Re: cement kilns

["Sam McClintock" <scmcclintock@ipass.net>]

  Apologies to all as I am going to be sporadic on participation over the
  next week.
  
  Jon said:
  
  > This may be a little naive, but please bear with me.
  > 
  > If a cement kiln uses natural gas or electricity for the kiln,
  > and the source of the cement is ordinary, pure, Portland
  > cement and non-contaminated fill, then a cement kiln
  > should have ZERO dioxin output, since there are few
  > sources of benzene rings and chlorine.
  
  Most kilns use coal and coke as their primary fuel source.  These kilns
  are a source of dioxins without any input whatsoever of haz waste; well
  researched issue.
  
  > I believe, from reading those sections of Dying From Dioxin,
  > that the EPA believes that a fairly substantial amount of
  > the airborne dioxin contamination in the U.S. comes from
  > cement kilns that burn hazwaste.
  
  The USEPA  *knows*  that cement kilns are a large source of dioxins
  whether they burn  haz waste or not.  Again, any emission test will
  tell you the same thing.  
  
  Sometime next month I'll try to drag out some dioxin emission test
  results from both kilns using haz waste and kilns just using coal/coke.
   For most, the differences are not that big.  Bottom line, the kilns
  need better control technology, regardless of what they use, and that
  is where the focus should be.  It would be dishonest to local
  populations to fight the kiln's haz waste use and claim you will
  significantly reduce the resident's dioxin exposure.
  
  Sam McClintock
  scmcclintock@ipass.net