Mr. Matt Hale 

Director, Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Mail Code 5306P 

Washington, DC, 20460 

March 31, 2009 

Dear Mr. Hale: 

We are the leadership team at CalStar Cement, in Newark, CA. We are writing to share some 

perspectives that we hope will be helpful as you consider and develop policy responses to the 

recent fly ash spill at TVA’s Kingston plant. While the mismanagement that led to that disaster 

was infuriating and the impact on the local environment was severe, it is essential not to 

overreact with a policy response that could be even more harmful to the global environment. 

CalStar is a Silicon Valley company focused on green building materials. With deep background 

and credentials in the environmental movement, we are committed to developing new products 

that are energy efficient in their manufacture and help mitigate climate change when used in the 

place of traditional building materials. We are funded by Foundation Capital and EnerTech 

Capital, two of the most successful venture capital firms in the clean technology field. 

After more than a year of intensive R&D, we will build our first factory this year to make bricks, 

concrete products and general use cement using fly ash from a We Energies Coal-Fired Power 

Plant in Wisconsin. Compared to conventional clay bricks, CalStar’s bricks require 80% less 

energy and emit 80% less CO2 in their manufacture and incorporate up to 99% post-industrial 

by-products. Similarly, CalStar concrete products use 80% less energy and emit 80% less CO2

compared to conventional Portland cement concrete. These breakthrough products are of great 

interest to architects, engineers and builders who are focused on green building. 

With our company mission centered around environmental stewardship and our initial focus on 

fly ash bricks, we have studied and learned a great deal about fly ash and its uses. Based on our 

scientific, technical, and marketing work, we believe three facts in particular merit your 

attention: 

CalStar Cement, Inc.     6851 Mowry Avenue, Newark, Ca 94560     510.793.9500
1. Fly ash is widely acknowledged to be safe when incorporated into building materials 

and in other applications 

2. Fly ash is currently the world’s most powerful tool for reducing the CO2 footprint of 

cement, while also enhancing the quality and durability of concrete 

3. Designating fly ash as a Hazardous Waste would have a chilling effect on the use of 

fly ash in building materials, increasing our nation’s CO2 footprint, expanding 

landfill demand, and compromising the quality of our built environment. 

We provide more detail on each of these points below. 

1. Fly ash is widely acknowledged to be safe when used in cement and building 

materials. Fly ash has been specified as a partial cement replacement and used in other 

building materials for over 50 years. Pioneered by Prof. PK Mehta of UC Berkeley 

among others, the addition of fly ash makes concrete more durable and more reliable, and 

in many parts of the country less costly. 

Many notable structures including the Freedom Tower and the de Young Museum have 

been built using concrete mixtures with up to 50% fly ash replacement for cement. 

CalTrans requires 25% fly ash blends in most of its mix designs. The U.S. Green 

Building Council encourages the use of fly ash in its LEED rating system. 

Numerous academic studies and publications by the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Electric Power Research Institute and others 

document the safety of fly ash when used in concrete and similar applications. Notably, 

leading environmental advocates also endorse the reuse of fly ash in concrete and other 

construction products. For example the National Resources Defense Council writes, “For 

some types of [coal combustion wastes], there are alternative uses as raw material for 

construction products such as concrete, plaster, and wallboard. When directed toward 

these ‘encapsulated uses’, the dangerous chemicals in the waste are not subject to erosion 

and leaching into the environment.”1 

CalStar’s R&D confirms these views. Our raw materials and end products are subjected 

to the strictest internal and external testing defined by USEPA, CalEPA, and others, and 

have been found safe in all dimensions at all stages of their life cycle. 

2. Fly ash is currently the world’s most powerful tool for reducing the CO2 footprint of 

cement, while also enhancing the quality and durability of concrete. Cement is one 

of the biggest single contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Globally,

cement manufacturing generates over 2.4 billion tons per year of CO2; in the U.S., 

cement is responsible for over 100 million tons of CO2 each year. 

                                                           

1 NRDC, “Dangerous Disposals: Keeping Coal Combustion Waste Out of Our Water Supply”, Natural

Resources Defense Council, 2007.

