U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

PUBLIC HEARING RE: NATIONALEMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FOR THE PORTLAND CEMENT MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY AND STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE FOR PORTLAND CEMENT PLANTS

ARLINGTON, TEXAS AUGUST 16, 2012 Attached is the transcript of the public hearing held on August 16, 2012 in Arlington, TX, for the proposed amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland Cement Plants. A total of 85 individuals participated in the hearing.Representatives from industry, business, environmental organizations and private citizens testified before an EPA panel. Representatives of the portland cement industry generally favored much of the amendments to the portland cement NESHAP and NSPS. In particular they approved of theproposedrevised PM standards and theproposedextension of the compliance period by 2 years until 2015. Members of environmental organizations, private citizens and others generally opposed the proposed amendments, especially the extension of the compliance deadline. They testified that the EPA should retain the standards and compliance period contained in the 2010 final rule.

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1 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PUBLIC HEARING RE: NATION EMISSION STANDARDS FOR 9 HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FOR THE PORTLAND CEMENT 10 MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY AND STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE 11 FOR PORTLAND CEMENT PLANTS 12 13 ARLINGTON, TEXAS 14 AUGUST 16, 2012 15 16 17 18 19 20 21ATKINSON-BAKER, INC. COURT REPORTERS 22 (800) 288-3376 www.depo.com 23 REPORTED BY: KENDRA ROWLAND, CSR NO. 5500 24 FILE NO.: A607AB8 25

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1 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PUBLIC HEARING RE: NATION EMISSION STANDARDS FOR 9 HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FOR THE PORTLAND CEMENT 10 MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY AND STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE 11 FOR PORTLAND CEMENT PLANTS 12 13 14 EPA Public Hearing of, taken at City Council 15 Chambers, 101 Abram Street, Arlington, Texas, 16 commencing at 9:00 a.m., Thursday, August 16th, 2012, 17 before Kendra Rowland, CSR No. 5500. 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 APPEARING ON BEHALF OF U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA) 4 5 FRED THOMPSON KEITH BARNETT 6 SHARON NIZICH MARIA MARTINEZ 7 RUBEN CASSO 8 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK 9 4930 Old Page Road Durham, North Carolina 27703 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 MR. THOMPSON: I will begin with 3 opening statements. My name is Fred Thompson, the 4Associate Director for the Sector Policies and 5 Programs Division in the United States Environmental 6 Protection Agency's Office of Air Quality Planning and 7 Standards based in Research Triangle Park, North 8 Carolina. I will be chairing today's hearing. 9 Joining me on the panel are Sharon Nizich to 10my right, Keith Barnett to the left, also with the 11 Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, and 12 Maria Martinez to my left with EPA's Region 6 office. 13 We are here today to listen to your comments 14 on all aspects of EPA's proposed amendments to the 15National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air 16 Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing 17 Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland 18 Cement Plants. EPA published the proposed amendments 19 in the Federal Register on July 18th of 2012. 20 The proposed amendments would retain several 21 key air toxics emission limits in the 2010 rules, 22 including limits for mercury, hydrochloric acid and 23 total hydrocarbons. These limits will dramatically 24 cut emissions of these harmful pollutants from cement 25production.

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1 The proposed amendments would adjust the way 2 cement kilns monitor particulate matter (PM) emissions 3 and would make changes to the PM emission limit that 4 would be necessary with the monitoring change. EPA 5 proposed these changes based on new technical 6 information about the capabilities and continuous 7 emission monitors for PM. Note that kilns would still 8 be required to continuously monitor PM emissions under 9 the proposed amendment. 10 The proposal would also extend the 11 compliance date for existing kilns under the air toxic 12 standard by two years from September of 2013 to 13 September 2015. EPA is seeking comment on this 14proposed compliance date extension. 15 In addition, the proposed amendments would 16 revise the open clinker pile standards from the 2010 17 final rule by allowing facilities to choose from a 18 list of work practices to control fugitive emissions 19 and would change an alternative emission limit for 20 organic air toxics that kilns may meet in lieu of 21meeting a limit for total hydrocarbons. 22 I would like to draw your attention to the 23 deadline for submitting written comments on the 24proposal. That deadline is tomorrow, August 17th of 25 2012. However, we will hold this hearing record open

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1 for an additional 30 days to allow people to submit 2 supplemental or rebuttal information that is related 3 to testimony at today's hearing. You may submit this 4 type of information until September 17th of 2012. 5 There are handouts in the registration area 6 with instructions for submitting written comments. 7 EPA will carefully consider your comments from today's 8 hearing, along with written comments as we move 9 forward to complete the final rule. Under a draft 10 settlement agreement, EPA will take final action on 11 this proposal by December 20th of 2012. 12 We will prepare a written transcript of 13 today's hearing. The transcript will be available as 14part of the official record for this rule. 15 The first standards issued under -- I'm 16 sorry. Let me mention briefly two other air emission 17 standards that apply to Portland Cement Manufacturing 18 that are not the subject of today's hearing. The 19 first standards issued under a separate section of the 20 Clean Air Act cover cement kilns that burn 21 non-hazardous waste. This is known as the Commercial 22 and Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator rule. That's 23 CISWI rule. 24 This rule is currently under 25 reconsideration. Amendments to the CISWI rule were

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1 proposed on December 23rd of 2011. The final rule is 2 undergoing interagency review. 3 The second set of standards regulates air 4 toxics emissions from cement kilns that burn hazardous 5 waste. These standards issued in 2005 are known as 6 the Hazardous Waste Combustor National Emissions 7 Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. 8 The proposed standards we are taking comment 9 on today apply only to cement kilns that do not burn 10 waste of any type, either commercial or hazardous 11waste. 12 Now, let me describe the procedures for 13 today's hearing. I will call the scheduled speakers 14 to the table in pairs. When it is your turn to speak, 15please state your name and your affiliation before you 16 begin your testimony. It would help our court 17 reporter if you would also spell your name. 18 In order to be fair to everyone, we will 19 limit your testimony to five minutes each. Please 20 remain seated at the table until both speakers have 21 finished. After you finish your testimony, members of 22 the panel may ask clarifying questions. If you have a 23 written version of your comments that you would like 24 to be entered into the docket, please give a copy to 25 our staff at the registration table outside.

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1 We have a timekeeping system consistent of 2 green, yellow and red lights to help you track your 3 five minutes to speak. And it's located right here 4 (indicating.) When you begin speaking, the green 5 light will come on. The yellow light will signal that 6 you have one minute left to speak. When the red light 7 comes on, five minutes have passed; and I will ask you 8 to please complete your testimony. 9 Today's hearing will continue until 7:00 p.m. 10 or later, if necessary, depending on the number of 11 speakers we have today. We will take a lunch break 12 from noon until 1:00 p.m. We will reconvene promptly 13 at 1:00 p.m. and continue until 7:00 p.m. 14 If you would like to speak, but have not yet 15 registered to do so, please sign up at the 16 registration table in the hallway. For those who have 17 already registered to speak, we have tried to 18 accommodate your requests for specific time slots. We 19 ask for your patience as we proceed through the list 20 of speakers. We may need to make some adjustments as 21 the day progresses. 22 If you have any questions during the 23 hearing, please see a staff member at the registration 24 table for assistance. Thank you all for participating 25 today. And with that, let's get started.

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1 I would like to call our first two speakers 2 up front. At this time I would like to ask Andrew 3 O'Hare and Jim Schermbeck to please come forward. 4 Good morning, gentlemen. 5 ANDREW O'HARE 6 My name is Andy O'Hare, and I'm with the 7 Portland Cement Association, which is the national 8 trade association that represents cement 9 manufacturers. 10 Good morning. My name is Andy O'Hare. I am 11here today representing the Portland Cement 12Association, where I am the Vice President of 13 Regulatory Affairs. Founded in 1916, PCA's 25 member 14 companies operate 97 cement plants in 36 states and 15 the distribution centers in all 50 states. 16 Portland Cement is the essential ingredient 17 in concrete. Concrete, a ubiquitous building 18material, is the second most consumed material on 19 earth after water. Concrete, a sustainable material, 20 is the foundation of our nation's infrastructure. 21 It's found in roads, homes, bridges, buildings, dams, 22 levees and in newer applications, such as platforms 23 for wind energy facilities, a lot of those here in 24 Texas. For example, energy savings from concrete 25 buildings may more than offset greenhouse gas

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1 emissions associated with cement manufacturing. 2 Thank you for the opportunity to address the 3 panel of the U.S. EPA today on the proposed amendments 4 to the Portland Cement National Emission Standard for 5 Hazardous Air Pollutants, or for short, NESHAP. 6 The July 18th proposal is an outgrowth of 7 petitions for consideration filed by the PCA 8 and directives from a DC Circuit Court decision from 9 December. It would modify an earlier version of the 10 rule finalized in September of 2010. PCA has worked 11 closely with the EPA for the past year or more to 12 address issues the agency agreed to revisit as part of 13 the 2010 rule reconsideration process. PCA is 14 currently in the process of preparing comment on the 15proposal, but is generally supportive of many of the 16modifications the agency has proposed. 17 I would like to highlight a few provisions in 18 the proposal which are strongly by PCA, including a 19modification to the emission standards for particulate 20matter, or PM, for existing and new sources and a 21 reset of the rule compliance deadline to address the 22 new PM standard. 23 Regarding the PM standard, the change EPA has 24proposed is strongly supported by data EPA possesses 25 in the rule record. In 2009 PCA argued in comments on

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1 the previous proposal that the PM standards should be 2 revised to reflect the natural variability of 3 emissions over time. 4 In reviewing the standard as part of the 5 reconsideration process, EPA came to the same 6 conclusion as PCA. The new proposed standard now more 7 accurately reflects the variability of emissions 8 experience by actual cement kilns over extended 9 periods of time. Accordingly, PCA endorses the EPA 10proposed modification to the PM standards for existing 11 and new sources. 12 On a related matter, PCA strongly supports a 13 reset of the compliance deadline for the NESHAP, 14moving it from September of 2013 to September of 2015. 15 This additional time will be necessary to implement 16 the change to the PM standard, the reasons for which 17 are outlined by the EPA and PCA in the rule-making 18 record. 19 I will highlight briefly today why the 20 additional time is necessary. Additional details will 21 be provided in PCA comments. The proposal expresses 22 EPA's recognition that the changes being proposed to 23 emission standards, in particular to the particulate 24matter standard, will require cement plants not only 25 to assess the need to use and therefore develop new

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1 control and compliance technologies and strategies, 2 but the likelihood that the new control and compliance 3 strategies will indeed have to be developed and 4 implemented as a result of the change to the PM 5 Standards. 6 EPA notes the following in the proposal: 7 "New compliance strategies require time to implement. 8 New engineering studies are needed, potential 9 suppliers identified and a new bidding/procurement 10process undertaken. Significant plant redesign in the 11 form of new ductwork and new fan design and the 12 changes in the main control system may be needed," end 13 quote. 14 These EPA conclusions are strongly supported 15 by an analysis prepared by PCA to assess the impact of 16 the new PM standard. Importantly, PCA's analysis 17 found that a change to the PM standard will have 18 implications for all of the other standards, not just 19 for PM. 20 The standards for mercury, hydrochloric acid 21 and total hydrocarbons all rely, and may rely, on 22 control strategies involving an injection and removal 23 of added particulates. This may come in the form of 24 activated carbon or dry or wet scrubbing or sorbent 25 devices.

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1 PCA surveyed its members as part of this 2 effort to assess the potential impact of a new PM 3 standard. The purpose of the questionnaire was to 4 solicit perspectives on how and whether cement plant 5 operations would reconsider their compliance 6 strategies for NESHAP. 7 Virtually, all U.S. cement manufacturers 8 participated in the survey. And greater than 30 9 percent -- and greater than 50 percent indicated that 10 they would need to revisit their plans. It turned out 11 that this conclusion was true for other standards such 12 as total hydrocarbons. 13 As this chart -- 14 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. O'Hare, I would ask 15you to complete your testimony. 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) As this chart indicates, 17 there are seven -- at least seven steps that one has 18 to undertake to implement new technologies. And I 19 have plotted these out on a timeline beginning in 20 January of 2013. And in order to achieve all of these 21 seven time steps in implementing a new technology, it 22 carries you out until around June or August of 2015. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 24Mr. O'Hare. 25 (BY THE SPEAKER) I will be happy to

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1 entertain your questions. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 3 Mr. Schermbeck, let us know when you're 4 ready to get started. 5 JIM SCHERMBECK 6 Jim Schermbeck, Downwinders at Risk. Sue 7 Pope was supposed to be speaking today in this slot, 8 but she's sick. She lives in between three cement 9 plants, and she gets sick a lot. So do many of her 10 neighbors. We're all gathered today because 20 years 11 ago, she got sick and tired of being sick and tired 12 and founded Downwinders at Risk. 13 You can draw a straight line between her 14 decision to stop being a passive receptor in the early 15 1990s and this hearing in 2012. Because these are not 16 the industry rules that we're debating today, these 17 are not the EPA rules that we're debating today. 18 These are Sue Pope's rules that we're debating today, 19 and you shouldn't be messing with them. 20 You're going to be hearing a lot of good 21 reasons today not to do the piss-poor thing that 22you're proposing. Some involve public health, others 23public policy, politics. I want to prove to you why 24 this rollback is wrong using just one woman's life. 25 Every minute I'm speaking today represents

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1 five years of Sue Poe's struggle to bring these rules 2 to fruition. She's been trying to get these rules 3 into law before they were included in the 1991 Clean 4Air Act amendments. She and Downwinders were among 5 the original plaintiffs in the first lawsuit that had 6 to be filed against EPA to even make it spit out what 7 the law required. 8 She and Downwinders were plaintiffs in the 9 second lawsuit that had to be filed because EPA did 10 such a crappy and illegal job of writing the rules the 11 first time around. These are not EPA rules. These 12 are Sue Poe's rules. 13 Do you have any idea what kind of courage it 14 takes for a middle-aged woman who never went to 15 college, never knew anything about politics or 16 environmental health or air dispersion modeling to 17 take on, not one Fortune 500 company, but three of 18 them in a row and their industry lobbyists and all of 19 their friends at the Texas Chemical Council, plus the 20 State of Texas, plus the federal government, and 21 that's even before you consider going up against every 22 local politician because they all get cement plant 23money or local newspapers surviving on cement plant 24money or the local doctor who is contracted out to the 25 cement plants for all the employee physicals and

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1 almost everyone in town who works at a cement plant or 2 is married to or related to someone who is? 3 Despite living in a company town where most 4 of her allies are so afraid to speak up, Sue Pope 5 became their voice. Sue Pope is responsible for 6 bringing the ATSDR to Midlothian for a health 7 consultation that is still ongoing that has so far 8 found alarming rates of rare birth defects in Ellis 9 County. 10 Sue Pope is responsible for bringing SNCR 11 Pollution to the U.S. cement industry long before they 12wanted to implement it. Sue Pope is responsible for 13 successfully arguing for the inclusion of the cement 14plants in Ellis County in the DFW non-attainment area. 15 She's responsible for local policies that steer Public 16 Works money away from the oldest, dirtiest cement 17plants until they cried Uncle and announced that they 18 would be replaced by modern, cleaner kilns. 19 And Sue Pope one of the handful of people 20 that's made sure EPA would have to follow the law and 21 issue federal toxic air pollution rules for cement 22plants. She's personally traveled to DC and lobbied 23 Congress and the EPA. She's organized public support. 24 These are Sue Poe's rules. She earned them. 25 She paid dearly for them. She's due your respect.

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1 Instead, you have shattered her and her life's work, 2 which at this point Sue may never leave to see 3 fulfilled. When you take a decade to address 4 citizens' complaints but only months to hop to it when 5 industry requests a reprieve, you're insulting Sue 6 Pope and her work. 7 When you go through the entire regulatory 8 process, receive overwhelming public support, issue 9 rules that are economically justified, survive various 10 court and congressional challenges and then at the 11very last moment, you steal them back, get important 12provisions and delay their start for another two years 13 for no good reason, you're insulting her and her work. 14 When you call one national hearing for the 15very last minute switch that you did and you give us 16 11 days' notice in the middle of August, you're 17 spitting in our faces and Sue's as well. You're 18 acting more like the Texas Commission on Environmental 19 Quality than the EPA I know. 20 When you tell us the changes aren't not 21 substantial, but then admit they increase pollution by 22 hundreds of tons a year, you're insulting Sue Pope and 23 her work. You're taking the last 25 years of Sue 24 Poe's life and saying it's not worth it again, again 25 to keep your word on this front.

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1 Industry hasn't earned a reprieve. They 2 have fought these rules for 20 years. EPA hasn't 3 earned the right to grant a reprieve. You've fought 4 these rules for 20 years. 5 EPA allowed cement plants to burn hazardous 6 waste without any controls. That made the air around 7 Sue Poe's home and her ranch contaminated. Then the 8 pollution started to affect the cattle that she was 9 raising on her ranch. They got sick. There were 10 birth defects. The cattle died. Then her horses, her 11Arabians got sick, and they died. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Schermbeck, I'm 13 going to ask you to wrap up your testimony, sir. 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) And now we're talking 15 about the woman herself, who is deathly ill right now 16 and that's why she can't be here. This is what you're 17 doing to Sue Poe's life work by this rollback that 18you're proposing, and you should be deeply, deeply 19 ashamed of yourselves. Thank you. 20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 21 testimony. Gentlemen, if you could sit tight, I'll 22 see if my panel has any clarifying questions. 23 MR. BARNETT: I do have a question on 24 the ATSDR study you mentioned. Do you know when 25 that's going to be complete?

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1 (BY THE SPEAKER) Probably never. 2 MR. BARNETT: Who is ATSDR? I'm not 3 familiar with them. 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) Agency for Toxic 5 Substances and Disease Registry. 6 MR. BARNETT: Okay. 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) They're out of the CDC in 8 Atlanta. 9 MR. BARNETT: Okay. Thank you. 10 MR. THOMPSON: Any additional 11 follow-up? 12 Okay. Gentlemen, thank you both for your 13 testimony. 14 At this time I would like to ask Gary, and 15 forgive me if I'm mispronouncing your last name, 16 Stuard, S-t-u-a-r-d, and Sandra Breakfield to please 17 come forward. 18 And also, I'll remind speakers that when you 19 come up, please, for the court reporter, state and 20 spell your name and state your affiliation. That way 21we can get it right on the record. Thank you. 22 And Mr. Stuard, we will begin with you. 23 GARY STUARD 24 Good morning. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning.

