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Clean Air Is:
I'm here because:
Because our valley experiences inversions on an almost daily basis, emissions from the nearby cement plant can build up to very unhealthy levels.
Clean Air Ambassador:
Jennifer Swearingen
Bozeman, Montana
My family and I live in a small town located in a lush agricultural valley threaded with three rivers and ringed by mountain ranges. We share our valley with abundant wildlife, including elk, deer, antelope, bear, raptors, waterfowl, and trout. Upwind of it all is a 100-year-old cement kiln owned by the Swiss company Holcim, Inc., which wants to increase its already huge profits by burning industrial wastes and scrap tires.
This outdated facility uses obsolete technology to make cement and has frequent day-long malfunctions. Because our valley experiences inversions on an almost daily basis, emissions from the plant can build up to very unhealthy levels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's own research shows that if this plant is allowed to burn tires and other wastes, emissions will become even more toxic.
Over the past twenty years, Montanans Against Toxic Burning—a grassroots advocacy group consisting of farmers, ranchers, educators, recreationists, business owners, and more than 100 physicians—has fought our local cement plant's efforts to burn liquid hazardous waste, industrial wastes, and millions of scrap tires. With the EPA's new definition of solid waste, however, our local cement plant will be allowed to burn a whole slew of wastes without going through the normal permitting process and without appropriate monitoring, adequate control technology, or protective emissions limits.
To say that we are stunned at this outcome is an understatement!
We implore the EPA to rethink its decision on these negligent rules, and we urge members of Congress to create responsible regulations for solid waste management that will protect human health and the environment.
I'm thinking of my 2 year old grandson being raised in the Gallatin Valley breathing toxic air every day. That there would be no permitting process to protect his health tells me that the EPA has failed to uphold his right to a healthy life and failed to carry out its mandate to protect our environment. No foreign or domestic corporation has no right to endanger my grandson's health! If the EPA won't do it's job, the U.S. Congress and the Montana legislature and the local Bozeman government must enact laws so that it will. We can't afford to passively sit by while our citizens are being poisoned by the very air they breathe.
Thank you Jennifer for speaking out for clean air in MT! We are indebted to you and the amazing work of Montanans Against Toxic Burning!
Montanans don't like to be dictated too we value clean air and water!. We may say we want jobs but the new coal mining industry taking over is only the beginning of the ruin of not just our state but every where. Big business pollutes, big business uses, big business destroys local economy's! Stop polluting the air we breath. If tobacco smoke is obvious well one does not have to be a scientist or geneus to sort that out.
No one has the right to pollute!
Thank you Jennifer
We need real protections focused on the future and the health of ourselves our children and the environment. I am grateful for all the citizens working to create and maintain real regulations that enforce the safekeeping of our future!!
Montanans value clean air and water. Our clean environment and unspoiled wilderness are a big part of why most of us live here. If they aren't involved, I'd suggest contacting your local affiliate of the Northern Plains Resource Council as well.
Polluted air is the price we pay for letting corporate profits dictate government policy. We must insist that local as well as federal agencies force this operator to clean its emissions.
This is an inhumane decision to not take concern for our own!
I have asthma and am very sensitive to all kinds of pollutants and toxins. Please regulate air quality - it is a life or death situation for many adults and especially children.
We live in an era when large corporations are permitted increasingly to act irresponsibly. This applies particularly to corporate failures to take into account their impacts upon public health. Holcim, inc. is just one example among many. Jennifer's plea should be heeded.
The EPA must come to understand that folks living were I live want stronger regulations and compliance monitoring for air degradation caused by the local fiberboard, decorative bark, and aluminum industries.
Solid waste management disposal is so important, as well as all environmental issues. Thanks for all you do
Thank you, Jennifer, for speaking up for all of us. Clean air is the most important factor of life. It does not belong to the highest bidder, it is everyone's birthright. I appreciate all you are doing for those of us who must stay at home.
Thank you very much!!!!
Thank you for making the case that should be obvious to any living being.
you go jennifer! let them know about the terrible boiler rule!!!
Good luck, Jennifer! And thank you!
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