CalStar Cement, Inc.     6851 Mowry Avenue, Newark, Ca 94560     510.793.9500
The simplest and most efficient way to reduce Portland cement’s CO2 footprint is to use 

less cement by substituting fly ash. On average across the U.S. today, fly ash is used to 

replace about 15% of the Portland cement in concrete. Since 1990, over 200 million tons 

of fly ash have been used in this manner. In obviating the use of ordinary cement that 

would have generated almost a ton of CO2 per ton of cement produced, this application of 

fly ash has prevented approximately 200 million tons of CO2 from being released into the 

atmosphere during this period. 

We estimate that an additional 200 million tons of CO2 emissions can be avoided in the 

U.S. over the coming decade by continuing to expand the acceptance and adoption of fly 

ash in concrete, bricks and other building materials. Looking beyond the U.S., a recent 

McKinsey study2

 cites the use of fly ash and other mineral substitutes in cement and 

concrete as a key component of global climate change policy, representing the potential 

for almost 500 million tons of annual CO2 reduction potential at a negative cost, i.e. 

requiring no carbon tax or subsidy. 

Federal stimulus plans to invest in infrastructure and buildings will require large volumes 

of concrete. Fly ash is a significant component of virtually all high-performance concrete 

mixtures today, adding strength, durability, and other beneficial properties. Using highfly ash mixes will be essential to meeting the parallel goals of making high-quality, 

enduring infrastructure investments while at the same time minimizing CO2 emissions 

related to these projects. 

3. Designating fly ash as a Hazardous Waste would have a chilling effect on the use of 

fly ash in building materials, increasing our nation’s CO2 footprint, expanding 

landfill demand, and compromising the quality of our built environment. We 

understand that one recent proposal under consideration would have the disposal of all 

coal combustion wastes regulated under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and 

Recovery Act. While impossible to quantify, our own experience supported by 

discussions with many others in the green building community leads us to expect that any 

such designation of fly ash as a hazardous waste would have a strongly detrimental and 

ultimately irreversible effect on its beneficial use in building materials. 

Incorporating fly ash as defined today as an “industrial by-product deemed safe by the 

EPA” in materials for housing, commercial buildings, public facilities, and infrastructure 

is easily understood by a culture attuned to recycling, and has been accepted broadly. 

Incorporating a material “designated by the EPA as Hazardous Waste” in such projects 

would be entirely different. Fly ash use in concrete and other building materials would 

fall dramatically, a very substantial CO2 mitigation opportunity would be largely lost, 

new fly ash landfills would need to be created and would fill up quickly, and the quality 

                                                           

2

  McKinsey & Co., Pathways to a Low Carbon Economy, Version 2 of the Global Greenhouse 

Gas Cost Abatement Curve.

CalStar Cement, Inc.     6851 Mowry Avenue, Newark, Ca 94560     510.793.9500
of our concrete infrastructure would suffer. What would happen to the many green 

buildings that have incorporated significant volumes of fly ash if it were suddenly 

deemed “hazardous” is a matter for speculation. 

With that said, practicing proper disposal practices is essential for the 55% of material 

not recovered for beneficial use. Where beneficial uses cannot be found or expanded, we 

fully support policies that will protect public safety by eliminating surface impoundments 

and ensuring that landfills for these materials are lined appropriately. We believe many 

solutions are available to achieve this outcome without resorting to unwarranted 

regulation under RCRA Subtitle C. 

* * * * 

Increased beneficial use of fly ash represents a rare and valuable opportunity to address many 

important national priorities at once: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reusing industrial byproducts, creating new green-collar jobs, and repairing our national infrastructure with high 

quality materials. 

To realize this opportunity fully, public policy must continue to enable and support the 

appropriate and beneficial use of fly ash and other coal combustion by-products. At the same 

time, public safety needs to be protected with appropriate laws regarding fly ash management 

and disposal. With careful consideration and a balanced, science-driven approach, we are 

confident that you and your team will be able to develop a solution to achieve both of these 

policy objectives without compromise. 

We are always available to provide additional clarification and information to support you and 

your staff as you draft this very important policy. 

Sincerely, 

Thomas M. Pounds 

Chief Operating Officer 

Marc Porat, PhD 

Founder, Chairman and CEO 

CalStar Cement, Inc.     6851 Mowry Avenue, Newark, Ca 94560     510.793.9500