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1 (BY THE SPEAKER) My name is Gary Stuard, 2 G-a-r-y, then S-t-u-a-r-d, as in Dallas and 3 determined. I am on the board of Downwinders at Risk, 4 which I'm very honored to have been asked to be on. 5 I've been involved with a number of environmental 6 organizations in this area, and I'm also on the 7 environmental team of Occupying Dallas. 8 I am sorry I was not -- I was a late joiner 9 into the battle on the cement kilns. I am not native 10 to Dallas, but I've been active on this issue for the 11past eight years. And to see that it has taken 20 12years, 20 long, painful years in which people have 13 been dying, even by your own statistics, from the 14pollution from these industries, has taken that long 15 to finally get rules and regulations to protect the 16 citizens of this state which regularly gets shatted 17 on -- and you will hear that word used hopefully quite 18 a lot through this day -- by our own state, our own 19 agency that is supposed to protect us, do not and we 20 look to EPA to help us and once again, we get shat on 21 at the last minute, always at the last minute. 22 There is no reason for y'all to delay this 23 at all. Last year the agency, you won a DC Circuit 24Ruling that upheld the cement air toxins standards and 25 found that maintaining the implementation date of

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1 September 2013 would not harm the industry. Why are 2 you changing it now? Please tell us if you have the 3 honesty and the courage to do so. 4 By your own accounts, a two-year delay in 5 implementing these rules and regulations would cause 6 between 2,000 and 5,000 premature deaths, by your own 7 accounting, 35,000 severe asthma attacks. We have 8 Children's Hospital here in Dallas. The number one 9 reason why children go to Children's Hospital is 10 asthma. Asthma, it's that bad. 11 We have the worse air quality in the state 12 of Texas. And to think that it's only coincidental 13 that we have that with the huge cement kilns that we 14have, I would suggest is not coincidental. 15 Also, an extra 3,000 heart attacks, 260,000 16 days of missed work, including many in Dallas/Fort 17 Worth, that alone, that alone should be enough not to 18 roll back these rules. What are you thinking? We are 19 so tired in this state that corporations, banks, all 20 of them get first in line and we get dumped on over 21 and over and over. You don't understand that we are 22 in a war here constantly fighting to try to protect 23 our children, our communities, our air, our water, our 24 soil. 25 We got shatted on by this current president

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1 who okayed the Exxon -- I mean, excuse me -- the 2 Keystone Pipeline. That's another fight that we're 3 having to deal with, which we heard that you were told 4 to back away from. You are here to protect us, not to 5 serve President Obama and not to serve those crooks 6 and thieves and murderers, as far as I'm concerned, in 7 the cement kiln industry. 8 People have been dying. Does that mean 9 anything to you? Are you to tell us that government 10 is never going to be for us; it's only going to be for 11 corporations who can give you money? Is that what it 12 comes down to? That's not what I was taught by my 13parents who worked hard to raise their kids. And we 14were taught to be honest, decent, to care about our 15 neighbors. Was that all a lie? Was that all a sham? 16 Is it? Why are you here? Why are you even working 17 for this agency if it's not going to be protecting us? 18 Tell us. 19 We are so sick and tired of being -- pardon 20 the phrase -- screwed over constantly. For once, for 21 once, show some moral integrity. Show some guts. 22 Your boss is not the one in the White House, and it's 23 certain not industry who don't give a damn about 24 citizens. It's the All Mighty dollar that they bow 25 down to and worship. They don't see the damage. They

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1 don't care about the damage. You are to serve us. 2 Thank you. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Stuard, 4 for your testimony. Mr. Stuard, if you could please 5 remain. Thank you, sir. 6 Ms. Breakfield, good morning. And again, 7 state your name, affiliation and spell it for the 8 court reporter. Thank you. 9 SANDRA BREAKFIELD 10 My name is Sandra Breakfield. Sandra, 11 S-a-n-d-r-a, Breakfield, B-r-e-a-k-f-i-e-l-d. I live 12 at 5610 Cliff Haven Drive in Dallas. I've lived there 13 for almost 30 years. My husband and I have raised two 14 daughters there, and we hope to spend our retirement 15years there. Were are in the direct path of the 16 emissions from the three cement plants in Midlothian. 17 I have always considered myself to be an 18 optimistic person. Even when things have looked very 19 gloomy, I've always been able to see the bright future 20 ahead. But lately, I've been finding it difficult to 21 keep my optimism. 22 Our forefathers chose to create a government 23 of the people, by the people and for the people. But 24more and more of late, it seems to me that we have a 25 government of the corporations, by the corporations

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1 and for the corporations, a government of the special 2 interest groups, by the special interest groups and 3 for the special interest groups. 4 What other reasons can be given when the EPA 5 is considering rolling back toxic air pollution rules 6 that they proposed in 2010 and have been fighting for 7 in the courts and in Congress for the last three 8 years? Could it be because this is an election year 9 and the Obama Administration thinks it can gain more 10 support from those special interest groups by taking 11 two steps from the rollout of these rules? 12 The Clean Air Act amendments of 1991 required 13 these stronger toxic air pollution rules for cement 14plants. Why are the people still waiting for the EPA 15 to implement them? Now the EPA wants to make the 16people wait two more years, two more years of 17 thousands of pounds of more air pollution, two more 18years of thousands of additional premature deaths, 19 thousands of additional asthma attacks, heart attacks 20 and missed workdays. 21 The people deserve better. The people have 22 to follow the rules. The people don't get to wait 20 23years to decide if they're going to follow the rules. 24 Let's make the big energy corporations and the special 25 interest groups do the same. Let's keep the original

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1 rules proposed in 2010, and let's implement them on 2 the original schedule. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 4 Ms. Breakfield. 5 (BY THE SPEAKER) I'm not finished. 6 MR. THOMPSON: Oh, I'm sorry. 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) Here's my clean air being 8 shredded. 9 I am also testifying on behalf of Stan 10 Hansen, who was unable to make it to today's hearing. 11 Stan lives at 9212 Loma Vista Drive in Dallas. Here's 12 his testimony. 13 And I quote, "My late wife's name was 14 Barbara Hansen. She was in excellent physical health 15when she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005 at the 16 age of 63. She loved life and loved to run. She ran 17 three marathons and often finished first in her age 18 group." 19 "The doctors reasoned that environmental 20 issues were most likely the cause of her disease. She 21was a nonsmoker and had not been exposed to asbestos. 22 Runners inhale more deeply, and particulate matter 23 gets into the deepest recesses of the lungs where it 24 is the most damaging. She died six months after her 25 diagnosis. Again, she had been in excellent physical

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1 health and was a vibrant happy person, full of life 2 and loving life." 3 "We trust the EPA to protect us from the 4 abuses of the environment. I thought that was the 5 charter. Please adhere to your charter and stand up 6 to those who place profits above human life," end 7 quote. 8 Here's a photo of Barbara before she was 9 diagnosed with lung cancer. See, she's running. If 10 the EPA delays implementing these rules for two more 11years, how many more people like Barbara will be 12 diagnosed with an environmentally-related disease? 13 Thank you. 14 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you. Would 15you like to submit Mr. Hansen's testimony for the 16 record as well? 17 (BY THE SPEAKER) Sure. 18 MR. THOMPSON: If you would, when 19you're done, if you could give it to the folks out 20 front. I would like to have that in the record. 21 Okay? 22 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Are there any follow-up 24 questions from the panel? 25 Well, thank you both for your testimony.

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1 Thank you very much. 2 At this time I would like to ask State 3 Representative Lon Burnam and Linda Sears to please 4 come forward. Good morning to the both of you. 5 Again, would you state and spell your name 6 for the court reporter and also your affiliation 7 starting with you, Mr. Burnam. 8 LON BURNAM 9 Good morning, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Barnett, 10 Ms. Martinez and Ms. -- how do you pronounce that -- 11Nizich, I'm Lon Burnam. I'm a state representative 12 for District 90 in Fort Worth. I was first elected in 13 1996. And as a practical matter, I was reelected in 14May, winning the democratic primary unopposed in 15November. 16 When I was about 8 or 9 and was an asthmatic 17 living on the west side of Fort Worth, I began to ask 18 the question of my parents, what is it in the air that 19 is making me sick? 20 So when I returned to this community after 21 completing my undergraduate work in 1976, my father 22 and I picked up the crusade of trying to clean up the 23 air in North Texas. We did this for all the years 24 that he could until he died of emphysema and 25 congestive heart failure.

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1 He contributed untold amount of time and 2 money to the efforts of the Downwinders at Risk. I 3 have been involved with the Downwinders at Risk since 4 I had a contract with the American Lung Association 5 back in 1991. Before that I was a registered lobbyist 6 for the Sierra Club for Clean Area and had a role in 7 having passed the 1991 Clean Air Act. 8 For over 20 years, I personally have been 9 very invested in fighting to clean up the air in North 10 Texas. I have pretty much given up, from the 11 standpoint of I'm resolved now to spend as little time 12 as possible in North Texas in July and August and 13 September because the air makes me sick. 14 The thing that makes me more sick is the 15 Obama Administration. I first publicly endorsed 16 Senator Obama from Illinois in January of 2008 because 17 I believed he would end the two unnecessary wars that 18 were started and that he would do something about 19 cleaning up the environment in the state. 20 I was elated at our success in the campaign 21 and getting a regional administrator appointed that I 22 thought would be intentional about trying to clean up 23 the air in North Texas because he lived here and was 24 raising two kids. I cannot overstate my anger and 25 disappointment about how Al Armendariz was treated in

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1 May and his subsequent resignation. 2 This is my first opportunity to appear 3 before the EPA. So let me remind you, I'm a hard core 4 democratic. I've been involved in trying to clean up 5 the air in North Texas for longer than I care to 6 remember at this point. And ordinarily, I'm very 7 polite and thank people for the opportunity to appear 8 in these public forums before our government and talk 9 to you. 10 But I'm mad as hell. I'm angry, and I'm 11 frustrated, just as frustrated and angry as the 12previous speakers. I will probably just be a little 13more soft-spoken about it. 14 I want to talk to you about process. It is 15 fundamentally corrupt, but there are some laws that 16 are supposed to protect us here. I can't believe you 17 only gave two weeks' notice in the heat of the summer 18 when those of us most adversely affected try not to be 19 here. 20 I can't believe the rules are ready to go to 21 President Obama's desk and they've been pulled. This 22 is outrageous. I can't understand why it's happening. 23 Why is there a delay? We have been working on this 24 for over 20 years. We have fought and fought and 25 fought, and the vested economist interests who don't

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1 give a damn about public health that are all about 2 private profit have fought back and have fought back. 3 And I'm not surprised that they're successful 4 at the state level. I'm on the Environmental Reg 5 Committee. I know how fundamentally corrupt the 6 agency is in state government. It's fundamentally 7 corrupt because it's been controlled from the top by 8 Governor Perry, an apologist for the major polluters, 9 for a dozen years now. 10 I understand why the TCEQ can't and won't 11 clean up our air, can't and won't stand up for the 12public interest. But I am furious with the Obama 13Administration. 14 What about the cost of delay? I just told 15you my father died from emphysema and congestive heart 16 failure. He didn't smoke. He breathed the air in 17North Texas. It makes me sick. It makes me sick. It 18makes lots of my constituents sick. If you look at 19 the asthma rate in Fort Worth, if you look at the Cook 20 Children's Hospital study, you are making the kids of 21North Texas sick, disproportionately, the poor inner 22 city kids that I represent. 23 It is outrageous that we even have to be 24here today. We have won this battle, and you're in 25 retrogression. I didn't get here in time to get one

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1 of the no-rollback stickers. But in my heart and on 2 my chest, that's where I am. I'm just angry to have 3 to be here with you today. 4 Are there any questions? 5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 6 testimony. I gather you have to leave? Is that -- 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes. 8 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. 9 (BY THE SPEAKER) My Chief of Staff is here, 10 and he'll be visiting with the people that are 11 expressing the same concerns and reporting to me. 12 Thank you. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 14Representative Burnam. 15 Ms. Sears. 16 LINDA SEARS 17 My name is Linda Sears. It's L-i-n-d-a 18 S-e-a-r-s, just like the store. And I am a professor 19 at Collin College, Plano, Texas. 20 First, I would like to say that I attended 21 the hearing in 2009 in Texas and made a statement 22 expressing my worries about the air pollution caused 23 by cement plants. I remember how pleased I was and 24 everybody else was when we found out about the 25 standards and we felt that we had been heard and that

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1 being a concerned citizen would be rewarded by having 2 our air cleaner. 3 So I was very, very disappointed to learn 4 that we, in fact, did not get heard and that the 5 standards are being severely weakened and also 6 delayed. I live in Richardson, Texas, which is part 7 of the area heavily impacted by the pollution created 8 by the highest concentration of cement plants in the 9 United States. For this reason I strongly oppose that 10 the EPA standards being weakened. 11 In addition, I am very anxious about our air 12 quality because we are experiencing more days of the 13year with higher temperature, and this intensifies our 14bad air. So those combined make it very difficult for 15 us to live in this environment. 16 For the record, I would like to let it be 17 known that I want the EPA to stick to the original 18 compliance deadline of 2013. We have already waited 19 far too long to clean up our air. I also want the 20particulate matter pollution rate to be kept to the 21 lowest amount possible. Exposure to particulate 22matter or soot is detrimental to human health, period. 23No level is safe. 24 I want the particulate matter pollution to 25 be monitored at cement plants constantly. Companies

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1 should not have the opportunity to become lax or 2 complacent. I want the regulation of cement plants to 3 comply with the same regulations as waste 4 incinerators. Industrial wastes are wastes, 5 regardless of who is burning them. The air doesn't 6 discriminate, and neither should the EPA. 7 In short, I urge you to put the health of 8 the Americans first by restoring and implementing the 9 rules as originally proposed. Lives are at stake, and 10 the EPA was founded to protect us, the health of the 11 citizens, not the pocketbooks of businesses. 12 And I have got a "Breathe" pin here. So I'm 13 very nervous, as you can probably tell. And, of 14 course, what we all do when we're nervous is we're 15 told to breathe. So I'm just going to take a breath 16 of air. Thank you very much. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Sears. 18 Are there any questions? 19 Before I call the next two speakers up, just 20 a brief announcement here. If you registered to speak 21 but did not check in at the desk, please do so. You 22 have to do that first. Thank you. 23 Okay. At this time I would like to ask 24 Clint -- I think this is F-o-r-s-v-a-l-l -- to come 25 forward and then Susan Cooper.

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1 Good morning. If you would just state and 2 spell your name for the court reporter and your 3 affiliation, sir. 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) You stated it and spelled 5 it correctly. 6 MR. THOMPSON: I did? 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes. 8 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. I would like 9 to have you repeat it, though. 10 CLINT FORSVALL 11 My name is Clint Forsvall, C-l-i-n-t 12 F-o-r-s-v-a-l-l. I'm a local citizen. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) As a homeowner living in 15 south Grand Prairie, my family lives about ten miles 16 downwind from the cement plants in Midlothian. 17Although we have lived there for the past eight years, 18 I was mostly oblivious to the pollution from the 19plants, aside from the seasonal allergies that had 20manifested themselves since moving from Dallas. 21 However, after the birth of our second child 22 in late 2008, our son Ziggy, something much more 23 ominous occurred that has taken a toll on our lives 24 and our views of industry, as well as government 25 regulation or lack thereof.

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1 Now as I drive up Lake Ridge Parkway across 2 Joe Pool Lake and see the enormous amount of smoke in 3 plain view billowing out of cement plants in 4 Midlothian, I am at once startled, saddened, angered 5 and dismayed. 6 Our son Ziggy was a happy, smiling, joyous 7 normally developing boy until the age of about 15 to 8 18 months when he began to regress into autism. It is 9 hard to watch your baby withdraw from you, from life, 10 to watch a smile fade into a mute expressionless look. 11 He would no longer make eye contact with us and no 12 longer respond to his name, and he lost his words and 13 could no longer speak. 14 Of course, this has taken a huge emotional 15 toll on our family. My life has since been devoted to 16 researching possible causes and cures for autism and 17 learning all that I could about the disease. 18 The pain is not just emotional, but also 19 financial. The bills add up for traditional therapy, 20 such as speech, occupational, feeding and ABA but also 21 for biomedical therapies which help to heal the body 22 and brain. 23 And the financial impact on the family 24 extends to society as well through health-care cost in 25 the thousands per month, as well as burdening our

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1 public school system. But it is worth the cost today 2 for our children so that these kids might grow up to 3 be useful members of society and not be a burden for 4 their entire lives. This is not an option these 5 children have chosen. 6 Through my research I have come to learn 7 that although there's no known cause or cure for 8 autism, it is generally agreed upon that there is a 9 genetic and environmental component. The dramatic 10 rise in autism simply can't be attributed to genetics. 11 This brings us to the topic of mercury emissions. 12 For centuries mercury has been well known as 13 a dangerous neurological toxin. There is little 14 debate about the devastating effect of mercury 15poisoning. It is also well documented that many of 16 the symptoms caused by mercury poisoning mimic the 17 symptoms seen in autistic children. 18 There were two separate studies, one done in 19 Texas in 2004 and the other in San Francisco in 2006 20 using the EPA Hazardous Air Pollutant database to 21 compare rates of autism to relevant pollutants and 22 namely, mercury. In both cases it was concluded that 23 the risk of a child becoming autistic is moderately 24 increased when living in an area with higher ambient 25pollution.

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1 These studies corroborate what we learned 2 from our Texas Early Childhood intervention 3 coordinator who told us that the prevalence of cases 4 was much higher in our area. 5 Studies have also been done in autistic 6 children versus normal children measuring the 7 excretion of mercury from their bodies. Whereas 8 researchers at first expected mercury levels to be 9 much higher in autistic kids, the results were the 10 exact opposite. Children excreted little to no 11mercury who had autism. 12 In retrospect this makes sense. The 13 autistic kids have mercury problems because their 14bodies are not good at removing mercury and the levels 15 of mercury build up, accumulate in the brains and 16 organs and become toxic. One of the problems with 17proving and diagnosing mercury poisoning is that the 18 test are designed for acute or sudden exposure and not 19 slow chronic exposure. 20 Tests have been developed in analyzing hair 21 samples and through detox challenge tests, but these 22 are imperfect at best. The only real method to 23 determine a mercury problem is through a clinical 24 trial whereby you use a detox protocol and closely 25monitor the results.

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1 Our family chose a hair test which indicated 2 a mercury problem based on an analysis method 3 developed by Andrew Hall Cutler. We also use his 4method to remove mercury from our son's body. This 5 method requires us to administer small doses of DMSA 6 and alpha lipoic acid every three hours for three days 7 on and four days off in weekly rounds. 8 Needless to say, this has been a daunting 9 task. But we are willing to continue because we, as 10 well as our son's therapists, have seen very positive 11 results. 12 Of course, the first step in any type of 13 detox effort is to remove the source of the insult. 14 This is why I'm here today. Our family can't do this 15 alone. Our only choice is to stay and fight or give 16 up our home and move. This is our last stand. 17 I realize that industry provides a function 18 in society by creating jobs, electricity and material 19 goods and that industry needs to profit and thrive. 20 But what costs are we willing to pay for this profit? 21 I'm not just here to speak for an anonymous 22 group of faceless autistic children, 20 percent of 23 whom may never be able to speak for themselves. I'm 24here on behalf my son Ziggy and my family. Our son 25 has withdrawn from us, and he may never fully recover.

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1 But we are slowly bringing him back, and we need your 2 help. Thank you. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Forsvall. 4 Let me just ask a follow-up question. What part of 5 Texas do you live in? 6 (BY THE SPEAKER) I live in southern Grand 7 Prairie, which is about ten miles from the plants 8 in Midlothian. 9 MR. THOMPSON: How old is Ziggy now? 10 (BY THE SPEAKER) He's 3. 11 MR. THOMPSON: He's handsome. 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) He's a wonderful child, 13 and he needs our help and your help. 14 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you. Thank 15you for your testimony. If you'll sit tight for just 16 a minute. Okay. 17 Mrs. Cooper, good morning. 18 SUSAN COOPER 19 I am Susan Cooper from Richardson, a suburb 20 of Dallas. As I speak, my nebulizer and inhaler are 21 in front of me. I am horrified that the EPA would 22 even consider postponing regulations on the emissions 23 of cement kilns until 2015. 24 Realize also that we on this Planet Earth 25 are suffering under the burden of emissions from

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1 coal-fired powered plants, fracing, vehicular 2 emissions and particulate debris from mountaintop 3 mining, all contributing to the garbage and the soot 4 we breathe into our lungs. 5 Furthermore, we are now threatened with 6 toxic air emissions and poisoning of our water by 7 Tarzan's pipelines. You must know that if these 8 pipelines are implemented, renown NASA climate 9 scientist, Jim Hansen, said that the game is over for 10 our planet. 11 So the effect of pollution from cement kilns 12 and all of the other sources is accumulative, 13 increasingly terrifying and dangerous hastening the 14 time when our own Planet Earth is no longer liveable. 15 The Sierra Club, Earthjustice, Rainforest 16Action Network, I Love Mountains, the Environmental 17 Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, 18 Moms Clean Air Force Fighting for our Kids' Health and 19 the American Lung Association are just a few among 20many organizations all advocating to rid our air of 21 toxins and particulates before the damage to our 22 climate is irreversible. 23 The American Lung Association says in their 24website that over two million people in the 25 Dallas/Fort Worth area alone will be affected by

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1 pollution this year. Please don't shed their lives. 2 Think of the supreme cost of postponing any 3 regulations on emissions that endanger our air and 4 water, more birth defects, premature births, increased 5 brain damage, learning disabilities, more numerous 6 cases of cancer and respiratory illnesses. Even the 7 EPA's own calculations on your website verify these 8 facts. 9 We live in a culture in which political 10pressures of mega corporations and big money 11 influenced elected officials and government agencies. 12 The EPA must stand strong and firmly resist any such 13pressures. 14 I read the EPA's own mission statement from 15your website. It reads in part, quote, "EPA's purpose 16 is to ensure that all Americans are protected from 17 significant risks to human health and the environment 18 where they live, learn and work. National efforts to 19 reduce environmental risks are based on the best 20 available scientific information. Federal laws 21protecting human health and the environment are firmly 22 enforced fairly and effectively. Environmental 23protection contributes to making our communities and 24 ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically 25productive. And to accomplish this mission, we

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1 develop and enforce regulations." 2 "When Congress writes an environmental law, 3 we implement it by writing regulations. Often we set 4 national standards that states try to enforce through 5 their own regulations. If they fail to meet the 6 national standards, we can help them and also enforce 7 our regulations and help companies understand the 8 requirements," end quote. 9 EPA, we are simply asking you to comply with 10your own mission statement. Don't postpone 11 regulations and enforcement. Nothing is gained, and 12 the human cost is incalculable. Don't cave in to 13 corporations or political pressure. Monitor and 14 control polluting industries. Apply meaningful 15 enforcement to offending industries. 16 Promote practices that will enhance clean 17 air, safe water and renewable energy. Support 18 scientific findings and follow their recommendations, 19 and abide by your own mission statement. You are our 20 last, and our only hope. Thank you. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your testimony. 22 Are there any follow-up questions? 23 Respectfully, Mrs. Cooper and Mr. Forsvall, 24 thank you both for your testimony today. Thank you 25very much.

