Cement plants are among the nation's worst toxic polluters. After years of work by Earthjustice and our allies, on August 9, 2010, EPA chief Lisa Jackson announced strong health standards to reduce cement plants’ toxic emissions.
These protections will cut emissions of mercury and particulate matter by 92 percent, saving as many as 2,500 lives every year.
Featuring two Seattle cement kilns, located near downtown Seattle, WA. (Created with Google Earth.)
Featuring the Cupertino cement kiln, located just outside San Francisco, CA. (Created with Google Earth.)
Explore an interactive map of cement kilns in the United States, including those that burn hazardous waste. Do you live or work near one of these kilns? (Source: U.S. EPA and the Portland Cement Association)
Looking for fact sheets, recent press releases, and other background materials? Look no further. This page collects recent resources that you can use to find out more about the effort to reduce toxic air pollution from our nation's cement plants.
Power plants remain our nation's biggest mercury polluters overall. It's no surprise: many of them burn millions of tons of coal each year, and the government has done little to stop them. But the technology exists to clean these plants up significantly. Doing so would have a big impact right away and wouldn't only make fish caught in local lakes, streams, and rivers safer to eat: we'd all be safer, too.
Earthjustice went to court and defeated a plan that would have allowed even higher mercury emissions from power plants. We also won a historic agreement in which the EPA agreed to reduce mercury emissions from power plants. The EPA’s proposal is scheduled for release on March 16, 2011. We'll keep you up-to-date on the progress and what you can do to help.