002) with Mr. Gilberto Perez,
President of Cemex U.S. Operations,
the editor asked: "Do any Cemex plants use
waste fuels currently?"
Response: "No. In most of our
plants, we use coal, pet coke, and we're
introducing now much more heavily
the use of tire derived fuel."
Mr. Lohr announced plans for a tire
derived fuel project for Boulder County
in June of 2002 after Mr. Perez
visited the Lyons' plant. Note that the
five
year period had lapsed before the
company changed its intent to burn tires.
Activity/Inactivity Under SU-88-21:
Southwestern ceased the use of tire
derived fuel in 1993.
Did Southdown/Cemex transport tires
from 1993 to 2001? Doubtful
Did Southdown/Cemex store tires from
1993-2001? Doubtful
Did Southdown/Cemex burn tires from
1993 to 2001? No
Did Southdown/Cemex intend to burn
tires from 1993 to May 2002? No, as
advised by John Lohr.
Public Concerns:
1.
Members of the public testified before the Board of Adjustment
regarding
concerns over the tire combustion project. Citizens questioned the
interpretation of the Land Use Code
and appealed to the Board of Adjustment to
consider that the provisions of the
Code are regarded as the minimum protection of
the public's health, safety, and
general welfare.
2.
An Environmental Impact Statement (2003) entitled Cemex Cement Kiln Tire
Incineration was completed by students
at the University of Colorado under the
supervision of the University's
Environmental Design Department. Please
note
page 9, item 6 of the Statement:
"Cemex has a poor environmental
track record for compliance with the EPA.
Safety issues are amplified due to
the possibility of wide scale negative
consequences. This research also
indicates problems at the Lyons plant as well as
other Cemex operations around the
country. Proper tire incineration
relies
on consistent management practices
that may not be present at Cemex."
3.
The National Risk Management Research Laboratory prepared a study for
the
EPA in 1997 entitled: Air Emissions
from Scrape Tire Combustion. This
study
4.
states that good tire combustion "requires a well-designed,
well-operated, and well-maintained
combustion device that is properly controlled."
5.
Will Cemex-Lyons be able to manage
tire combustion any better than it can
manage fugitive dust? What assurances are there that management of
tire
combustion will be any better than
management of fugitive dust? There
could be
serious consequences for citizens in
at least five surrounding communities if
process controls fail and/or
malfunction for any reason.
The soundness of tire combustion and
the soundness of dust control require
the same manufacturing
function: good process control. "Good dust control is
nothing more than good process
control." ("Sound Engineering
to Control Dust"
by Mark Kestner, PhD., Aggregates
Manager, May 2003.)
As you are aware, Cemex-Lyons now
faces an ongoing enforcement action by the
CDPHE, Air Pollution Control
Division.
We respectfully direct the Board's
attention to the Boulder County Health
Department's inspection reports and
citizen complaints pertaining to fugitive
dust emissions.
4.
Legacy Burden:
Did the Board of Adjustment know
that Southwestern may have been burning
waste oil without a permit
modification? Does this activity
compromise public
trust? Yes, it does.
In 1988 representative from the
Colorado Department of Health and the
Hazardous Waste and Solid Waste
Departments met with representatives of Southwestern
to discuss the company's proposal to
"burn tires and hazardous solvents and
oils as fuel for the kiln."
An Inter-Office Communication
regarding this meeting states:
"Southwestern proposed to burn
any liquid with a BTU content over 5,000
BTU/gallon. This included PCBs, waste and contaminated
oils, and solvents of all
types. It required them to install storage tanks and an unloading place
to
unload the truck trailers."
This Inter-Office Communication
concludes with an appropriate observation:
"There will probably be
considerable controversy in Boulder County as the
public becomes aware of
Southwestern's intentions."
Public records in SU 88-21 on this
matter are incomplete. (What happened
to
these records?) Documents in SU-88-21 are perplexing and may
have a bearing
on the status of SU-88-21. These documents assert that Southwestern may
have
been burning waste oils in addition
to other fuels without the proper permit
modifications and review:
Excerpt from 1991 Air Pollution
Control Division Memorandum: "In
December of
1990 we [the State] discovered that
they were burning waste or used oil in
addition to other fuels. We [the State] informed them that a permit
modification would be required for
the burning of waste oil… SW Portland
has been
burning waste oil since about
1975… A rough estimate of quantities
burned:
5,226,000 gallons."
Excerpt from 1991 letter from Air
Pollution Control Division to Southwestern:
"SW Portland is not allowed to burn waste oil until we are
able to resolve a
number of outstanding issues and
complete the permit process."
We respectfully request the Board of
Adjustment to remand SU-88-21 to the
Land Use Department for (1) a full
explanation of this waste oil burning
activity; and (2) for a
determination that the nature and history of the nonconforming
use; as well as the terms and
conditions of SU-88-21 were not violated by
this activity.
SU-88-21 is obsolete:
Boulder County approved
Southwestern's "Rubber Recycling Facility" permit
more than a decade ago. There are standards and oversight available
now through
the County, EPA and State's
Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division
which did not exist 13 years ago.
Simple Existence of SU-88-21
There is a compelling case for
taking a close look at the current
circumstances. The simple existence of SU-88-21 does not
assure its fairness and
completeness.
There is considerable controversy
and uncertainty within the community over
the current Cemex-Lyons tire
combustion proposal. Community
residents have
expressed concern over potential
environmental and health impacts which
contribute to the quality of life in
Boulder County. Community residents
have
expressed a desire to directly
involve themselves in the planning process in order to
preserve environmental quality in
Boulder County.
Equitable Solution to SU-88-21:
This is an opportunity for the Board
of Adjustment to exercise fairness to
the people you represent, and to
acknowledge the need for a new Special Use
permit; to negotiate the kind of
equitable solution expected of an environmentally
conscious county.
May your deliberations follow the
spirit of Boulder County's mission
statement:
"As trusted stewards of Boulder
County's future, we provide the best public
service. We are a safe, healthy, and environmentally aware county. Our
stewardship honors our past and
sustains and improves the quality of life for
present and future
generations…"
E.M. Forster once offered his
countrymen words we might heed:
"If you desire to save the
countryside there is only one way:
through good
laws rightly applied. That is your only hope. A little has already been done:
much more can be done in the future. It needs men and women of good will
who can continue and work together
lest destruction spread and cover the fields
and the hills."
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Richard E. Cargill
Executive Director
Cc:
Land Use Department
Planning Commission
Boulder County Board of Health
County Commissioners
CDPHE, Air Pollution Control
Division
CDPHE, Hazardous Material and Waste
Management Division
Watchdogs
Interested parties