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1 At this time I would like to ask Margaret 2 DeMoss and Jeff Galemore to please come forward. Good 3 morning to you both. Would you please start by 4 stating and spelling your name and your affiliation 5 for the court reporter. 6 MARGARET DEMOSS 7 I'm Margaret DeMoss, M-a-r-g-a-r-e-t, 8 D-e-M-o-s-s. 9 Thank you for having this hearing today. I 10 reside at 2600 West 7th Street in Fort Worth, Texas. 11 I brought with me my grandson, who is a bit shy about 12 coming up here, who is sitting back there. 13 I testified before this body, not the same 14people, but the same panel on June 17th, 2009 15 concerning these exact issues that are before us 16 today. I am going to submit that same testimony to 17you because the facts and figures are still the same. 18 In many ways nothing has changed. 19 The Clean Air rules that are long overdue 20 have not been implemented. The air is still unfit to 21 breathe during most of the summer. The cement kilns 22 are still spewing out mercury particulates and other 23 chemicals released by burning hazardous wastes. 24 But some things have changed. The 25 nine-county area that we live in has grown in

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1 population resulting in more people, more cars, more 2 trucks and more potential for both pollution and 3 victims, potential victims. 4 In 2009 the prediction was that these rules, 5 if adopted, would reduce up to 1,600 premature deaths 6 annually. That estimate, by your own organization, 7 EPA's studies is now up to 2,500 premature deaths 8 annually with an additional rise in nonfatal heart 9 attacks, asthma and sick days. All of these due to 10 cement plant pollution. 11 My personal story has also changed. In 2009 12 I testified that two of my five grandchildren had been 13 diagnosed with asthma. Well, that figure is now five. 14All of my children have one of these inhalers. And 15 they accompany them every day. 16 We should really all be ashamed. Delaying 17 these rules assures more premature deaths of the 18 elderly, more children hospitalized with asthma. 19 Every voter and every policymaker is responsible for 20 allowing this travesty. To continue to delay these 21 rules is no less than putting policies and dollars 22 ahead of the health of our children. Thank you. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 24 testimony. 25 JEFF GALEMORE

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1 My name is Jeff Galemore. I am from 2 Chanute, Kansas. We have an Ash Grove cement plant in 3 our community. I guess on rolling back all of your 4 emissions controls, the EPA -- or 1994 there was an 5 Executive Order 12989 issued on minority justice. We 6 live in an 8,000-population town. The plant is within 7 our city limits of the town. We have -- every three 8 days there's someone diagnosed with cancer, and every 9 eight days someone dies of cancer. 10 We have battled the EPA for over -- my 11 family has battled them for over five years to get 12 them to do the testing. By your own words, you were 13 to test the soil, the air, the dairy and fish. It was 14 litigated out of the permit by Ash Grove. The EPA 15 allowed them to take the testing out of the permit on 16 the thing. 17 They were to do a health study when they 18 were issued the permit of the counties. The health 19 study was never done to give them a baseline. Ash 20 Grove Cement does their own recording, their own 21 testing. They keep all the records, and they send 22 them to the EPA in Washington, DC. 23 On numerous times I have requested a copy of 24 the manifest of what they're burning in our community. 25 We have never received one of the manifests. They

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1 don't see them in Kansas City. They're sent directly 2 to Washington, DC. 3 I want to show you a picture. They take the 4 fly ash from the kiln, and they put it in a pit. This 5 is the home across the highway from the pit, the fly 6 ash pit. So to resolve the problem, they put misters 7 on the fly ash pit. When the pit gets full, they pump 8 the water in the road ditch. The only testing of the 9 water that they do, they do ph testing of the water. 10 That's it. Here's another picture of the home. Going 11 across the highway -- this is what is blowing across 12 our highway. 13 I'm saving the best for last. This is our 14 downtown in Chanute. These are hazardous waste 15 tankers. This is what our community looks like. 16 Every day, 24/7, we look at this. And Ash Grove says, 17 oh, they're not ours. The railroad ends at Ash Grove. 18 We've battled, battled, battled, battled, battled with 19 them. The EPA also was on the side of Ash Grove 20 Cement company. 21 We requested independent outside testing of 22 the air, the fish and the water. We didn't get it. 23 We got testing of the plant during -- the air testing 24monitors were set up during the plant shutdown. And 25 that was one of our requests throughout the whole deal

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1 that they were not to shut -- we wanted the air tested 2 during the plant shutdown. We didn't get it. The 3 fish testing that we got, they tested four miles 4 upstream from the plant. 5 This plant -- it's called Village Creek. 6 It's a EPA site. The water, it runs right behind the 7 plant. The water runs into our industrial river. Two 8 miles down from the plant, that's where we get our 9 water source. 10 This is Valentine's Day 2010. I want 11 everybody to see what we live with. They dumped red 12 dust over two-thirds of our town. We still have 13 samples of it that we bagged up. You literally could 14not walk without touching the red dust. 15 And the response that we got from the KDHE 16 and the EPA -- I didn't bring a copy of their 17 testing -- was that it had small particles of mercury. 18 That's it. So it's supposed to be okay. It had 19 aluminum. We've had our soil tested. Our aluminum is 20 through the roof. They take, and they grind aluminum 21 blocks. This plant was all built for energy 22 reduction. The whole -- it was to reduce their energy 23 cost to manufacture cement. But I still don't know 24what aluminum castings has to do with energy 25 reduction.

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1 We had our soil tested. The aluminum in our 2 soil is off of the chart. Actually, my wife and I's 3 highest report of the soil testing was in our yard. I 4 had a conversation with one of the EPA employees, 5 Regis Evan. He said, well, you're within the margins 6 on our aluminum. I said, well, what are you comparing 7 it to? Well, we have got a clean-up site in Parsons, 8 which is 20 miles away. So we are within the margins 9 of an EPA clean-up site. 10 And one more thing before I leave. Here -- 11 this was brought to my attention before I came here. 12 This is -- a woman in town was wanting to get health 13 insurance, and she was wanting to get a quote from an 14 insurance agent that was a friend of mine. If you 15 live in the 667, 660, 662, 664 -- or excuse me, 667 16 and 669 ZIP codes, your health insurance is 40 percent 17 higher. 18 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Galemore. 19 I'm going to ask you to wrap up your testimony. If 20you'll sit tight, both of you. 21 Any questions, first of all, from you guys? 22 MR. BARNETT: I do have one question. 23 You said that you had asked for information on the 24 types of wastes that were being burned in the kilns? 25 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes.

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1 MR. BARNETT: Did they claim some sort 2 of a confidential reason for not releasing that 3 information? 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) I have copies of the 5 manifest, but it was through an employee -- I mean, a 6 copy of manifest. 7 MR. BARNETT: You have a copy of the 8 manifest? 9 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yeah. It's in code. 10 MR. BARNETT: Oh, okay. 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) No one knows what the code 12 is. You write down a code number. 13 Another thing that they're -- well, I guess 14 if I can say it, they're importing the waste. They 15 told us that they had not burned hazardous waste in 16 three years. The following month after this statement 17was made by Ash Grove, they get an award for being an 18 international company burning hazardous waste. 19 MR. BARNETT: You can give that -- or 20 leave that out at the desk. 21 MS. NIZICH: I have a question. Did you 22 request the manifest from your regional office in EPA? 23 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes, ma'am. And they have 24been -- you will hear from the rest of the testimony 25 how combative it's been.

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1 MS. NIZICH: So they said they could not 2 give that to you? Is that what happened? 3 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yep. They said they don't 4 sin. It's all on tape. We filmed every -- we have 5 tapes of every meeting, every -- that we've done. 6 MR. THOMPSON: Any additional 7 questions? 8 And Mrs. Galemore, did you want to state 9 your grandson's name -- I'm sorry -- Mrs. DeMoss, did 10you want -- I was looking at your -- that's your 11 grandson, you say? 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes. 13 MR. THOMPSON: You want to state his 14name for the record since he's here with you? 15 (BY THE SPEAKER) His name is Gabriel, 16 G-a-b-r-i-e-l, DeMoss, D-e-M-o-s-s. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Good. Since he came 18 today, get him on record. 19 (BY THE SPEAKER) Thank you. 20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both for your 21 testimony. 22 (BY THE SPEAKER) And I should give this to 23 the -- 24 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, please, out front. 25 Thank you very much.

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1 At this time I would like to ask Alexandra 2 Allred and Richard Guldi please come forward. 3 Good morning. And if you would, please, 4 again, state your name and spell for the court 5 reporter and your affiliation as well. 6 ALEXANDER ALLRED 7 Alexander Allred, A-l-e-x-a-n-d-e-r, Allred, 8 A-l-l-r-e-d. And I live in Midlothian, Texas, the 9 heart of all of this. 10 Actually, it's funny. I have done this 11 before where I write out an entire speech and then 12 something happens and I just -- and I want to say on 13 behalf of Mrs. Cooper, that was brilliant. And you 14 just shaved off about five minutes of my speech, so 15yea. But everything she said about the mission 16 statement, I really wanted to impress that idea on 17you. 18 And this is what happened. This morning as 19 I was leaving the house, I saw a commercial. And 20 while it's not on cement, it was a commercial that 21 actually made me stop, back it up, DVR and then play 22 it word by word so that I could read this back to you. 23 And it says, so why does this administration 24 and their EPA continue to impose heavy-handed 25 regulations on coal? By failing to understand the

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1 importance of affordable power, the EPA is failing 2 America. Now is not the time to add pain at the plug 3 to our pain at the pump. 4 So I saw this commercial. I don't know if 5 any of you have seen this commercial. But I thought, 6 heavy-handed regulations. What? So I had to play it 7 back a couple of times just so I knew I was hearing 8 these words correctly. 9 And even though this has everything to do 10 with -- this is gas and drilling, this has everything 11 to do with the cement plants. And you are going to 12 hear more testimony from other people. But I'm 13 telling you-all, I invite all of you to come. 14 I know Mr. Barnett, we've met before. And I 15 always invite you to come to Midlothian. Stay in a 16 hotel for a little while, stay for a couple of days 17 and see what we're talking about. Because some of the 18 stories that you hear from us and also in Chanute, 19 Kansas, it's not real. It's a movie. Because it 20 couldn't be happening. It just seem like the things 21 that we hear, the things that are done, the lies that 22 are told, the duplicitous actions, you just can't 23 really believe it's real. 24 And we have talked about this so much, it 25 really is -- it makes Erin Brocovich's movie look like

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1 a Disney production. It's really bad. And sadly, if 2 Kim Kardashian were here today, this place would be 3 packed. But instead, I saw you have a picture of Sue 4 Pope up behind me. Too few people know who she is. 5 This woman has been through so much all because she 6 wants to stay in a beautiful home. It's bull. 7 And so I wanted to read that commercial to 8 you. And instead of talking about the fact that my 9 son -- we moved here, and I had a perfectly healthy 10 son. And he was hospitalized six times in two months 11 and almost failed kindergarten because I couldn't get 12 him to breathe so he could just go to freaking school. 13 But instead of talking about that, I was 14 going to tell you -- I'll give you a little bit of my 15 background so you'll know where I'm coming from. My 16 father is one of the most decorated military officers 17 in the United States Army today, and he's a U.S. 18 diplomat. 19 And so I grew up -- and it's fun to tell 20 these stories. But I have had a Messiah warrior's 21 spear thrown at our car, and we have been stationed in 22 Baghdad and Tunisia and Frankfurt and Moscow. And 23 when I was a kid, I grew up in Moscow. And one of my 24 entertainments was having the KBJ chase me, and I 25 could try to see if I could lose them in the Metro.

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1 And I tell you all of this because even though I 2 was a kid, it gives you perspective of what your world 3 is. And every time we would go off to some 4 third-world country and come back to the United 5 States, we would always kiss something in America that 6 we loved. We were just so glad to be home. Because 7 there's nothing better than the United States. This 8 is truly the best nation on earth. 9 But in the last four years since the Obama 10Administration came in, it's been under attack for a 11variety of reasons. But it's been under attack. And 12 the EPA is one of the things that is being attacked 13 relentlessly. You-all know this. 14 And when I see commercials like heavy-handed 15 regulations by the EPA, wholly crap. And it just 16 reminds me of a lot of the places that I lived. 17 Because when I was a kid, you know, there were 18 fireworks almost every other Friday because the 19 Russians invented the telephone, the Russians invented 20 electricity because it was a communist nation. 21 And this is what they tell -- unless you've 22 lived in a communist country, you don't know what it's 23 really about. And I'm telling you -- so when people 24 try to make references, oh, we're becoming a socialist 25 country, they have no idea what they're talking about.

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1 So I'm here to tell you as someone who loves 2 America, that I am not just even talking about what is 3 going on in Chanute, Kansas. And when he was telling 4you things are in code, the ATSDR came to Midlothian. 5 And they did a breakdown on a lot of the studies that 6 were done. 7 And this is -- I hope you-all remember this 8 because what happened was the TCEQ comes into 9 Midlothian and tests all of the air. They test our 10 soil, our water. And they're looking at all of these 11 different studies. It's so convoluted, and no one 12 trusts the TCEQ because things are just -- as I said, 13 it's duplicitous, everything that is going on there. 14 When we allow big industry to start bullying 15 our politicians and our EPA. So a lot of people -- so 16 the ATSDR came in and looked at what the TCEQ was 17 doing. And correct me if I'm wrong anyone who was 18 there, but what we found out, it was mind-numbing. 19 And at the end of the interview -- at the 20 end of the big meeting, everyone said to the ATSDR, so 21wait, what you're telling us is that based on the 22material that you have from the TCEQ, we're all okay 23 but you're admitting that the data from the TCEQ is 24 accurate, if not just incomplete? Yes, that's true. 25 What?

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1 So we're all supposed to feel good about 2 incomplete or insufficient data? 3 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Mrs. Allred, I'm 4 sorry. I'll ask you to start wrapping up your 5 testimony. 6 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. But the end result 7 is just what Mrs. Cooper said, which is on behalf of 8 my child and everyone, you have to, not only take 9 another look at your mission statement, but this is 10 bigger than that. This is -- we're looking at 11 becoming little China. What the Chinese government -- 12 how little they care about their people and for big 13 business, this is what is happening right now, right 14here, is big business has way overstepped the bounds 15 on my American rights for my health and my security 16 and my children and future generations to come. And 17 that's it. 18 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. If you'll 19 just sit tight, please. 20 Sir, name for the court reporter and spell 21 and affiliation. 22 RICHARD GULDI 23 I'm Dick Guldi from Dallas. I was a process 24 engineer for Texas Instruments for 36 years, and I'm 25 now a principal in a small business.

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1 I love experiments and data, and I want to 2 tell you a story about a 46-year-long experiment that 3 concerns the lignite burning plant in Rockdale, Texas 4 where my father worked for Alcoa Aluminum. I love 5 aluminum. I love jobs, but I hated the air in 6 Rockdale. 7 If you drove Highway 79 from Round Rock to 8 Hearne, you would see a plume of gray smoke or brown 9 smoke going thousands of feet into the air in every 10 direction so you know where that plant is. So here's 11 the experiment. 12 I went to Rockdale 300 times between 1966 13 and 2005 when the original lignite plant was shut 14 down. Every time, as soon as I got out of the car, I 15 smelled something burn. My nose started a river of 16 nasal drip. The first time I returned to Rockdale 17 after that plant was taken off-line, the brown smoke 18 was gone, the air smelled good and my nose didn't drip 19 a bit, and it hasn't for the next 70 trips that I've 20 been down there. 21 Now, you think about that, 300 times burning 22 lignite without electrostatic precipitators, constant 23 flood of nasal drip. 70 times after that plant was 24 shut down, not a drop. Clearly, pollution is bad for 25 the human body.

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1 Now, I'm not here to speak about me. Here's 2 a picture of my granddaughter Abby. She lives in 3 Dallas upwind of the Midlothian kilns, and she has 4 asthma. I am going to shred her picture to illustrate 5 how bad air shreds the lives of people with asthma. 6 90 percent of Americans have asthma, 30 7 million Americans, 600,000 people in the Metroplex 8 whose asthma is caused by or aggravated by air 9 pollution. If you stack up the pictures of all those 10people who have asthma in the Metroplex, it's 20 feet 11high. 12 Let's think like business people. Suppose 13 that just 10 percent of those people with asthma go to 14 the hospital emergency ward once a year, and it costs 15 them $500. That would be $1.5 billion for every 16American, $30,000 million for people in the Metroplex 17 every without staying in the hospital, without any 18 follow-up treatment, no price tag on pain and 19 suffering, no price tag on missing school or missing 20 work, $1.5 billion spent on medical care every year 21 because we had some reasonable new limits proposed. 22 But you come here today to put on a 23publicity show. And you double those limits; and you 24 double the air pollution; and you double the sickness; 25 and you double the health care cost. Shame on you.

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1 When I worked for TI, I was a first-line 2 engineer. I was responsible for the most toxic 3 processes we had. In the 1980s TI got serious about 4 being a good corporate citizen. We changed our 5 processes. We changed our chemicals. We installed 6 new equipment. We reduced emissions every year. And 7 we were profitable, competing against the most 8 difficult competitors in the world from South Korea 9 and Taiwan and China. 10 The argument that we need lax pollution 11 limits for commodity producers like cement kilns, more 12 lax than for integrated circuits to protect commodity 13producers from international competition is just plain 14wrong. Overseas shipping typically adds about 20 15percent to commodity prices. For integrated circuits 16 it's less than 1 percent. This should make it easier 17 for commodity producers to compete. 18 If TI can make a reasonable profit competing 19 internationally, then so can cement plants. And so 20 can every other polluter. And we should not loosen 21 the pollution limits just so they can make more money 22 and drive up health care cost and increase human 23mystery. 24 Let's talk about morality and common 25 decency. Genesis tells us that man was put in the

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1 garden to be a caretaker. Primitive people understood 2 that. But today we get so confused about the 3 fallacious and self-serving idea that we have to 4 sacrifice health care in order to have profits and 5 jobs. Jesus said, if you've done it to the least of 6 these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. 7 Today the least of these have asthma. 30 8 million Americans, 600,000 people in the Metroplex. 9 It is unconscionable for EPA to suggest doubling the 10 amount of pollution that we can have and breathe. Go 11 back to your management and remind them that the "P" 12 in EPA stands for protection, not pillaging. We want 13 an EPA that makes good business decisions, involving 14 the health cost of pollution, makes good moral 15 decisions, doesn't cower down to greedy and shameless 16polluters who make us sick. Thank you. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 18 testimony, both of you. 19 Any follow-up questions from anyone? 20 Just before you go, just for the record 21 again, if you could spell your last name for the court 22 reporter. You pronounced it, but you didn't spell it 23 for her. If you could do that for me. 24 (BY THE SPEAKER) I'm sorry. G-u-l-d-i, 25 Guldi.

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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, sir. Thank 2 you both for your testimony. 3 Okay. At this time I would like to ask Ann 4 Sutherland and Jan Prusinski to please come forward. 5 Okay. Good morning. If you could state 6 your name and spell it and your affiliation for the 7 court reporter, please. 8 ANN SUTHERLAND 9 Thank you. Mr. Thomas, and members, I'm Ann 10 Sutherland, a resident of Fort Worth, A-n-n 11 S-u-t-h-e-r-l-a-n-d. I'm an elected trustee of the 12 Fort Worth Independent School District. Thank you for 13 the opportunity to speak today. 14 I am one of nine elected trustees 15 responsible for the education of 83,000 children, as 16 well as our 11,000 employees who are other teachers 17 and other staff who care for them. I have an earned 18 doctorate, have served 50 years in the field of 19 education at all levels. And I also have worked four 20years professionally in the field of health. 21 I understand this hearing has been called in 22 response to your proposal to delay implementation of 23 standards for cement kiln emissions which you had 24previously approved and scheduled to take place in 25 2013. I oppose this postponement.

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1 We also need real-time monitoring of 2 particulate matter instead of relying on test burns 3 every three to five years. North Texas residents 4 already know this sort of monitoring does not work. 5 I am told the cost of controlling this 6 emission and of monitoring is not excessive, lying 7 well beneath industry profits. Our children, family 8 and community need relief from the pollution of the 9 kilns now. North Texas residents bear a 10 disproportionate share of health problems beyond 11 Texas' rate of uninsured children, one in four, being 12 the highest in the country. I will speak of three, 13 infant mortality, birth defects and asthma. 14 In Tarrant County and surrounding counties, 15 the childhood asthma rate is more than twice the Texas 16 average according to the Children's Health Assessment 17 and Planning survey, which was sponsored by Cook 18 Children's Hospital, one of the foremost hospitals for 19 children in the country. 20 The incidence of childhood asthma in Texas 21 is about 8 percent. In our five-county area, it's 18 22percent. Almost one in five children suffer from 23 asthma. That's according to the CHAP Study. 5,000 24 children in our Fort Worth Independent School District 25 alone were independently monitored by our health

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1 department. 1,400 of these required inhalers, and 2 over 200 are dependent on nebulizers, according to our 3 health services department. 4 Services for these children can be hard to 5 find. In an interview one of our principals 6 summarized our needs well, quote, "Many children with 7 chronic illnesses such as asthma do not have ongoing 8 medical care, and they also tend to miss school quite 9 frequently until the spell passes. They are not well 10 enough to go to school, but are not sick enough to go 11 to the emergency room." 12 Asthma is not the only result which is 13 linked to mercury poising. Infant mortality, as well 14 as birth defects are also implicated. Tarrant County 15 has a very high level of infant mortality, 7.6 per 16 1,000 live births, 10 percent above the national 17 level. In fact, infant mortality is such a concern in 18 Tarrant County, that we have an entire task force 19 which deals only with infant mortality. 20 I realize that you are staff. I've been 21 staff. You have a different role than decision 22makers. But I want to speak to the people who make 23 these decisions. Those of us who serve the public, 24 especially those of us who make decisions, have a 25 special responsibility. It is personal, residing in

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1 each one of us, and it extends beyond our personal 2 lives. 3 It is your -- commissioner's 4 responsibilities to care for our environment and the 5 regulations have been agreed to. Their failure will 6 mean lives damaged and lives lost most likely, 7 opportunities for learning lessons. This is an 8 opportunity which they must not squander. Thank 9 you. 10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 11 Mrs. Sutherland. 12 JAN PRUSINSKI 13 I am Jan Prusinski. That's spelled J-a-n 14 P-r-u-s-i-n-s-k-i. I am the executive director of the 15 Cement Council of Texas, and I'm a registered 16professional engineer in the state of Texas. 17 The Cement Council of Texas represents the 18 nine manufacturers of Portland Cement in Texas and has 19 done so for its 25 years of existence. The cement 20 council is also an affiliation of the Portland Cement 21Association, whom you heard testimony from earlier 22 today. Most of our members are members of the PCA 23 also. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. 24 Portland Cement manufacturing in Texas is one 25 of the oldest continuously operating industrial

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1 enterprises in Texas. Texas' first plant built in 2 1880 by the Elmo Portland and Roman Cement Company was 3 the first cement facility west of the Mississippi. 4And from those humble beginnings, the Texas Portland 5 Cement industry has grown to encompass 11 cement 6 plants capable of producing 11 million tons annually. 7 The state consumes between 11 and 15 million 8 tons annually in most years. Texas is the largest 9 producer and consumer of Portland Cement in the 10 nation, and the industry is a significant part of the 11 Texas economy. Additionally, the indigenous cement 12 industry in Texas is critical to the projected growth 13 of the state. 14 You simply cannot have industrial business 15 and population growth without adequate supplies of 16 cement and concrete. These materials are the 17 foundation upon which communities are built. Texas, 18 as a state, has led the nation out of recession and 19 continues to grow at high levels. 20 According to the census bureau, of the five 21 fastest growing large metropolitan areas of the 22 country, Texas was home to four of these, Houston, 23 Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. This 24 growth is expected to continue and will necessitate 25 the increased use of Portland Cement to build housing,

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1 transportation networks, public works and business 2 industrial infrastructure. 3 The demand for Portland Cement in Texas will 4 vastly exceed Texas' internal capacity to produce 5 Portland Cement, and the deficit will have to be 6 imported from other states or other countries. Much 7 of that cement will come from other countries, such as 8 China, that are not subject to the same high 9 environmental standards that we are in the U.S. 10 Keeping as much cement manufacturing capacity 11within the U.S. and within Texas makes both economic 12 and environmental sense. The embodied emissions from 13 a ton of Portland Cement manufactured in a well 14 controlled and regulated plant in the United States 15 are significantly lower than a ton from a developing 16 nation, both because of their lower environmental 17 standards, but also because of the high level of 18 transportation required on bulk carriers. 19 And the emissions from these plants and 20 carriers do not just stay outside the boundaries of 21 the United States. For instance, as mercury is very 22well suited to long-distance travel, a report from the 23 Woodrow Wilson Institute noted that one-fifth of the 24mercury entering the Willamette River Valley in Oregon 25 comes from abroad, mostly from China.

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1 In addition, the bunker fuels used to power 2 bulk carriers emit high levels of particulates that 3 are particularly troublesome for the major port cities 4 like Houston struggling, which is struggling with its 5 status as a non-attainment area for ozone. 6 The July 18th proposed rule by the EPA which 7 considered petitions by the Portland Cement 8 Association and others and the decisions of the DC 9 Circuit Court will help ensure that as much Portland 10 Cement possible is domestically produced in an 11 environmentally responsible manner with fewer 12potential disruptions due to emissions reduction 13 technology development, plant modification scheduling 14 and compliance issues. 15 The new proposed particulate matter standard 16 coupled with the change in compliance deadline from 17 September 2013 to September 2015 will allow the 18 industry adequate time -- adequate and appropriate 19particular emissions targets and time to develop and 20 install the technology required to comply with these 21 new rules. 22 Within Texas the cement industry directly 23 employs over 1,500 people. When you include related 24 industries such as ready-mix concrete producers, 25 concrete contractors and concrete manufacturers, the

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1 total exceeds 44,000. The indirect employment adds 2 another 115,000 people. And this, in total, 3 contributes about 1.4 percent to total state 4 employment. 5 The 11 cement plants in the state produce 6 about 1.1 billion in shipments. When you add the 7 related industries, the value increases to over 5 8 billion and total payroll about 1.7 billion. 9 The cement and concrete industries are 10 indeed mighty contributors to Texas' strong economic 11 engine, and no doubt will grow as the state economy 12 and population is slated to in the coming decades. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Prusinski, I'm going 14 to ask you to wrap up your testimony, sir. 15 (BY THE SPEAKER) The proposed rules are a 16 step in a direction that will improve the environment, 17will reduce emissions in an environmentally 18 responsible manner that makes economic sense and will 19 help the state and the nation. Thank you 20 MR. THOMPSON: All right. Thank you. 21Any follow-up questions for -- 22 Well, respectfully, Mrs. Sutherland and 23 Mr. Prusinski, thank you both for your testimony. 24 Thank you very much 25 Okay. I would like to ask John Rath and

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1 Molly Rooke to please come forward. 2 Hi. Good morning. If you would, state your 3 name and spell it, please, and your affiliation for 4 the court reporter starting with Mr. Rath, please. 5 JOHN RATH 6 My name is John Rath, R-a-t-h. Today I 7 represent myself, my neighbors in Grapevine and I 8 guess a bunch of kids that I coach in basketball that 9 are now using inhalers. 10 I want to thank you for giving me the 11 opportunity to talk with you here today. I real 12 appreciate it. I have a background in health 13 sciences, so I understand what happens to the human 14body when you're breathing in things that you should 15 not. 16 I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 25 17years, so I understand the issues of competitiveness, 18 of international competition and how our corporations 19 can respond to proper environmental rules and do so 20 without losing profits and jobs. 21 You've heard a number of statistics already 22 about employment, about jobs, about productivity, 23 about children missing school, about how, according to 24 the American Lung Association, that respiratory 25 illness is a leading cause of lost state aid and

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1 absences from our school. So I don't want to talk 2 about that. 3 What I want to do is talk about right versus 4 wrong. And it's wrong to push back protections that 5 will help our community, those of us that live 6 downwind of all this terrible stuff. And Grapevine is 7 right in the path of the stuff that comes out of 8 Midlothian. It's just wrong. 9 You've have done a great job in giving these 10 industries time to think through what they need to do. 11 You've given them ample warning, and it is just wrong 12 to put the health of our citizens at risk. So I want 13 to emphasize that. 14 You've heard about Cook Children's, a very 15 reputable hospital, and the study that they did about 16 fourth-graders. One thing that I would like to read 17 to you as I wrap up my testimony is something that was 18put together by our North Texas Council of Governments 19 in a study -- or a document that they called North 20 Texas Vision 2050. 21 Now, this is the mayors of Dallas and Fort 22 Worth and Arlington and Grapevine. And it's a massive 23 coordinated community effort. They don't want to do 24business as usual anymore and that's the major theme 25 of this big document. But there is one part that they

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1 talk about health, and I would like to read that to 2 you. 3 Health is more than the absence of illness 4 or the quality of health care. Health includes issues 5 of aging, air and water quality, economics and 6 environmental concerns. North Texas 2050 goes beyond 7 the traditional focus on sick care and advocates the 8 creation of a living environment that promotes health. 9 So you have the support of the business and 10 the academic and the leaders of this community, the 11whole community, the whole Metroplex. Don't be 12 scared. Don't be intimidated, please, by industry 13 threats of lost jobs and things like that. It won't 14happen. And please do not extend that rule. Thank 15you very much. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 17 Mrs. Rooke. 18 MOLLY ROOKE 19 My name is Molly Rooke, M-o-l-l-y 20 R-o-o-k-e. I'm from Dallas, Texas. And I'm here 21 speaking as a concerned individual today who has 22 asthma. I am also a long-time conservation activist, 23 so I'm very familiar with the issues. 24 And I have already submitted some detailed 25 comments that speak to the specifics of the proposed

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1 rules, but today I'm speaking more from a personal 2 level. 3 I'm just one of many people who suffer and 4 who actually gasp for breath. It's a very scary thing 5 when you can't breathe. And to think that so many 6 people would be put at risk for respiratory and other 7 diseases and all of the studies that have shown how 8 many people would not only suffer, but would die 9 prematurely, I agree with all the other people who 10 have spoken and said that it's a moral issue and that 11 it's an issue of sticking to your mission to be 12protecting us from environmental pollutants. 13 And to think that you would delay that -- 14people can't hold their breath these years waiting for 15 clean air. We have waited for decades now, and time 16 is up really for industry. They have had more than 17 enough time to clean it up. Their pleas to delay it 18 further are ridiculous. 19 And industry and the people who -- and their 20 advocates in public policy making, I know that they're 21 attacking the EPA, talking of defunding and saying 22 they would like to abolish it, some of these people 23 don't really understand how it would affect people's 24health. 25 But it's -- those people will not be

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1 satisfied by delayed rules. Those people will never 2 be satisfied until the EPA is gone. So stand strong 3 for protecting people, for fulfilling your mission. 4And don't give in to weakening standards or delaying 5 implementation. The time really is up for delaying. 6 And I went to, and spoke at, the hearing in 7 2009 on this. I can't tell you how happy I was at 8 that point to have those stronger rules proposed. I 9 was looking forward to the day that the cement kilns 10 would have to clean up, and I thought that day was 11 coming soon. I spoke in favor of those proposed rules 12 and even had a few ideas of how they could be made 13 stronger. 14 Now I'm just saying, please, go back to 15 those. Don't have weaker standards. Don't have any 16more delays. We're counting on you. I mean, our 17 lives depend on it. So please go back to the other 18 standards, and we will support you. We have your 19 back. There are lots of people out here. And you've 20 been hearing from some of them today, and I'm sure 21you're getting lots of e-mails and calls from them. 22 There are so many people who support what you 23 do. You're our last line of defense, so we have your 24back. And we're counting on you to have ours. Thank 25you.

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1 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, Mrs. 2 Rooke. Before you go -- 3 Are there any questions? 4 MS. NIZICH: I have a question for John 5 Rath. You said that there was a study by Cook 6 Children's Hospital for fourth graders? 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes, ma'am. 8 MS. NIZICH: Do you have that study? 9 Did you submit it to the record? 10 (BY THE SPEAKER) I did not, but I would be 11more than happy to. 12 MS. NIZICH: You should submit that to 13 the record, please. 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. 15 MS. NIZICH: That's all I have. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Anybody else? 17 Okay. Mr. Rath and Mrs. Rooke, thank you 18 very much for your testimony. Thank you. 19 Okay. Would Dr. Robert Portman and Selene 20 Hummer please come forward. 21 Good morning. Starting with Mr. Portman, if 22you could just state and spell name and your 23 affiliation for the court reporter, please. 24 ROBERT PORTMAN 25 I'm Robert Portman, P-o-r-t-m-a-n, and I'm a

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1 concerned citizen living in Arlington. I've been a 2 pediatrician for about 40 years, and I would like to 3 address and maybe answer some of your questions about 4 that study. I have been in Arlington for 44 years. 5 Asthma in the United States is reported at 13 6 to 20 children per 100 children. The reported rate of 7 asthma here in Tarrant County and the five surrounding 8 counties is higher than the national average. 9 The study that previously Texas State 10 Representative Burnam referred to is the Children 11 Health Assessment Survey. That's the largest asthma 12 study ever done in the United States. That was done 13 by Cook Children's Hospital in Fort in 2008. 14 The home-based study was mailed out to 15parents in six counties. The study showed a high 16 overall asthma rate of 18.1 percent and an even higher 17 rate in 5- to 9-year-olds of 25 percent. 18 The statistician, whose phone number I'll 19 give you because he would love for you to call him, 20 found that the higher the particulate matter in the 21 air, the higher the frequency of asthma attacks that 22 are triggered. There are multiple triggers for asthma 23 attacks. 24 In summary there is an increased number of 25 children in this area that are experiencing asthma

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1 attacks and experiencing a decreased quality of life. 2 These children deserve your best air pollution 3 controls. They will continue to experience increased 4 risk from asthma if you do not put your best standards 5 into place. 6 A severe asthma attack is a frightening 7 event for the child and for the parents. Most asthma 8 attacks can be controlled with medication, but some 9 attacks are fatal. 10 What I'm asking you to do is, please do not 11postpone your regulations, to have the courage to 12 implement those regulations in 2013. Even the cement 13 representative a few minutes ago admitted that these 14 regulations will improve our environment. 15 And I will submit to your record with the 16 gentleman's phone number that did the study. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Dr. Portman, thank 18you. 19 Mrs. Hummer. 20 SELENE HUMMER 21 I'm Selene Hummer, S-e-l-e-n-e H-u-m-m-e-r. 22 I live in Chanute, Kansas. And we have lived in 23 Chanute since 1962 in the cement town, and I live 24 about 13 blocks from the plant. 25 And the plant has provided about 137 jobs.

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1 And when our family started this a few years back, 2 they have been equating the jobs with testing. 3 Because all our family had ever asked for was 4 independent outside testing. And so then -- 5 Well, we have been a very popular, very well 6 liked family until we started asking about that. And 7 let me tell you what, you can become very bullied and 8 very intimidated. We have had death threats, and 9 we've had people going to put a boot in my ass. 10 I mean, it's very hard to come before a 11 committee like this. I'm not a very good speaker, for 12 one thing. But in our town we have about 9,000 13people, and sat down and started -- these are our 14 friends. We started, in our mind, making a list. And 15 on a piece of paper, we came up with 300 people that 16 we know, 300 that are battling cancer. 17 My next door neighbor died of brain cancer. 18 The plant manager that lives a block away died of 19 brain cancer. The banker behind me has a brain tumor. 20 These are my neighbors. These are our friends and our 21 family. And this is an environment that nobody wants 22 to live in, nobody. 23 When you speak of the asthma, I know these 24 kids. One of them is my nephew. He can't go out. He 25 has to have an inhaler every time he does anything.

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1 I'm sorry for being emotional, but this is very -- 2 we've worn out. We're worn out trying to fight it. 3 We have been fighting this for five years. This is my 4pickup. It eats the paint off of your cars, 5 hydrochloric acid from the cement industry. 6 And that's all I want to say. But you can't 7 roll them back. You have got to step them up. And 8 our whole family -- we have eight members -- or we 9 have many businesses there. We have eight businesses, 10more than we're going to pack up and leave. But I can 11 damn sure assure you we are not moving to Texas. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Hummer, 13 very much. 14 Are there any questions? 15 Mr. Portman and Mrs. Hummer, thank you 16 very much. Mrs. Hummer, you did a fine job as a 17public speaker, just so you know that. Thank you. 18 Okay. I would like to ask Cherelle Blazer 19 and John Galemore to please come forward. 20 Good morning. And if you would start, 21 Mrs. Blazer, by stating and spelling your name and 22your affiliation for the court reporter. 23 CHERELLE BLAZER 24 My name is Cherelle Blazer, C-h-e-r-e-l-l-e, 25 Blazer, B-l-a-z-e-r. I am here on behalf of

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1 Downwinders at Risk and also the community of South 2 Dallas. 3 Back in 2009, I too, came to give comment to 4 EPA when you were first proposing the rules for 5 cement. And there was lots of praise and lots of 6 technical argument to, you know, try to bolster, you 7 know, what you were going to do. We were giving 8 our -- showing our support and also suggesting ways 9 that the rules could even be stronger. 10 I am really disappointed that there is even 11 talk of rolling back these rules after all the work 12 that has gone into it, not just by your own 13 organization, but by other environmental organizations 14 that have really worked to try to beef up the record 15 and give all the support that we can for, you know, 16 the scientific background, the academic reasons why, 17 the public health reasons why. 18 I am not going to say it's all for not, but 19 I was really surprised that this day has come where 20 we're talking about rolling back those kinds of rules 21 and also giving more time when the industry has had so 22much time already. Today I speak to you as a mother 23 and a wife of an asthmatic. My husband has asthma, 24 and my son has asthma. 25 The community of South Dallas is full of

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1 elderly and young children, and that community has to 2 deal with scrap metal recycling. It is cut through by 3 three major highways. It has other industry present, 4 and it deals with the pollution coming from the west 5 from oil and gas fields and then all of the PM coming 6 up from the south from what is the largest 7 concentration of cement plants in the country. 8 How much more can we bear? I really don't 9 know. Every time I see my husband struggling to 10 breath and my son, who is 6, struggling to breathe, I 11have to wonder what good reason there could be for 12wanting to roll back these protections. 13 The industry has had all of the time in the 14world to prepare, all of the time that they have been 15 in existence to prepare. They can take all of their 16 budget for lobbying and put it into the upgrades right 17 now, and they could be ready on time on your schedule. 18 I take your organization and what you do very 19 seriously. Industry needs to take your organization 20 and what you do very seriously. Because you're here 21 to protect the public health. And industry may be 22 building communities. But who are you building them 23 for if no one is around, if no one can breathe, if 24 everyone is in the hospital, if everyone is missing 25work?

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1 It makes economic sense for corporations not 2 to save dollars on the backs of the communities they 3 claim to serve. As one of those communities, I take 4 extreme offense to some of the testimony I've heard 5 here from industry reps. If you ask those communities 6 if they want what you're offering, I think you can 7 hear a resounding no. 8 Yes, the cement industry is building 9 communities. But I think even the mayors and people 10 in place who govern those communities have made their 11voices heard on what they would like to see here, what 12 they would like to see for the quality of life, what 13 they would like to see for the environment here, a 14place that is already burdened and impacted. 15 And that's it. Thank you. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Blazer. 17 Mr. Galemore. 18 JOHN GALEMORE 19 My name is John Galemore, J-o-h-n. It's 20 G-a-l-e-m-o-r-e. I'm from Chanute, Kansas. The 21 reason for our coming here today was to do what help 22we could for the people of Texas because we wanted to 23 tell our story of what we're having in Chanute, Kansas 24with Ash Grove Cement, which is one of the main 25 employers in our town of about 9,000.

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1 The various stories that I hear the 2 executives or the people connected with the cement 3 industry, we have heard numerous times in Chanute. I 4 hate to say this, but the EPA and the Kansas 5 Department of Health have been absolutely their 6 allies. 7 We have fought them in every way we can. 8 They have bullied us. They've printed deals in the 9 paper. We have had meetings with the EPA. The first 10 one, we had one EPA member there, along with their 11 corporate people and also the railroad people. The 12 next meeting we wound up with three EPA people there, 13 a little higher up in the echelon. 14 We were told that it was a meeting for 15 storing the hazardous waste cars on the railroad. 16 They were only allowed so many, and they wanted to 17 change it. The EPA official that regulated the 18meeting told us that we could only talk about the 19 storage. So we abided by that. 20 And when it come their turn to testify, they 21had the superintendent of schools get up and tell of 22 how good a company they were. They had a senator, a 23 local senator get up and tell them how good a company 24 they were. They had the Chamber of Commerce people 25 come up and tell how good they were.

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1 I asked the EPA person, well, I would like 2 to rebut what we've done for them. I wasn't allowed. 3 They told me -- they said, well, you send it in. So I 4 did, and I never heard anything. And I hope and pray 5 that you guys are not like what we have up there. 6 The EPA called me. We had another meeting. 7 They called me and said, we would like for you to come 8 to Kansas City. We would want to meet with you. And 9 I said, fine, where do we meet? And they said, well, 10 the EPA office, the 5th in Minnesota and Kansas City, 11 Kansas. So we came. 12 When we arove (sic) at the building, out 13 front was about 40 Ash Grove people carrying placards. 14We get inside. There's the EPA people, all of the 15 senators, their representatives, all the state people 16 there. And they were mad because -- all we ever asked 17 for was independent outside testing of air, and this 18 is what we got. 19 The pressure on them politically has been 20 terrible, and they have fallen under that pressure. I 21would hope you don't do that for the people here and 22 anybody else in the future because it is frightening. 23 They had the Ash Grove people vet everybody 24 running for office, be it the city commissioner, 25 county commissioner, state senators, county

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1 representative. They have to vet in Chanute, Kansas 2 through Ash Groves. No one else does. Just them. 3 So I'm sick and tired of them needing all 4 the time. They have had all the time they need. You 5 people are our only salvation. And this is what I 6 told them up there. You are the only people that are 7 our defense. We have no others. These people have no 8 others. 9 We came down here to see if we could help 10 and maybe help our situation up there because we feel 11 the EPA, the State of Kansas Board of Health is in 12 cahoots with Ash Grove and the industry. I would hope 13 that it's not the case in Texas. 14 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Mr. Galemore, 15 Thank you. 16 Are there any questions for Mrs. Blazer and 17 Mr. Galemore? 18 Well, thank you very much for your 19 testimony. Thank you. 20 Okay. Would Libby Willis and Charles 21 Boswell with Senator Wendy Davis' office please come 22 forward. 23 Good morning. 24 (BY THE SPEAKER) Morning. How are you? 25 MR. THOMPSON: Hope you're doing well.

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1 LIBBY WILLIS 2 Great. I'm Libby Willis, and I live in Fort 3 Worth. You want my exact address in Fort Worth? It's 4 2300 Primrose in Fort Worth, Texas 76111. 5 MR. THOMPSON: And spell your name, 6 please, for the court reporter. 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) Libby Willis, L-i-b-b-y 8 W-i-l-l-i-s. Sorry. I didn't hear you. It's a 9 little -- 10 MR. THOMPSON: That's okay. Thank you. 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) I am the president of the 12 Fort Worth League of Neighborhoods. I am actually 13 speaking today as a concerned citizen. But I did want 14 to thank you-all, first of all, for being here. I 15 have spoken before at EPA hearings because our 16 organization has been very concerned about emissions 17 and air quality related to gas drilling. 18 So in those instances, you-all really have 19 been -- for those of us in North Texas, you have been 20 the last bastion because we have not, at the local 21 level of government or the state level of government, 22 had the same level of frankly protection on some of 23 those issues. 24 But today I wanted to speak personally on 25 this proposed rollback of these rules for cement

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1 plants and particulate matter and why I'm against it 2 and why I'm very much hoping that it will not happen. 3 I have a North Texas story. I'm a West Texas 4 girl. I grew up in Abilene, and I only moved here 5 less than 30 years ago for a job. But my family has 6 been a Dallas family since 1854. My mother is a 7 member of the greatest generation. She is now 91 8 years old. 9 She and my father and my siblings moved to 10Abilene in 1949 from Dallas, thought they would be 11 there a year and come right back to Dallas. Well, it 12 didn't happen that way. 60 years later they were 13 still living in Abilene. And only two years ago, not 14 quite two years ago, my mother moved back to Dallas to 15 University Park to live with my sister and with her 16 sister who just turned 88 two years ago. 17 And why do I tell you all this? Well, these 18 women -- and I have a couple of pictures. This is my 19mother who is now 91. This is my aunt, her sister, 20 who is now 88. And they live together in University 21 Park back home in Dallas with my sister. 22 They're fairly healthy. But my mother now, 23 since she's moved back to Dallas after having been 24 gone for 60 years, has a respiratory illness that the 25 doctors are still trying to figure out what is causing

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1 it. My aunt has a-fib. That's a condition that is 2 exacerbated by difficulties with breathing and what 3 you're breathing in the air. 4 So what I'm saying to you is these women and 5 this family which all live in Dallas, same as me and 6 my family, all of us are part of this North Texas 7 region. And all of us are affected by these decisions 8 to not roll back -- or to roll back these rules. 9 We need the strongest protections we can 10 get, whether we're talking about the five-month-olds 11 or we're talking about the 91-year-olds who have been 12 away and who have come home expecting that what they 13 would find when they came here was what they left 60 14years ago, a good place to live where it wasn't hard 15 to breathe. And unfortunately, my immediate family is 16 now finding that that is becoming more and more 17 difficult. 18 And so I think the plea has to be that we 19 need to do every single thing we can. And as you-all 20 are the last bastion of protecting those of us all 21 around this North Texas area, we need you to take 22 seriously, we need you to think about these people, 23 these individual people who whatever their age, are 24being affected, and will be affected by any decision 25 to roll back very important rules on particulate

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1matter in our air, whether it's coming from cement 2 kilns or gas drilling or wherever it's coming from. 3 We have a non-attainment already. We can 4 ill-afford to go backwards and not do everything we 5 can to go forward to make our air cleaner and cleaner 6 and cleaner so that we can all live and breathe this 7 air that we're now in. You-all seem to have been in 8 the vanguard on helping us get that done because we've 9 not been able to get it done on the local or the state 10 level. You-all are tremendously important in that. 11 And so for there to be any thought whatsoever 12 that you would think about rolling back these rules is 13 just not acceptable. And I strongly encourage you to 14not do it and to remember Dorothy Campbell and Mary 15Ann Campbell-Barker and the whole Barker-Campbell klan 16 who have been here for over 150 years. And they hope 17 and expect that they have a right to breathe clean 18 air, as they have for the last 150 years. Thank you 19 very much. 20 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 21 Mrs. Willis. 22 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Boswell. 23 CHARLES BOSWELL 24 My name is Charles Boswell. That's 25 C-h-a-r-l-e-s B-o-s-w-e-l-l. And I do have comments

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1 from State Senator Wendy Davis that I'll be reading. 2 For the benefit of the court reporter, I did provide 3 copies for the staff outside. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you. 5 (BY THE SPEAKER) Thank you for the 6 opportunity to comment on this important matter today. 7 All of us who are fortunate enough to serve 8 the public in either elected or appointed capacities 9 have been entrusted with certain significant 10 responsibilities. Among the most compelling of these 11 responsibilities is the protection of public health. 12 Because I take that responsibility seriously, 13 I must express my deep reservations about the EPA's 14proposed relaxation of toxic air pollution standards 15 on cement plants. I take seriously the fact that I 16 represent over 800,000 people who live downwind from 17what we understand to be the greatest concentration of 18 cement manufacturing in the country located in 19 Midlothian. 20 That population includes young children in 21 critical stages of physical development and elderly 22 citizens, some of whom are already battling 23 debilitating chronic health challenges. Delaying the 24 implementation of new rules for pollution control by 25 two years and weakening particulate matters standards

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1 will needlessly expose those vulnerable individuals to 2 serious health risks. 3 I dare say that most of my constituents are 4 unaware of their proximity to the cement plants and 5 the prevailing winds that blow the cement pollution 6 their way. But they do know that they and/or their 7 family members are making more trips to the doctor and 8 hospital emergency rooms because of asthma or other 9 breathing difficulties. 10 The Community-wide Children's Health 11Assessment and Planning Survey conducted by Cook 12 Children's Hospital in 2009 demonstrated the 13 likelihood of a causal link between the cement plants' 14pollution and the prevalence in our region. The 15 survey revealed that 18.6 percent of children in 16 Tarrant County, in other words, almost one in five, 17 suffer from asthma. That rate far exceeds the state 18 and national averages. 19 Another shocking finding is that 27 percent 20 of school absences lasting three days or longer are 21 due to asthma. Since school funding relates directly 22 to attendance, it has been calculate asthma-related 23 absences are costing the public schools in our region 24 an estimated total of $12 million annually. 25 That Cook survey also noted that children

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1 with asthma are much more likely than their 2 asthma-free peers to suffer from other health 3 problems, be limited in their activities and have 4problems in school. We know all too well the 5 life-limiting effects of the failure to finish school 6 for those unfortunate children who drop out. 7 Given the elevated rates of childhood asthma 8 in our region and the correlation of higher rates with 9 closer proximity to the cement plants, it's hard not 10 to come to the conclusion that these plants contribute 11 to our children's illness. 12 Of course, adults are also victimized by bad 13 air quality, and we need to consider the effect on our 14 local economy of an unhealthy workforce. A two-year 15 delay in implementing the cement plant rules could 16 result in as many as 260,000 days of missed work 17 nationwide, not to mention thousands of asthma 18 attacks, heart attacks and even premature deaths. 19 It is especially difficult to understand 20 these proposed rule changes, knowing that we have a 21 long-standing air pollution problem in the D/FW 22 Metroplex and that we, in fact, remain in 23 non-compliance with federally mandated air quality 24 standards. 25 If our region is to remain competitive in

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1 attracting new businesses and the expansion of 2 existing ones and if we are to maintain a quality of 3 life that is welcoming for families, we simply must 4 clean our air now. Why relax rules that would 5 actually reduce the poisons in our air. 6 It is, therefore, reasonable to question the 7 wisdom of weakening and delaying the implementation of 8 stricter rules on the toxic emissions from cement 9 plants. 10 All of who us who take seriously our 11 responsibilities to serve and protect the public 12 should urge the EPA's careful reconsideration of the 13proposed changes and rules for cement manufacturers. 14 The health of our citizens, especially the most 15vulnerable, must not be compromised. 16 And that is signed, Sincerely, State Senator 17 Wendy Davis. 18 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 19 Mr. Boswell. 20 Are there any questions for Mrs. Willis and 21 Mr. Boswell? 22 Well, thank you both for your testimony and 23 thank you to the senator. 24 All right. Folks, at this time we're going 25 to take a ten-minute break, and I gather reconvene at

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1 about 20 after. So a ten-minute break. 2 (Recess taken at 11:10 to 11:21.) 3 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Ms. Wally, 4 starting with you, could you pronounce and spell your 5 name as well as your affiliation for the court 6 reporter. And good morning. 7 LIZ WALLY 8 Morning. My name is Liz, L-i-z, Wally, 9 W-a-l-l-y. And I'm actually here as a private 10 citizen. But I would like to speak from actually a 11 role that I play and I'm headed to -- and thank you 12 very much for fitting me in -- as an appointed 13 government official. 14 This is something that was totally new to me 15 and I have learned some things that you-all must know 16 in-depth, a couple of things. 17 There's so few people here because of the 18 notice. It's incredible to think this is the only 19meeting that is happening in the entire United States 20 on this issue. And the short notice is something that 21 always builds government into question. Why did they 22 do that? What was behind that? And I just want to 23point that out, that that does not increase trust in 24 the government. It's an issue that we deal with in 25 the same way.

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1 The second is rolling something back. I 2 too, was here in 2009. There was a large group of 3 people. There's been a lot of work and to suddenly 4 say we're going to pull up and possibly move back on 5 this does the same thing, has the same issue with the 6 people that are affected, lack of trust. Why did they 7 do that? Who got to them? What is it that has 8 happened? 9 The other thing I would like to mention that 10 I have learned is -- and I watched it in 2009, and it 11particularly struck me with the people speaking. And 12 I watched it in my short experience being in an 13 appointed position. The side, in this case the 14 industry side that comes in, constantly comments 15 about, we meet all of your regulations, we did all 16 that we were told to do. 17 And it pointed out to me how very clear it 18 is that basically you're playing the role of the 19parent. In other words, the industry is simply 20 waiting for you to say, here's where the regulation 21 is, and we will go to it. The industry doesn't say, 22 that's not enough, we will move it forward. We know 23 that there is safety at risk here, and it would cost 24 us. But why would we do anything if we're not 25 required?

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1 I see that in developers. I see it in -- in 2 other words, it's a natural tension that is there. If 3 you set the rules, we will move up to it. But if you 4 don't move the rules forward, then we will stay where 5 we are, even if there are consequences. That's your 6 responsibility. It's your responsibility to move the 7 line forward, to take care of the safety beyond what 8 industry wants. 9 They talk about jobs. They talk about 10 expense, but it's all -- they've got that all planned. 11 They're waiting for it, just like people right now are 12 already complaining about whether or not taxes will 13 change, depending on who wins the election. People 14make plans for that. So industry does. Developers 15 do. They move, you know, the line forward. And then 16 they're told they can't do it, and they go, okay. 17 It's just part of doing business. 18 I think that's very important, and I am very 19 concerned about the appearance of lack of respect for 20 the people affected. And the fact that there are so 21 few people here isn't lack of interest. 22 The next point I want to make that has 23 really struck me in my service and must strike you in 24your service, people from the industries on the other 25 side, usually any PA, are paid to come. This is their

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1 job, so they're paid to come and show up. But the 2 people who came from other states, other cities, et 3 cetera to speak to you have had to take, at their own 4 expense, their time and at the -- you know, their will 5 to be here. The onus should not be on the people 6 being affected. 7 So I would just like to remind you in your 8 role as protectors, as the government for the way that 9 the government is perceived, it's very important to 10 show your respect. Thank you. 11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Wally. 12 Mrs. Falzon, good morning. 13 SUSAN FALZON 14 Good morning. My name is Susan Falzon, 15 S-u-s-a-n F-a-l-z-o-n. I live in Troy, New York. I'm 16 the former executive director of Friends of Hudson, 17 and I now serve that organization in an advisory 18 capacity. Since 2005 Friends of Hudson has been 19 actively advocating for either the closure or the 20modification and clean-up of Lafarge Cement Plant in 21 Ravena, New York. 22 Built 50 years ago, the Ravena plant has 23 long been one of the dirtiest in the nation. In 2005 24 the Toxics Release Inventory identified Lafarge Ravena 25 as the largest producer of mercury emissions in the

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1 state. Its annual 400 pounds of mercury was the 2 equivalent of the combined mercury emissions from 3 eight of the 26 coal-fired power plants in New York 4 State. 5 In 2008 Lafarge conducted a new mercury test 6 and its report issued in 2008 announced that findings 7 from that test estimated mercury emissions to be half 8 of the 400 pounds. Their difference was reportedly 9 due to differences in methodologies used for 10measuring. 11 That is not exactly a confidence builder 12when a company can simply change the method to get 13 better numbers. We're suspicious of methodology 14 changes, in this case yours included. 15 Friends of Hudson's members live in the 16 shadow of this plant and its toxic emissions. We 17 assume that these emissions over a 50-year period have 18 had a serious negative impact on human health and the 19 environmental health in our communities. We think 20 that you probably believe that too. 21 But despite our concerns and our outreach 22 efforts, we never had any recourse to force the 23 company to clean up because the necessary laws and 24 regulations were nonexistent. That's why we were so 25 elated in 2009 when the EPA announced its new rules.

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1 At the same time New York State's Department 2 of Environmental Conservation was considering 3 Lafarge's proposal to modernize their plant. Lafarge 4 assumed Friends of Hudson and the DEC both that they 5 could easily meet the new proposed rules. 6 We thought our years of advocacy had been 7 rewarded and that our members' years, and in some 8 cases whole lifetimes of illnesses and anxiety about 9 health risks, would now be behind them. 10 The expected benefits of the 2010 rule have 11 been quantified by you, yourselves, by the EPA. And 12we have extrapolated from those benefits the cost of a 13 two-year delay. I'm not going to repeat that here. I 14won't take the time to detail the concerns. 15 In 2009 I talked to you about rare cancers, 16 respiratory illnesses and heart disease. Presumably, 17 those impacts would fall disproportionately on those 18 communities that are host to the cement industries. 19Among them, some communities you have heard from here 20 today and also the communities in which Friends of 21 Hudson members live, raise their children, work and 22 retire. 23 I'm thinking about a psychiatric social 24worker in Northern Columbia County, New York who lives 25 across the river seven miles from the cement plant.

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1 She said at a Department of Health hearing in New 2 York, I work with people who have developmental 3 disabilities. There are parents out there in tears. 4 We taxpayers are spending hundreds of thousands of 5 dollars per kid per year. 6 Those of us who work in the field think 7 there's a connection between neurotoxins and their 8 disabilities. We know there's an epidemic of autism 9 and autism spectrum. We think it's chemicals out 10 there in the environment, and we need it to be cleaned 11 up. 12 I am one of those people that your taxpayer 13 dollars are going to, to pay my salary, to kind of 14help clean up the mess. And it's a very expensive 15mess. 16 I am remembering a retired administrator 17 from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk School District in 18 special ed telling me that learning disabilities and 19 behavioral problems in the district far outweighed the 20 numbers of those in similar districts that she had 21 been familiar with. According to the RCS School 22 District, 19 percent of the children are in special 23 ed, which compares unfavorable to the national average 24 of 10 percent. 25 I'm thinking of the dozens of RCS mothers

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1 who attended an informational meeting in Ravena, who 2 courageously spoke out to express their pain and 3 frustration because they have children with learning 4 disabilities and they have insufficient family, 5 financial, emotional and public resources to ease the 6 burden of raising these children to grow into healthy, 7 thinking, learning, productive adults. 8 I'm thinking of one of our members who had 9 asked me a few years ago if Lafarge emissions could 10 have anything to do with the reproductive health 11 issues she was facing. Then two years later at the 12 Department of Health meeting, she said, I'm concerned 13 because I grew up across the street from the plant. 14All of my family members have died premature deaths, 15 and now I have cancer. And I have an 8-year-old 16 child, and I'm wondering if Lafarge had anything to do 17with it, and I'm wondering if my daughter will have 18 health issues. 19 To the industry implementing stricter 20 standards sooner is just about numbers. The cost that 21 supposedly drive down profits to unhealthy levels, 22perhaps, to the EPA these also are just numbers, 23 statistics, percentages, averages that help you make 24 or delay decisions. To the living human beings whose 25 lives are affected by these air toxins, these are not

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1 the abstractions that they are to others, but rather 2 painful and hardly bearable incidences of illnesses 3 and deaths of their neighbors, friends and loved ones. 4 Once you hear their voices, it becomes 5 inconceivable for you to consider delaying whatever 6 protections are possible. It's impossible not to 7 insist that every precaution be taken as soon as 8 possible -- 9 MR. THOMPSON: Mrs. Falzon, I'm sorry. 10 I'm going to have to ask you to wrap up your 11 testimony, final thoughts. 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) -- as quickly as possible. 13 Yesterday I spoke with a New York State DC 14 employee who said to me in considering the two-year 15 delay, I don't know why they would be given more time 16 when they have less to do. There is something wrong 17when citizens have to petition the government to do 18 the right thing. There's something stinking rotten 19 when we have to petition an agency like yours not to 20 do the wrong thing. I urge you to return to the 2010 21 rules. 22 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you for 23your testimony. 24 Are there any follow-up questions for 25 Mrs. Wally or Mrs. Falzon?

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1 Ladies, thank you both for your testimony. 2 Thank you very much. 3 Would David Cozad and Erma Jones please come 4 forward. 5 ERMA JONES 6 Good afternoon, I'm Erma Jones. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Good morning. And could 8 you state your name again and spell it for the court 9 reporter and your affiliation. 10 (BY THE SPEAKER) Erma Jones, I am here 11 representing the kids here in the Metroplex because I, 12myself, have been a teacher for over 30 years. 13 And recently, I noticed that a lot of kids 14 are carrying inhalers and even more than when I first 15 started teaching. But my point is that we teach the 16 children, as a science teacher, about clean air, clean 17water. And they can rationalize from they're learning 18 that the air that they are breathing is definitely 19 having an effect on their health. 20 So I know that you worked with the people in 21 Midlothian where the cement plants are. But we owe it 22 to the kids to go on and implement those rules that 23 will help those kids to breathe better and learn in 24 school. Because when you can't breathe well, you 25 can't think well. That is basically what I have to

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1 say. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 3 Mrs. Jones. If you will just sit tight. 4 And Mr. Cozad, I think you have a 5 presentation. 6 DAVID COZAD 7 Okay. I like to walk around. I was a math 8 teacher for a little bit. My name is David Cozad. 9 I'm the general manager of Keep America Moving, and my 10presentation is Future Cement Kilns in Texas. 11 Now, most of the other speakers here today 12 are going to extol the sins of our cement industry far 13 better than I can. Although, I can probably throw a 14 little bit of my own personal history into it. 15 What I am here to present in is the two 16 different futures for the cement industry, not only 17 here in Texas but anywhere in the United States, 18probably anywhere in the world. One future is very 19 dark, very bad for everybody. Another future, a 20 little bit less onerous, but it's possible. 21 The cement industry is accused of a whole 22 bunch of sins. You could get a list of them, and 23 everybody here that has been here before me could 24probably give you a whole list. And I'm willing to 25 bet there's a bunch of people after who want to talk

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1more. I'm not going to go into that. 2 The biggest problem is they're burning 3 lignite coal. And it's legal because they have 4permits to burn it, and they can burn waste products. 5 Now, why are they burning these waste products? It's 6 because they're getting paid to do it. That offsets 7 the cost of the coal. 8 Now, these toxins cause many health 9 problems, drives up health care cost. That's the 10 reason why we have this giant controversy about Obama 11 Care. 12 The future, if nothing changes, decide not 13 to enforce new rules, the industry is going to 14 continue burning lignite coal more and more or until 15 they can't have money because -- I'll talk about 16 that -- and they're going to increase toxic waste 17 because they're going to use that to offset the cost 18 of the coal. 19 Lignite coal's future, coal production is 20 getting limited. I have got a chart here in a little 21 bit. The supply of coal is tightening globally. Why? 22 Because we've got China, India. They're coming here, 23 even all of the way to Texas, to get coal out of those 24 East Texas fields because they're building a coal 25plant for generating electricity for their country,

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1 about one a week. India is doing the same. The world 2 is burning up lignite coal at a ferocious rate. 3 Now, this is a chart I got from a doctor, a 4professor at Virginia Tech. He's looking at the cost 5 of coal in Appalachia, and you can see where the price 6 is going. This is why the cement kilns are getting in 7 trouble. It's why they're burning waste product. 8 And it only gets worse. Why? Now, this 9 data comes straight from the United States Energy 10 Information Agency. You notice where the curve goes. 11 Like I said, this is not good stuff. Anyway, it 12peaked. It's now coming down. It's getting lower 13 every year. Why? Because it's harder and harder to 14 dig it? 15 Two, the cost of oil, which is where the 16 diesel comes from that runs the machines that digs the 17 coal. That stuff there is all getting more expensive. 18 They're dropping off. They're going to start burning 19 even more toxic waste. 20 So here we go. We're burning more. The 21 coal is getting more expensive. Toxic waste is 22 cheaper because they're getting paid to do it. The 23 burning of that industrial waste will be stopped 24 either by the EPA or when the cement industry goes out 25 of business because they can't afford it anymore

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1 because they're burning coal that is becoming less 2 available. 3 The other future, since all of this problem 4 is caused by their coal, we can offer them solar 5 thermal systems. There's a company, an American 6 company, eSolar, that builds these things. They have 7 got one that is operating out in Nevada right now. 8 The system can be -- instead of generating 9 electricity, it can develop heat to go directly to 10 the cement kilns. This is what one of them looks 11 like. This is the one out in Nevada. What you're 12 looking at, the tall tower is where the sunlight is 13 concentrated to generate the heat. It goes down. 14 There's a little building right about there where they 15 convert it into electricity. 16 All of the stuff out here, these are 17mirrors. And they're concentrated. There's 24,000 18mirrors in one module, and they concentrate all of 19 that 20,000 -- sunlight from those modules into the 20 one up there on the top of that tower. Steam 21pressure -- or the temperature is 440 degrees 22 Celsius -- not Fahrenheit, but Celsius. 23 Now, it takes ten acres for a module. That 24 system you saw there was two of them, two modules, two 25 sun towers, two generator stations. It produces five

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1mega watts of electrical power. 2 Now, when the sun tower is not being used to 3 heat cement kilns, it can generate electricity for the 4 community nearby. That provides money income to the 5 cement industry when they're not using it for doing 6 cement. 7 And there is another technique -- 8 MR. THOMPSON: Mr. Cozad, are you about 9 to conclude? We just want you to wrap up your 10 testimony. 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) -- generate methane for 12 future use. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Final thoughts, sir. 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) Final thoughts, okay. 15 Let's go to that. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 17 (BY THE SPEAKER) Solar power's future will 18 keep the cement industry alive and profitable for the 19 foreseeable future. Health care cost in the community 20 will decrease, emergency supply of electricity for 21peak demand use. 22 Decision, if the cement industry will make 23 the conversion to solar, let's help them make that 24 decision. Let's offer them what they need to do to 25make the change. We will get it back very fast. If

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1 they don't implement the rule changes immediately, 2 then help them make up their mind. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 4 Do you guys have follow-up questions. I 5 have one. You had a slide there. 6 And I have a question for you as well, 7 Mrs. Jones, if you don't mind. 8 There was a slide that had some years. I 9 know it went through 2010. I wanted to go back and 10 see what that time frame of reference was. 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) That one? 12 MR. THOMPSON: Yeah. Where did it 13 start? 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) It starts in 1980. 15 MR. THOMPSON: 1980, okay. 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) You hit peak -- peak would 17 be right around about 1992. And if you look at 18 another chart, which I could have added here but I 19 thought it would take too much time, world production, 20 the same problem. 21 Now, world production, this peak that is 22 here moves over to about here. But then it starts to 23 drop off to about like this. This is the reason why 24 China is coming here to get coal, why India. They're 25 going to South America.

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1 Australia has -- half of their industry is 2 digging coal to ship it to China. China is building 3 coal power plants at the rate of two of them per week. 4And we're not talking about little ones. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. All right. 6 (BY THE SPEAKER) Any other questions? 7 MR. THOMPSON: No. That was my only 8 one. Thank you. 9 And Mrs. Jones, how long have you been 10 teaching science? 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) Somewhere about 20 years 12 of my life -- 13 MR. THOMPSON: Is that right? 14 (BY THE SPEAKER) -- science and math. 15 MR. THOMPSON: All elementary, middle 16 school, high school? 17 (BY THE SPEAKER) Middle school mainly as a 18 teacher. 19 MR. THOMPSON: Middle school, okay. I 20 commend you for that. 21 All right. Thank you both for your 22 testimony. Thank you very much. 23 Would Claudia Meyer and Edward Meyer please 24 come forward. 25 Good morning. And starting with you,

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1 Mrs. Meyer, would you just state your name and spell 2 it, please, for the court reporter. 3 CLAUDIA MEYER 4 My name is Claudia Meyer. And Meyer is 5 M-e-y-e-r. And I live in Dallas, Texas. I'm a 6 concerned citizen. I have been a medical social 7 worker for over 20 years and have seen many men, women 8 and children with severe respiratory health problems, 9 some having to wear oxygen masks for their survival 10 and children weakened with asthma and other breathing 11problems. 12 To not reduce ozone levels in the D/FW area, 13 or any area, for that matter, is unconscionable. Why 14would anyone want to compromise the public's health? 15 Why? Because it would be cheaper not to, cheaper for 16 industry, but not for the old man dragging his oxygen 17 tank behind him or the little toddler struggling for 18 every breath having to be rushed to the emergency room 19 with ozone-triggered health problems of chest pain, 20 coughing, severe throat irritation and congestion. 21 The medical cost of bronchitis, emphysema and 22 asthma are borne by the individual and public 23 citizens. All citizens end up paying for the public's 24health by way of their own pocket or through taxes. 25 The Midlothian cement industry cannot be

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1 allowed to pocket profits while people suffer and pay 2 out of their own pockets. We can't afford delays. 3 These are not new words. These words are from my EPA 4 testimony on June 17th, 2009, March 16th, 2010, 5 January 14th, 2011. And here it is, August 16th, 6 2012. Delays, delays, delays while citizens suffer. 7 The failed state government of Texas, aided 8 and abetted by Governor Perry, and the industry 9 polluters claim it is all about jobs. Yes, it's about 10 their jobs, while we call in sick to school or work. 11 Citizens are sick of these delays year after year 12 after year after year. It's shameful that industry, 13 aided and abetted by lobbyists, subvert the people's 14will for profits at the expense of everyone's health. 15 I understand ground level ozone can have 16 detrimental effects on plants and ecosystems by 17 interfering with the ability of sensitive plants to 18 thrive, also eventually reducing tree growth and crop 19yields. Add drought conditions to the effects of 20 ozone for the agriculture industry in Texas and much 21 of the U.S. has resulted in billions of lost 22 agriculture dollars. 23 Poor air, poor crops and poor people make 24 for what? Angry citizens. I want my president, 25 President Barack Obama, to stand up and support the

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1 citizens for environmental protection. I want the 2 Environmental Protection Agency to stand up to the 3 polluters for right now. 4 In the meantime, I will save my testimony on 5 my computer, but I will add the four years of repeat 6 testimony to the shredder. Thank you. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 8 testimony. 9 Mr. Meyer, state your name and -- 10 EDWARD MEYER 11 My name is Ed Meyer. That's M-e-y-e-r. And 12 I live in Dallas. And like my wife said, this is the 13 fourth time we have been here. 14 Environmental Protection Agency, that's a 15 good name. It sounds like you're supposed to be 16protecting the environment of this country. Your job 17 seems to be, or should be, to do the research, the 18 studies, set guidelines and completion dates. 19 Unfortunately, especially in Texas, our 20 environmental laws are so bad that it attracts 21 companies that pollute. That's why D/FW is downwind 22 from the largest concentration of cement kilns in the 23 country. 24 But you know what? You have heard this. You 25 have heard it the last three years. And you're going

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1 to be here all day. You're going to hear the same 2 story over and over again, just like you did last 3 year. 4 But let's get down -- you are not here 5 wanting to roll back guidelines because you feel like 6 it's necessary. You're doing it because you're under 7 pressure from the cement corporation attorneys. They 8 want it rolled back because they can't make a profit 9 if they have to put in scrubbers and reduce air 10pollution. But they're willing to spend money on 11 attorneys and the courts. So, you know, they ought to 12 take that money and use it to clean their kilns. 13 So let's -- the Obama admission has not 14 failed us. They have not. The Republican House has 15 blocked everything that he has tried to do. I think 16 it's up to the republican party to get back on the 17platform where they should be. They have fallen off 18 their platform. They're way out there out of bounds. 19 They're more concerned about corporate profits than 20 they are about you and me. 21 So I feel like we need to get more into 22politics on this thing. I don't think you're doing 23 this because you want to. You're doing it because 24you're being forced to, either by the corporations or 25 by a court decision that was loaded up with republican

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1 judges. 2 But I really -- like my wife said, we need 3 the president to step up and get some environmental 4 changes in place. We need to get you to do your job, 5 and you need to stand up to these corporations. He 6 needs to stand up to these corporations. We need to 7 stand up to these corporations. 8 If you want clean air in this country, vote 9 democrat. That's all there is to it. I thank you. 10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, sir. 11 And for the both of you, are there any 12 questions? 13 Thank you both very much for your testimony 14 today. I really appreciate you being here. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Would Lyndi 16 Cavett and Virginia Fugman please come forward. 17 Good morning. 18 LYNDI CAVETT 19 My name is Lyndi Cavett. Thanks for your 20 time. My name is spelled C-a-v-e-t-t. I live in 21 Denton. That's about an hour north of here. I'm also 22 an organizer with Texas Campaign for the Environment. 23 So as you're aware, D/FW hosts the largest 24 concentration of cement plants in the entire country. 25 So as a result, our air quality here is gravely

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1 impacted by the pollution released from these plants. 2 So we see the impacts that the soot and the 3 mercury that they're having on our public health. We 4 see the developmental challenges with children. We 5 see high rates of asthma, heart attacks, strokes, 6 respiratory infection and cancer. So we see how 7 important it is to have strong protection from these 8 hazardous emissions. 9 So when I was three years old in 1991, the 10 Clean Air Act required the EPA to implement pollution 11 limits on cement plants. But here we are, it's 20 12years later. And emission rates from the plants are 13 still not being held to strong standards. They're 14 still causing over 2,500 premature deaths a year. And 15 so we absolutely cannot afford to wait an additional 16 two years for these rules to be in effect. 17 In another two years, over 30,000 more 18pounds of mercury will be released into the air. And 19 by your own agency's calculations, the proposed 20 weakening of pollution limits will allow an additional 21 135 tons of soot to be released each year. 22 So instead of waiting, the epa should decide 23 to implement the standards by 2013, as promised. And 24 in doing, you will potentially prevent over 5,000 -- 25 or 35,000 severe asthma attacks, 3,000 heart attacks.

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1 And you also save 5,000 lives throughout the next two 2 years. 3 So today we have a lot to lose or to gain 4 from this decision. So I urge you-all to restore and 5 implement the original rules as proposed. I want you 6 to know that you need to do this because thousands of 7 people's lives, they depend on your decisions you're 8 going to make today. Thank you for your time. 9 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, Mrs. 10 Cavett. If you could just sit tight, please. All 11 right. 12 VIRGINIA FUGMAN 13 My name is Virginia Fugman. It's 14 F-u-g-m-a-n. I also am a staff director with Texas 15 Campaign for the Environment. It's a nonprofit 16 advocacy group in the state. 17 And because this is the only hearing in the 18 United States, I felt the necessity to speak out for 19millions of people that will never get to have a voice 20 on this issue. Do not weaken the regulations for 21 cement plants. 22 According to EPA's own health impact 23 studies, which you're going to hear all day long, for 24 the rules, the two-year delay from 2013 to 2015 will 25 cause at least 2,000 to 5,000 premature deaths

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1 nationwide. 2 And so I was thinking about, do I know 5,000 3 people. And I Goggled all of the populations in the 4 towns that are important to me. I grew up in Alta, 5 Iowa, a small northwestern town. My parents lived in 6 Lyons, Nebraska, a small Nebraskan town. They now 7 live in Decatur, Nebraska along the Missouri River. 8 And I spent my summers at Okaboji, Iowa as a camp 9 counsel throughout the summers of my high school. 10 So those four cities would represent the 11 5,000 premature deaths that are so important to my 12 life and to others. Those are brothers and sisters 13 and husbands and wives and friends. 14 Midlothian is the largest concentration of 15 cement manufacturing in the entire United States. And 16 as a resident of the Metroplex, I live downwind. I am 17 exposed to more cement plant pollution than any other 18person in any other metropolitan area in the country. 19 And I feel like I'm doing my part for the 20 environment. I commute daily on bicycle to work. 21 That is two hours a day, five days a week that I am 22 breathing in particulate matter pollution. By 23 delaying this decision that is two years long in my 24 life of deep breaths, that's 140 hours, almost 44 days 25 of breathing in even more particulate matter. Do not

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1 delay the enforcement by two more years. 2 There's a growing scientific census that 3 there's no safe level of exposure to particulate 4matter pollution. Particulate matter pollution is now 5 linked to heart attacks, strokes, immune system damage 6 and brain function loss. A two-year delay would 7 result in an extra 32,000 pounds of mercury released 8 in the air. 9 And it's a potent neurotoxin. And once 10 deposited, it accumulates in the food chain and poses 11 a health risk, particularly for pregnant women and 12young children. 13 My husband and I are currently thinking 14 about starting a family. But the delay would have us 15 delay our family, as low levels of mercury exposure 16 during critical times in brain development have been 17 linked to learning problems and development delays. 18 So my request is very simple. I want the 19 original rules, and I want them now. I want them 20 implemented on the original schedule. 21 So I'm going to end with a quote, a Cree 22proverb, that only when the last tree has died and the 23 last river is poisoned and the last fish has been 24 caught will we realize that we cannot eat money. 25 Thank you for your time.

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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Fugman 2 and Mrs. Cavett. 3 Are there any questions for either of them? 4 Thank you both very much for your testimony. 5 And thank you for being here. 6 MR. THOMPSON: I would like to ask 7 Colleen Potocki and Daniel McCartt to please come 8 forward. 9 Good morning. And again, would you just 10 state and spell your name for the court reporter. 11 COLLEEN POTOCKI 12 My name is Colleen Potocki. That's 13 P-o-t-o-c-k-i. First of all, I want to thank you for 14 giving me the opportunity to testify in front of you 15 today about something that is deeply concerning, as 16 well as important to me. 17 However, I would also like to let you know 18 how lucky I am to be sitting here before you right 19 now. Currently, I'm a resident of Denver, Colorado. 20 That's almost 700 miles away from here where this 21hearing is taking place. I just so happen to be 22working in Dallas right now, also with Texas Campaign 23 for the Environment. So I've been here for the past 24 two weeks, which by sheer coincidence, gave me the 25 ability to attend and testify at this hearing.

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1 What is discussed here today will affect me 2 when I return those 700 miles back to Denver this 3 Saturday, just as it will affect those almost 1,500 4miles away to the east of New York and even those 5 living over 2,000 miles to the northwest in Seattle, 6 Washington. Yet, there is one public hearing, one. 7 Thousands -- no millions of voices between 8 thousands of miles are not going to be heard today. 9 And this is not because they don't have anything to 10 say. This is because you gave two weeks' notice about 11 a public hearing on the adoption of cement plant rules 12 on regulations that we were promised to be enacted in 13 this coming year; and with no rhyme or reason, are now 14possibly going to be pushed back another two years. 15And not only this, but with weaker regulations on 16particulate matter pollution after those two years. 17 And you gave an entire nation two weeks' 18 notice to voice their opinions about it at one 19 location in the entire country. I am lucky to be 20 here. 21 When the amendments were made to the Clean 22Air Act in 1991, I was one year old. These amendments 23 should have put in place the regulations on 24particulate matter pollution that we are discussing 25 today 20 years later. I am now 22 years old. That's

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1 20 years that myself and thousands -- no, again, 2 millions of others in this nation could have decreased 3 their intake of potent neurotoxins like mercury from 4 the air that is still being released by cement plants. 5 These chemicals, of course, are not healthy 6 for anyone at any age to breathe, but especially for 7 developing children. You could have protected me and 8 many others like me from these toxic and 9 growth-stifling materials 20 years ago. But you chose 10 to wait. 11 Even before this proposed rollback, 2013 12would have been waiting long enough. It is outrageous 13 that you want us to wait another day to see these 14 changes, let alone two years, and for regulations and 15 standards that are weaker than your original promises. 16 We are sick of these broken promises. 17 From your own account -- and again you are 18 going to hear this all day, but I think that you 19 should -- waiting these two years would cause at least 20 2,000 to 5,000 premature deaths, at least. If that is 21how many lives are at stake for two years, imagine the 22 last 20 years. Let's go with the lower end here, 23 2,000. That's 40,000 premature deaths that are 24 already been caused as a result of your delayed 25promise.

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1 Do not delay another two years. I urge you 2 to stick with the original regulations that keep us 3 and the lives of those after us safe and protected. 4 Protection is in your name. Protect the environment 5 by protecting the people who live in it. Do not see 6 this as 2,000 to 5,000 possible lost lives. See this 7 as 2,000 to 5,000 possible saved lives. You have a 8 choice. Make the choice to save them. Thank you. 9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Potocki. 10 Mr. McCartt. 11 DANIEL MCCARTT 12 My name is Daniel McCart. Last name is 13 M-c-C-a-r-t-t. And so I'm also an activist. I'm a 14 community organizer. I walk around in the heat during 15 the summer, cold of the winters for five hours every 16 day talking to folks about environmental justice, 17 environment change. 18 I want to start this with a quote. It's from 19 Sonya Johnson. She was also a fellow activist in the 20 '60s, '70s and '80s. The quote says, "We must 21 remember that one determined person can make a 22 significant difference, and that a small group of 23 determined people can change the course of history." 24 Some of the people sitting in this room, some 25 of the people that are not here today because of the

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1 short notice of the meeting, those people worked for 2 decades to change history, to change the way the 3 cement industry was regulated with the amount of 4pollution they put in, all those different things that 5 you're going to hear numerous times today. So they 6 worked to change the course of history by doing this. 7 So I asked myself when I was writing this, 8 why am I here? Like, why am I writing this when we 9 won? We had a huge victory. We passed these 10 finalized rules that would protect people at a lot 11 greater scale than they did before. 12 The reason I'm here is for two reasons. One, 13 which you're going to hear today, is the delay. A 14 two-year delay, even though it's only two years, 15 that's a lot of pollution that is going to go into the 16 air. That's a lot of hard work that people put in 17place to be taken away for those past two years. 18 It's the Midlothian residents who have the 19 highest concentration of this particulate matter that 20 is released, the D/FW area, than in the entire 21 country, people that don't have a voice. 22 The other one is to propose a weakening in 23 the particulate matter. Like I said, I walk around 24 for five hours every day in the heat all around the 25year. And a two-year delay would be something that I

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1 breathe in in the hot summers in Orange Ozone Level 2 Days in the D/FW area that I don't want to have to 3 continue to breathe in. 4 My mom breathes it in. A lot of my family 5 does. They work outside all the time too, so it's all 6 about making sure the rules that have been worked so 7 hard on, they continue to be in place. 8 And it's really challenging. I know the 9 political spectrum that we live in, it's all about 10politics. It's all about money. Even though the 11 right thing that everyone would agree is we want clean 12 air, we want clean water. Every single person wants 13 those things. When politics come into play, money, 14 corporations, it is very difficult to find the line 15where we should and should not do it. 16 But this is the EPA's job. The EPA is the 17 backstop, because the Texas Commission on 18 Environmental Quality, our agency here, for the past 19years and years and years of them showing that they 20 are not an agency that does protect our interest. 21 They failed their own internal review years ago. They 22 do not do their job. The EPA, though, has the 23 authority to come in and say, this is what is right, 24 this is what should be done contradictory to the other 25 state agencies.

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1 That's why, when I was a kid growing up, the 2 EPA watching a funny, like, show, Captain Planet, like 3 talking about the environment and protecting it, the 4 EPA still has that right and authority to do it. 5 That is why I implore y'all here, everyone 6 that works in the agency to make sure that you keep 7 the people's interest in mind. And it's not a time to 8 play politics. Politics have been happening way too 9 long. We have to make sure it's about the people that 10 are affected by the issue and not about money, like 11 the previous people are going to say today. 12 So thank you for your time. I appreciate it. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank your, Mr. McCartt. 14 Any questions for either Mrs. Potocki or Mr. 15 McCartt? 16 Thank you both for your testimony. Thank you 17 for being here. 18 I would like to ask Beau McDermott and Susan 19 Knoll to please come forward. 20 Good afternoon. If you could just state your 21 name and spell it for the court reporter, sir. 22 BEAU MCDERMOTT 23 Sure. My name is Beau McDermott. That's 24 B-e-a-u M-c-D-e-r-m-o-t-t. I resided in the D/FW all 25 of my life. I have family and friends who live here

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1 too. And most recently, I became a father, and my son 2 is a week from being seven months old. 3 So I am perplexed by the EPA's proposal to 4 delay implementation of new rules for cement plant 5 standards and then the proposal to weaken those 6 standards to particulate matter, especially since I 7 live downwind of three large cement plants in 8 Midlothian, Texas. 9 From the EPA's own website, I read, people 10 with heart or lung disease, older adults and children 11 are considered at greater risk from particles than 12 other people, especially when they're physically 13 active. Exercise and physical activity cause people 14 to breathe faster and more deeply and to take more 15particles into their lungs. 16 Children are likely at increased risks for 17 several reasons. Their lungs are still developing. 18 They spend more time at high-activity levels. And 19 they're more likely to have asthma or acute 20 respiratory diseases, which can be aggravated when 21particle levels are high. That's from the EPA's 22website. 23 And aside from my son being at greater risks 24 from the particulate matter coming upwind towards us, 25 the proposed two-year delay will result in over 30,000

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1 pounds of mercury being released into the air 2 unnecessarily. Not only does that put more toxins 3 into the air that I and my son are breathing, mercury 4 in the air eventually deposits into water where it 5 changes into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that 6 builds up in fish. We then eat contaminated fish. 7 And women of childbearing age and children are 8 particularly at great risk because the developing 9 brain is incredibly sensitive to the neurotoxic 10 effects of methylmercury. 11 And for some reason, despite all of these 12 very measurable health risks, there's a delay and 13 weakening being proposed for regulations that would 14benefit the health of my son and children like him 15 throughout the entire United States. Admittedly, I'm 16 confused. What I am supposed to do to protect the 17 health of my child? 18 A two-year delay is a big delay in terms of 19 his development. Right now he rolls from side to side 20 responding to sounds by making sounds, can track 21moving objects, use his voice to express joy and 22 displeasure, babbles chains of consonants and can 23 support his weight with his legs. 24 In a year and a half, he will be using two25 to four-word phrases, walking on his own, imitating

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1myself and other big people. He will start playing 2 make-believe. By 2015, the year this delayed proposal 3 would go into effect, he will be able to hop and stay 4 on one foot for up to five seconds, draw people with 5 two to four body parts, have mastered some basic rules 6 of grammar and he will tell stories. 7 I have to speak here because my son can't 8 speak yet. I have to speak on his behalf, on behalf 9 of his health and on the behalf of millions of 10patients who couldn't make it to a hearing on this 11 because this is the only one in the whole country. 12 These are crucial years to my son's 13 development. An extra two years is a very long time 14 in my book. And it's not just my son. There are tens 15 of thousands of children like mine throughout the 16 United States -- no -- hundreds of thousands that are 17put at greater risk and just because of this proposed 18 delay and weakening of regulations. 19 Please stick to the original rules and the 20 original schedule for the implementation. My child 21 and many others throughout the United States will 22 deeply benefit from sticking to the original plan. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 24Mr. McDermott. What is your son's name? 25 (BY THE SPEAKER) His name is North

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1 (phonetic). 2 MR. THOMPSON: He will be proud of his 3 father. Thank you for your testimony. 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) Thank you. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Any questions? 6 All right. Thank you. 7 Okay. At this time we're going to break for 8 lunch. And we will reconvene and start again at 1:10. 9 So thank you-all. See you at 1:10. 10 (Recess taken at 12:10 to 1:18.) 11 MR. THOMPSON: Good afternoon, and 12 thank you for attending this public hearing. My name 13 is Fred Thompson, and I am the Associate Director for 14 the Sector Policies and Programs Division in the U.S. 15 Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Air 16 Quality Planning and Standards based in Research 17 Triangle Park, North Carolina. I will be chairing 18 today's hearing. 19 Joining me on the panel are Sharon Nizich to 20my right, Keith Barnett to my left, also with the 21 Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, and 22 Ruben Casso with EPA's Region 6 office. 23 We are here today to listen to your comments 24 on all aspects of EPA's proposed amendments to the 25National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air

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1 Pollutants for the Portland Cement Manufacturing 2 Industry and Standards of Performance for Portland 3 Cement Plants. EPA published the proposed amendments 4 in the Federal Register on July 18th of 2012. 5 The proposed amendments would retain several 6 key air toxics emission limits in the 2010 rules, 7 including limits for mercury, hydrochloric acid and 8 total hydrocarbons. These limits will dramatically 9 cut emissions of these harmful pollutants from cement 10production. 11 The proposed amendments would adjust the way 12 cement kilns monitor particulate matter (PM) emissions 13 and would make changes to the PM emissions limit that 14would be necessary with the monitoring change. EPA 15proposed these changes based on new technical 16 information about the capabilities of continuous 17 emission monitors for PM. Note that kilns would still 18 be required to continuously monitor PM emissions under 19 the proposed amendments. 20 The proposal would also extend the 21 compliance date for existing kilns under the air toxic 22 standards by two years from September of 2013 to 23 September of 2015. EPA is seeking comment on this 24proposed compliance date extension. 25 In addition, the proposed amendments would

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1 revise the open clinker pile standards from the 2010 2 final rule by allowing facilities to choose from a 3 list of work practices to control fugitive emissions 4 and would change an alternative emission limit for 5 organic air toxics that kilns may meet in lieu of 6 meeting a limit for total hydrocarbons. 7 I would like to draw your attention to the 8 deadline for submitting written comments on the 9 proposal. That deadline is tomorrow, August 17th, 10 2012. However, we will hold this hearing record open 11 for an additional 30 days to allow people to submit 12 supplemental and rebuttal information that is related 13 to testimony at today's hearing. You may submit this 14 type of information until September 17th of 2012. 15 There are handouts in the registration area 16 with instructions for submitting written comments. 17 EPA will carefully consider your comments from today's 18 hearing, along with written comments as we move 19 forward to complete the final rule. Under a draft 20 settlement agreement, EPA will take final action on 21 this proposal by December 20th of 2012. 22 We will prepare a written transcript of 23 today's hearing. The transcript will be available as 24part of the official record for this rule. 25 The first standards issued under -- I'm

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1 sorry. Let me mention briefly two other air emission 2 standards that apply to Portland Cement Manufacturing 3 that are not the subject of today's hearing. The 4 first standards issued under a separate section of the 5 Clean Air Act cover cement kilns that burn 6 non-hazardous waste. This is known as the Commercial 7 and Industrial Solid Waste Incinerator rule, or CISWI 8 rule. 9 This rule is currently under 10 reconsideration. Amendments to the CISWI rule were 11proposed on December 23rd of 2011. The final rule is 12 undergoing interagency review. 13 The second set of standards regulates air 14 toxics emissions from cement kilns that burn hazardous 15waste. These standards issued in 2005 are known as 16 the Hazardous Waste Combustor National Emissions 17 Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants. 18 The proposed standards we are taking comment 19 on today apply only to cement kilns that do not burn 20 waste of any type, either commercial or hazardous 21waste. 22 Now, let me describe the procedures for 23 today's hearing. I will call the scheduled speakers 24 to the table in pairs. When it is your turn to speak, 25please state your name and your affiliation before you

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1 begin your testimony. It would help our court 2 reporter if you also spell your name. 3 In order to be fair to everyone, we will 4 limit your testimony to five minutes each. Please 5 remain seated at the table until both speakers have 6 finished. After you finish your testimony, members of 7 the panel may ask clarifying questions. If you have a 8 written version of your comments that you would like 9 to be entered into the docket, please give a copy to 10 our staff at the registration table out front. 11 We have a timekeeping system consistent of 12 green, yellow and red lights to help you track your 13 five minutes to speak, which is right here at the 14 corner of the table to my right. When you begin 15 speaking, the green light will come on. The yellow 16 light will signal that you have one minute left to 17 speak. When the red light comes on, five minutes have 18passed; and I will ask you to please complete your 19 testimony. 20 Today's hearing will continue until 7:00 21p.m. or later, if necessary, depending on the number 22 of speakers. 23 If you would like to speak, but have not yet 24 registered to do so, please sign up at the 25 registration table in the hallway. For those who have

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1 already registered to speak, we have tried to 2 accommodate your requests for specific time slots. We 3 ask for your patience as we proceed through the list 4 of speakers. We may need to make some adjustments as 5 the evening progresses. 6 If you have any questions during the 7 hearing, please see a staff member at the registration 8 table for assistance. Thank you again for 9 participating today. And let's get started. 10 At this time I would like to ask John 11 Barnes and Harriet Irby to come forward, please. 12 Good afternoon to the both of you. 13 Starting with you, Mr. Barnes, if you could 14 just state your name and spell it for the court 15 reporter before you begin your testimony, sir. 16 JOHN BARNES 17 Yes. My name is John Barnes. That's 18 J-o-h-n B-a-r-n-e-s. I am a Unitarian. Today I speak 19 on behalf of the Fort Worth Interfaith Power and Light 20 Organization who strives for a healthy Planet Earth. 21 I must tell each of you that I wouldn't 22 change places with you for all the tea in China. And 23 I say that because I'm a lawyer, and I often find 24myself in situations where virtually everybody in the 25 room is mad at me. It's not a fun place to be. I

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1 suspect that is true for you. 2 Before today I have heard the anger in many 3 who will speak today or who have already spoken today, 4 and I understand your anger. When you are in your 5 workplace, I suspect you have people who are angry at 6 you who want to protect the environment. Jobs are at 7 stake. Corporations are pumping millions of dollars 8 into the coiffures of the elected officials who decide 9 what funding the EPA gets. We have called that in the 10 old days payola. 11 I also suspect people who are angry at those 12 lobbyists and corporations for not protecting the 13 environment are most everywhere you go. It's truly a 14 lose-lose situation with the EPA, and my heart goes 15 out for you sincerely. 16 The problem is we only have two choices when 17we are angry, fight or flock. Reason is out of the 18 question. And that works to the advantage of the 19 upper 2 percent of the wealthy in this country. They 20 have got the money to hire people to do things so they 21 can be angry all of they want. We poor folk don't 22 have that advantage. 23 To begin to find a solution, let's 24 acknowledge the mortal danger in politicizing science. 25 Particulate matter, per say, is not left, nor right

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1 nor moderate, nor anything. Particulate matter kills 2 life on this planet. The more people that enter our 3 world, the more of us shall die. That is not a 4political view. It's scientific certainty. Now let's 5 build on that certainty to the advantage of all of us, 6 rich and poor. 7 The richest 2 percent fail to realize the 8 world is not divided into, say, smoking and no-smoking 9 parts of the planet. The pollution issue the nation 10 generates affects the entire earth. So even if the 11 super wealthy are the Caymans or the Mediterranean or 12 the Alps, you know what? They're going to get killed 13 just as dead as they would get killed in Midlothian, 14 Texas. It's everywhere, and that's why this must be 15 addressed as an "everywhere" problem. 16 I won't bore you-all with a lot of 17 statistics. You've listened to those all day. I want 18 to talk about concepts and why it must be done to 19protect this little marvel that is our home. 20 I call to mind when I say smoking versus 21 nonsmoking, it's the kind of thing that George Carlin 22 addressed one time. He said, hey, the smoking section 23 in a restaurant is as silly a concept as having a 24peeing section in a swimming pool. Once it's in 25 there, there is no separation. And that's what we're

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1 saying. 2 To appeal to those, however, who wish to 3 accumulate great wealth -- and I wish I had some 4 greater wealth than I had. But we must show that the 5 technology to return the planet's health is the 6 greatest opportunity for new wealth, perhaps, in the 7 history of mankind. 8 We will be doing pure research as we did in 9 the early days of NASA. And we would not have our 10 laptops and our Smart phones if we had not had NASA 11 doing pure science research. Teflon that many people 12 cook on, a direct result of NASA. We're going to have 13 that wave again begin, new jobs, new plants. 14 I want to leave you with this thought. If 15you don't think we need it, drive to Midlothian, Texas 16 on a hot, clear day. Roll down the windows, chew the 17 air before you inhale it. When I drive through there 18 every time to see my grandson, I have to use this. I 19 use it in advance now because I'm a little smarter. 20 And what I live in fear of is that someday, 21 along with their football helmets and their sports 22 uniforms, our children are going to be wearing these 23 to play outside. That is a sad day in America, my 24 friends. And we are entrusting in you, the 25 Environmental Protection Agency, to make sure that

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1 doesn't happen. Thank you. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Barnes. 3 Mrs. Irby, state your name, and spell it for 4 the court reporter before you begin your testimony. 5 ERMA IRBY 6 Erma Irby, I-r-b- as in boy, -y. My title 7 today is, Particulates Kill. Thank you for the 8 opportunity to speak on this important topic. 9 We all know that government is an entity looks after 10public health. We know that the EPA if the federal 11 guardian of our environment. We need regulations for 12 clean air and water, and we need these regulations 13 enforced. Our industry is about profits, period. 14 The EPA today now comes here to weaken a 15 Clean Air Rule. This is going to cause excess deaths 16 in this area. This is settled science by your own 17 research. But an excess death is just a number on 18paper to you and to the public. So I have come here 19 today to put a human face on this term. 20 I am going to talk about how respiratory 21 distress is treated before folks, older and younger, 22 become these excess deaths. I have severe COPD. Nope 23 I am not a smoker nor one exposed to secondhand smoke. 24 Environmental airborne toxics are killing me. My 25 asthma and breathing failures originate from exposure

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1 to outside air. 2 When the Waxahachie plume and the 3 neighborhood compression station plume comes from the 4 south, when the O3 spikes, when the savage heat 5 strikes, my O2 stats crash. So I have to get oxygen 6 and go on if I'm not suffering a lung infection. 7 This last ozone spike put me in the hospital 8 from July 25th to the 28th. I'm still waiting on the 9 bill -- and also put me oxygen for the rest of my 10 life. 11 So how is COPD and severe respiratory 12 disorders treated? Is it some pretty little disease 13 like the ads on the TV indicate? Wow, just take some 14Advair, 250 to 300 hundred dollars a pop and go walk 15 around with the grandson. As a matter of fact, I have 16 a grandson who takes Advair just like I do. But no, 17 that's a marketing lie. 18 Respiratory patients, COPD patients get their 19 lungs soaked with steroids. It doesn't cure, but it 20 keeps them from strangling usually. Do these steroids 21have side effects? Yes, they do. First, they cause 22 spikes in blood sugar. Steroid diabetes, they cause. 23 This can contribute to death. 24 Second, steroids can cause fungal infections. 25 Hey, that's no big deal just like -- I guess, oh, just

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1 a little thrush, a few white spots. Well, no, not 2 exactly. Thrush can explode into a white goo filling 3 your entire oral cavity, and then you choke. It's a 4 sudden horrifying thing maybe at 2:00 a.m. in the 5 morning. It calls for a quick decision, the ambulance 6 or the hydroperoxide bomb. 7 COPD patients will die of lung infections 8 they cannot clear. Our lungs will stiffen, blacken 9 and fill with pus. Doctors will give us serious 10 antibiotics, like Levaquin. Does these new clear 11 antibiotics have side effects? Lots of them. 12 Levaquin comes with three pages of side effects. 13 In December 2010 I was given Levaquin, a 14 standard COPD antibiotic. A month after I had 15 finished it, a major muscle ruptured in my back. This 16muscle sort of exploded after I touched a flowerpot 17with my foot, a brilliant white, hot pain. I thought 18 I had broken a hip. The EMTs thought I did too. The 19 hip was not broken. 20 After three months of painkillers designed 21 for severe pain, the muscle came around. Muscle 22 ruptures are a very common side effect with Levaquin. 23 This is the human experience of a person 24poisoned by environmental toxins. Expensive, painful, 25 but most of all, it's voidable.

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1 Don't weaken this standard. They're killing 2 people, real people. You have a chance to set the 3 stage for green jobs. Do your job. Dr. Al, we sure 4 do miss you. Thank you. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Irby. 6 If you guys will sit tight. 7 Are there any follow-up for Mr. Barnes and 8 Mrs. Irby? 9 Okay. Well, thank you both very much for 10 being here today and for your testimony and for your 11 continued testimony, Mrs. Irby. Thank you very much. 12 Would Stephanie Maddin and Kemp Burdette 13please come forward. 14 Good afternoon to the both of you. Starting 15with you, Ms. Maddin, would you state your name and 16 spell it for the court reporter before beginning your 17 testimony. 18 STEPHANIE MADDIN 19 Stephanie Maddin, S-t-e-p-h-a-n-i-e. Last 20 name Maddin, M- as in Mary, -d like David, -d like 21 David, -i-n. I would like to thank everyone, 22 especially the folks that are testifying today for 23 being here, for taking sacrifices out of your weekday 24 to be here. And thank you to all EPA officials who 25 have come to hear us all out.

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1 I'm going to be first reading the testimony 2 of a client of Earthjustice. His name is Bill Freese 3 of Michigan. Should I spell his name for the record. 4 I will submitting his testimony. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Please. 6 (BY THE SPEAKER) William, the traditional 7 spelling. Last name, Freese, F- as in Frank, 8 r-e-e-s-e. He was able to make it under the short 9 notice and for health obligations that he had to 10 attend to in Michigan. 11 My name is William Freese, and I'm the 12 director of the Huron Environmental Activist League. 13 I live in Alpena, Michigan. For over 76 years I have 14 lived, except for time in the military in the early 15 '50s, from one to five miles away from the largest 16 100-plus-year-old cement plant in North America. 17 Since 1991 we have been fighting to end the 18pollution from this plant. Not only is it one of the 19 largest, but according to a recent U.S. EPA Toxic 20 Release Inventory, it is the dirtiest such facility, 21 by point source pollution in North America. 22 A FOIA that we obtained compared the City of 23Alpena to the City of Detroit for criteria pollutants. 24 For three out of four, nitrous oxide, sulphur dioxide, 25 PM 2.5 or soot and VOCs, the City of Alpena had higher

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1 levels of the first three than the City of Detroit. 2 I am just reading an excerpt of his remarks, 3 and I will provide the rest of them to you. A 4 Rutgers' University study of blood in 18 of 24 Alpena 5 residents living near the Lafarge cement kilns found 6 that lead in their blood could be traced 75 percent of 7 the time back to the Lafarge cement kiln dust. Core 8 soil testing by a team of scientists found that the 9 heavy metals were in the top two centimeters of the 10 soil and were not naturally occurring, but were 11 airborne from cement plant emissions and fugitive 12 dust. 13 The dioxin or Agent Orange dioxin was found 14 in some of these samples. That could be the reason 15 for the large number of diabetics in Alpena. The lead 16 scientist stated that if he lived here, he would not 17 eat anything grown in our soil. 18 Another large concern is the 450,000 tons 19per year of toxic Canadian coal fly ash, which is 20 another form of Canadian garbage coming to Michigan. 21 The ash is responsible for over 50 percent of the 22mercury emissions from Lafarge and 96 percent of that 23mercury is the most toxic form that will be found in 24 combustion stacks, the oxidized, divalent and ionic 25 form of mercury.

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1 It is responsible for Lafarge being one of 2 the highest mercury emitters in the state and places 3 the Lafarge cement plant in the top five 4mercury-emitting facilities in the nation. 5 The Portland Cement Association that 6 represents the cement companies states that forcing 7 the cement plants to comply with the Clean Air Act 8 rule is too costly and will force many of the plants 9 to close and open the way for foreign competition. 10 As for foreign competition, who would that 11 be? In the early 1990s, an article, In the Nation 12 entitled the Sultans of Cement, stated four foreign 13members of cement cartel already controlled 75 percent 14 of all of the cement production in North America. 15 They're ever more powerful today. 16 Sorry, but wrapping themselves in an 17American flag and asking us to protect them from each 18 other does not cut it. Those were Bill's remarks. 19 But I just wanted to add additional thoughts 20personally. I'm testifying as a private citizen, not 21 as a staff member of Earthjustice. 22 One of the things that I thought was pretty 23 interesting about the prepared remarks that Keith 24 Barnett had available at the sign-in desk is that 25we're all here because EPA is under a draft settlement

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1 agreement to take final action on a proposal by 2 December. 3 For those who are not clear what that means, 4 it means this is not an order enforced by the Court. 5 This is a draft settlement. With that being said, 6 there is no actual legally binding reason for the 7 proposal, nor for you to finalize it under the time 8 frame listed in these remarks. 9 So we already know that the proposal would 10 certify premature death, certify lost hours and days 11 at work and school and certify that people have 12 impaired quality of life from a host of respiratory 13 and related health challenges. 14 So that is bad all by itself, but it's 15 further insulting to know that the agency is toying 16 with the concept and has no legal reason compelling 17 them to do so. You have to answer for that, and 18 that's an answer I hope will be provided to all 19 assembled that time out of their day to find out why 20you're doing something that you're not legally 21 required to do that will only hurt the people in this 22 room and people that are similarly situated across the 23 country. 24 Your agency won the December 2010 federal 25 court decision unanimous through panel decision

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1 upholding the standards. And it said explicitly, no 2 one needs a law degree to understand the words that 3 the standard does not need to be modified in terms a 4 timeline because they do not believe the industry will 5 undergo irreparable harm. That's what the Court said. 6 MR. THOMPSON: Ms. Maddin, you need to 7 wrap up your comments. 8 (BY THE SPEAKER) So in conclusion, you have 9 a choice to do the right thing or do the wrong thing. 10 It's really that simple, and I hope you sleep very 11well tonight. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 13 testimony. If you could remain seated, please. Thank 14you. 15 Please state your name, and spell it for the 16 court reporter, sir. 17 KEMP BURDETTE 18 My name is Kemp Burdette. That's K-e-m-p 19 B-u-r-d-e-t-t-e. I am from Wilmington, North 20 Carolina. It's about 1,200 miles east of here right 21 on the Atlantic Ocean. 22 I'm the Cape Fear riverkeeper and the 23 executive director of Cape Fear River Watch, a 24 grassroots organization that protects and improves the 25water quality at the Cape Fear River. That's in

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1 southeastern North Carolina for anybody who doesn't 2 know. 3 I am also a leader in a group called the 4 Stop Titan Action Network, which is a broad coalition 5 of a seven-organization based group who opposed a 6 proposed Titan cement plant in our community. 7 Over 14,000 people, including over 200 8 physicians, have signed our petition opposing a new 9 cement plant based on the clear negative impact to our 10 community's health, environment and economy. I'm 11honored to speak on their behalf today. But most 12 importantly, I am here today as a father of two little 13 girls who love to play outside. 14 Titan's proposed plant would be the nation's 15 fourth largest if built. Titan plans to burn coal to 16process limestone from its strip mine. The facility 17would be placed on a narrow piece of land between our 18 state's largest river in the Atlantic ocean. Our 19 county, New Hanover County, is North Carolina's second 20 smallest and second most densely populated. So there 21would be no escaping the pollution emitted by the 22plant. 23 8,500 school children go to school within 24 five miles of that smoke stack. 8,500 tiny lungs and 25 hearts would be especially endangered by emissions

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1 from this plant. Our community is deeply concerned 2 with the EPA's proposed weakening of cement kiln rules 3 that were finalized in 2010. 4 Without strong air toxic standards for 5 cement kiln emissions, facilities like the proposed 6 Titan plan will emit dangerous levels of mercury, lead 7 benzene and particulate matter, among others. These 8 toxins, especially mercury, will wind up in our river 9 and coastal waters. 10 Black water rivers like ours are especially 11 good at converting elemental mercury into 12methylmercury, an especially dangerous form of mercury 13 that is concentrated in fish tissue as it moves up the 14 food chain. Many of the people who eat fish from our 15 river, especially low income sustenance fishermen, are 16 unaware that the fish contain dangerous amounts of 17mercury. 18 Children who are fed this mercury-laden fish 19 by well-meaning parents can suffer from delayed 20 development and lower IQs. Particulate matter from 21 cement plants exacerbates respiratory problems, can 22 cause asthma attacks, bronchitis, lung cancer and 23 heart attacks. Particulate matter is especially to 24 our community's most vulnerable, children like mine 25 and the elderly, like my father who suffered an almost

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1 fatal heart attack three years ago. 2 Given the clear mandate of the Clean Air Act 3 and in light of the imminent threat to public health 4 and the environment presented by cement kiln 5 pollution, our community is confused about why the EPA 6 is proposing to weaken rules that would save up to 7 2,500 lives each year. 8 We are baffled that the agency charged with 9 protecting human health and the environment seems to 10 be more concerned with providing cost savings for 11 industry than saving up to $18 billion annually in 12 health care cost associated with pollution from the 13 cement plants. 14 The Clean Air Act is not about providing 15 cost savings to polluters. It's intended to remove 16pollution from the air we breathe. 17 In closing, we strongly support the final 18 2010 cement kiln air toxic standards, and we want them 19 implemented on time. These rules are good for our 20 community. They're good for our country, and they're 21 good for the environment. 22 We strongly oppose any weakening of emission 23 limits, any backsliding on monitoring requirements and 24 any life-threatening delay to the implementation of 25 the 2010 rules.

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1 I was just really struck. You know, we had 2 two young ladies that spoke today. And I have got two 3 daughters. And these two ladies said they were 3 4years old, which is the age of my youngest daughter 5 when these rules were initially approved. And here 6 they are testifying in their 20s. 7 I would be proud for my daughters to be 8 testifying in their 20s on this, but I really hope it 9 doesn't come to that. I really hope we can push this 10 thing through on time and save lives and save health 11 care cost and do the right thing. Thank you. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Burdette 13 and Ms. Maddin. 14 Mr. Burdette, Titan, is that in Castle 15 Hayne? 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) Correct. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Yeah. I'm familiar with 18 that. Okay. Very good. 19 Any questions, any follow-up? 20 Thank you both for your testimony. Thank 21you very much. 22 Would Kim Feil and than Nancy Hynes, please 23 come forward. 24 KIM FEIL 25 Hi. My name is Kim Feil, F-e-i-l. And I

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1 live several blocks from here. 2 The first toddler funeral that I ever went 3 to was Jacob Malaise. He wasn't yet 2 years old. He 4 died of crib death. And he lived, and he died in 5 Midlothian. That's where the cement kilns are. 6 I had no idea when we went to visit our 7 friends what those big silos were. I thought they 8 were grain elevators because I used to live on River 9 Road in Norco, Louisiana. And where I worked was 10 adjacent to a grain elevator, so I was familiar with 11 the dust that was in the air. 12 Never did I ever imagine that I would learn 13 the word downwind when they were referring to the D/FW 14 area where I live here in Arlington to be such a 15 dangerous place for my children and me to breathe. 16 Eight years living and working on Refinery Road in 17Norco, Louisiana -- and when I lived in New Sarpy, I 18 worked at Norco -- gave me a great distaste for 19 industrial toxins. 20 It was very visible, the pollution. And you 21 can smell it, and you can taste it. And I had no idea 22 that when it was that noticeable, how bad it could be 23 for you. But worse still are the people that live 24here in the Metroplex have no idea that what they 25 can't see, what they can't smell and what they can't

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1 taste can truly be harming them. 2 Now, I moved here over 20 years ago. And I 3 worked across from General Motors. And I thought, 4 well, you know, this isn't as bad as Refinery Road. 5 So I put up with it. 6 Well, then, when they started fracing for 7 natural gas, out came the respirator that I had to 8 have on certain days. Sometimes I can't even go out 9 of the house without this with me. It's such a crutch 10 to think about, what did I do with my respirator? You 11 know, I'm trying to leave the house. Where is my 12 respirator? What did I do with it now? 13 Benzene comes to the EPA and TCEQ hearings. 14 He's my dummy with the respirator. He's an example of 15what we don't want our children to have to wear and 16people like me who are the canaries in the cage that 17 have previous exposures that have to wear it today. 18 It's a reality for me that I need my respirator. 19 Next week they're going to frac two blocks 20 from my house by the Cowboy's Stadium here across the 21 tracks. We have got General Motors' 562 tons per year 22VOCs, their two gas well pad sites and their 22-plus 23 gas wells. We've got UTA down the street -- I'm 24 downwind from them -- their 22 gas wells. We've got 25 the General Motors -- we've got the Midlothian cement

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1 kilns blowing our way. We've got the Cowboy's stadium 2 and the Ranger's Stadium pollution from all the 3 vehicles. We are just overdone here in Arlington. 4 But, you know, when I was interviewing some 5 people outside a half an hour ago, I found out a 6 person came from New York. Some other people came 7 from South Carolina. I was just amazed at their 8 testimony and the sickness and death that the mercury 9 that is put out from these cement kilns and the brain 10 cancers that people have to endure living in close 11proximity. 12 So I feel for those on the fence line, like 13 I used to be, for those that are completely unaware of 14 the pollution. Out of sight, out of mind does not 15mean out of harm. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 17 Ms. Feil. 18 Ms. Hynes, please. 19 NANCY HYNES 20 I'm Nancy Hynes. The last name is H-y-n-e-s. 21 I am a concerned citizen. Thank you for being here 22 and giving us this opportunity to speak. 23 I know you're here considering whether to 24 justify what I consider a rather extreme loosening of 25 standards, air quality standards. I'm here to embody

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1 the consequences and hazards of the present standards. 2 D/FW area is already one of the most 3 difficult in the United States for allergies, and 4 environmental considerations are a growing issue here. 5 So to add environmental contaminants is not so much a 6 lack of concern for the health of the citizenry as 7 disdain for us. 8 I have never smoked. I have -- I'm unable 9 to use any -- I'm allergic to all antibiotics. This 10 is an interdependent web of life. So the antibiotics 11 in our food supply and overuse when I was growing up 12 led to a situation where I can't use antibiotics to 13 recover from issues related to anything at all, but 14 certainly to anything related to my health and my 15 lungs. 16 I have with me, at all times, an EpiPen so I 17 can give myself a shot and get to the emergency room. 18 I have my Albuterol. I can't take so many 19medications, and I can't use antibiotics, so I have 17 20 items from the health food store that it takes me 21 to -- I have to use these to get through the month and 22 the day. 23 Herbs for -- I have been in the ER for 24breathing treatment this month. I have one of the top 25 docs for allergies in the area, Dr. Bob Lanier. And I

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1 am using herbs to recover for -- to help my lungs and 2 to get me through. Sleeping through the night is 3 difficult. There is fracing going on all around me. 4 I live near the museum district in the near downtown 5 Fort Worth. 6 I have two items here that I use instead of 7 antibiotics that are from the health food store. So I 8 have few fallback -- I don't have much fallback. My 9 lung capacity operates at around between 62 and 72 10percent all of the time. Right now it's about -- it's 11 somewhere in the 65 percent range. 12 I have just added a -- or a physician has 13 just added a nebulizer and breathing treatments for 14me. I do not have this problem when I go to visit out 15 of this area. This particular D/FW area is just 16 really hazardous. 17 This experience I am having in my life 18 affects my work. I'm only able to work part-time. I 19 just have absolutely no energy. I wake up in the 20 night with headaches and wheezing because of my 21 impaired lung capacity. If I'm not in this area, I 22 can sleep. And I'm much healthier. 23 I am beginning to see these same symptoms in 24my family, in my friends, in my grandchildren. I 25 think for people that already have allergies, to add

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1 this environmental load is just an awful thing. 2 I think, you know, the thing I want you to 3 realize is that I am like the canary in the mine 4 shaft. This is happening for me. It's going to 5 happen for all of us. It's going to be for your 6 families, your children, your grandchildren. This is 7 where we're going. 8 So please don't loosen the standards. 9 Please uphold the standards, tighten the standards and 10protect us. Thank you. 11 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you for 12your testimony. Before you go -- 13 Are there any follow-up questions? 14 Mrs. Feil, and Mrs. Hynes, thank you both 15 for your testimony. 16 I would like to ask Zac Trahan and Angie 17 Briles to please come forward. 18 Would you state your name and spell it for 19 the court reporter before you begin your testimony. 20 ZAC TRAHAN 21 My name is Zac Trahan, Z-a-c T-r-a-h-a-n. 22And I'm here with the Texas Campaign for the 23 Environment. Thanks for this opportunity to testify 24 today. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Sure.

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1 (BY THE SPEAKER) The public often views the 2 federal government as unaccountable, undemocratic, 3 just a bloated bureaucracy, a system that is beyond 4 repair, that's broken. And for decades many Americans 5 have argued that government is part of the problem, 6 not part of the solution. 7 Things like -- today, things like what 8 you're proposing to do today, that's why people have 9 that view. If you adopt these weaker delayed rules, 10 really you have only yourselves to blame when people 11 take that view and take that attitude. 12 But you don't really have to do this, as so 13many other speakers have pointed out. You don't have 14 the interest of a few cement manufacturers ahead of 15 the health and safety of millions of Americans. You 16 can, and you should adopt the original proposed 17 standards on the original timeline. 18 Your own analysis shows that this would save 19 thousands of lives. Many of those lives are right 20 here in D/FW in North Texas. As you know, we have the 21misfortune of living downwind from some of the biggest 22 concrete and cement manufactures in the country. And 23 those manufactures have fouled our air here and made 24 us sick for decades. 25 But all of the progress that we have made so

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1 far to clean those plants up has come through citizen 2 action through grassroots organizing, through local 3 efforts here on the group. The EPA really has sat 4 idly by for 20 years and watched as people fight for 5 their very own survival. 6 So imagine our elation when the EPA 7 announced these first comprehensive rules for cement 8 manufacturers. It was a great, great sign that things 9 were finally starting to turn the right way. And 10 finally the government could be a part of the 11 solution. 12 And imagine our utter shock and dismay when, 13 at the very last second, the EPA announced that they 14would weaken the standards by 50 percent and delay 15 them by another two years. This isn't necessary. And 16you shouldn't follow through with it. You should 17 follow through with the original plans on the original 18 timelines. 19 Your own analysis shows that weakening the 20 standards and delaying them is a death sentence for 21 thousands of people in America. And for what? Why 22would you do that? Because cement manufacturers told 23you to because it's in their interest? What about our 24 interests? 25 So don't go forward with the cowardly,

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1 inefficient, ineffective, inept proposal to weaken the 2 standards. Don't move forward with pulling the rug 3 out from under us at the last moment. Grow a 4 backbone, stand up for what you initially stand for 5 unless you want to be known as the Cement Protection 6 Agency. 7 So particulate matter, PM pollution is a 8 killer. And you-all know that better than anyone, and 9 we're learning more and more every day just how bad 10 this is for everyone. The original plan would have 11 really taken concrete action -- pardon the pun -- the 12 original plan would have truly cracked down on PM 13pollution in North Texas. 14 But the weaker standards, again, are weaker 15 by 50 percent and delayed by two years. And that 16 delay could be fatal. It could be forever. The 17 results of this fall's election, if it turns the wrong 18 way, these proposed rules that you have here for 2015 19may be gone forever, depending on who wins the 20 election. So delaying them is a possibility of 21 killing them for good. 22 And we shouldn't take that risk. We can't 23 roll the dice with our very own lives by delaying 24 these standards. I mean, the administration was put 25 in place to do something. And this isn't it. Delay

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1 isn't it. Delay is not what folks want. 2 So again, you know, as you have heard time 3 and time again, and you will keep hearing all 4 afternoon, I urge you to stick to the original 5 proposal and the original timeline and stand up for 6 people's lives. Thanks very much. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Trahan. 8 Thank you for your testimony. 9 Mrs. Briles, good afternoon. 10 ANGELA BRILES 11 My name is Angela Briles, A-n-g-e-l-a 12 B-r-i-l-e-s. 13 We're all here wondering why you suddenly 14 decided to make changes to the original plan at the 15 last minute after 20 years of hard work, dedication 16 sacrifice and struggle. These people have worked so 17 hard for so long. Everything was settled and ready to 18 go. So why now? 19 And I suspect it has something to do with 20profit, as these things often do. Profit for the 21 industry, more and more and more, and it's never going 22 to be enough. The industry will never be satisfied. 23All for the money, digital numbers on a computer 24 screen, plastic in your hand. It's hardly tangible 25 anymore. It's nothing.

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1 And at the expense of what? The health and 2 well-being of all of humanity, including all of you. 3 Don't get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong 4 with wealth, but there is absolutely something wrong 5 with the way the wealth is being made in this country. 6 It was Albert Einstein that said, the 7 definition of insanity is doing the same thing over 8 and over again expecting different results. We have 9 become a nation that thinks in terms of money, power 10 and greed. We continue to repeat that way of thinking 11 over and over and over again, and it's the only thing 12 standing in the way of peace. People are suffering. 13 Health is dwindling, and it's a direct result of bad 14 decisions made by our government. 15 In this case is the decision to weaken the 16 rules and hold off another two more years? This is 17 just one of the many industries destroying our quality 18 of life. And there's a long list, as I'm sure you-all 19 know. 20 At some point we have just got to say, 21 enough is enough and try something different because 22what we are doing is not helping anyone and it's not 23 working. When will you have the courage to just say, 24 stop? We are running out of time. We're running out 25 time.

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1 We cannot afford, in this day and age, to 2 weaken regulations of any industry, and we certainly 3 cannot afford to wait another two years on this one. 4 You have to take action to do the right thing today. 5 Now is the time. 6 Abraham Lincoln said, a government of the 7 people, by the people, for the people shall not perish 8 from the Earth. Was that not original idea for the 9 United States of America? It was that idea of freedom 10 that made us special and set us apart. I don't 11 believe he said, a government of the industry, by the 12 industry, for the industry shall not perish. But that 13 is certainly what it has become. The people want the 14 original plan implemented at the original time, 15 September 2013. 16 Now, I mean, can you imagine what it would 17 do for the image of America, for your image if you 18 actually did what you said you were going to do, if 19you actually gave the people what we wanted? Well, I 20 think that would just be amazing, simply amazing. So 21 just try it. We're running out of time. I will say 22 it again. So I beg you just try it. Thank you. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 24 Are there any follow-up questions for 25 Mr. Trahan and Mrs. Briles from anyone?

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1 Well, thank you both very much for your 2 testimony, and thank you for being here today. 3 Okay. I would like to ask Stephen Minick 4 and Dr. Bonita Bowman to please come forward. 5 If you could begin by just stating your name 6 and spelling it for the court reporter, please, 7 starting with Minick. 8 STEPHEN MINICK 9 Good afternoon. My name is Stephen Minick. 10 That's S-t-e-p-h-e-n M-i-n-i-c-k. I want to thank you 11 for the opportunity to be here today and provide our 12 comments. 13 As I said earlier, for the record, my name 14 is Stephen Minick. I'm the vice president of 15 governmental relations at the Texas Association of 16 Business. 17 The TAB was founded in 1922. We're the 18 largest and oldest business trade association in the 19 State of Texas. We're a broad-based bipartisan 20 organization representing more than 3,500 Texas 21 employers and over 200 local Chambers of Commerce. 22 My purpose today is to provide comment on 23 the proposed NESHAP rule for the Portland Cement 24 industry that was originally adopted in September of 25 2010 and has not been proposed to be reconsidered as

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1 published in the current form in July of 2012. 2 As other representatives of the industry and 3 business community will attest, we are appreciative of 4 EPA's work, their effort to work with the cement 5 manufacturing industry and to improve the cement kiln 6 NESHAP rule. 7 I will state that if unaltered, this rule 8 will have significant negative effects on an industry 9 that is absolutely essential to our hoped-for economic 10 recovery. It is also absolutely critical to what this 11 country needs in terms of being able to construct 12 needed infrastructure and transportation, water and 13 energy. 14 We at TAB remain very concerned about the 15 technical justification and the scientific validity of 16 the analysis upon which the underlying ambient air 17 quality standards -- that this rule would purportedly 18 improve, the science upon which those standards are 19 based. But that's another issue for another day. 20 Regardless, we do appreciate the role that 21 EPA has played in the development of this 22 reconsideration of the final rule and are here to 23 support the position taken by the PCA, the Portland 24 Cement Association, its members and the members of TAB 25 that represent the cement industry.

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1 Specifically, we support the proposed 2 modifications to emission standards for particulate 3 matter and the resetting of the relevant deadlines for 4 compliance with the revised standards. 5 The PCA has provided exhaustive technical 6 evidence based on practical experience that is, not 7 only compelling in its own right, but is also 8 consistent with EPA's own analysis to support the 9 proposed changes to the final rule. 10 The extension of the compliance deadline and 11 the uniform treatment of both PM and the other 12 emission constituents is clearly supported by PCA's 13 analysis. That analysis includes a detailed 14 explanation of the time frames required, the 15 sequential steps in developing a controlled strategy, 16 how those steps relate to each other, both in being 17 conditioned on each other and then informing the 18 subsequent steps in the process. 19 It is particularly important that you 20 recognize the significance of the interrelationships 21 between both particulate matter and the other emission 22 constituents and how consideration to those detailed 23 interactions has to inform the detail process, the 24 engineering, the design, the construction, the 25 operation of a selected environmental controlled

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1 strategy. 2 Not only is the extension of the compliance 3 deadline clearly authorized by the Clean Air Act and 4 supported by the evidence, it is also demonstrated 5 that any shorter deadline is both impractical and 6 unreasonable. In fact, it bears acknowledging that 7 PCA's own analysis shows that compliance for some 8 constituents, even under this extended deadline, will 9 still be very problematic. 10 While EPA is to be congratulated for 11 recognizing the technical and practical limitations 12 and problems with the finale rule, PCA should also be 13 recognized for agreeing to a compliance schedule that 14 leaves little room for error and achieves compliance 15 in the shortest reasonable time. 16 There should be no room for argument that 17 this schedule does not meet the Clean Air Act 18 requirements in Section 12 that compliance will, in 19 fact, be achieved, quote, "as expeditiously as 20practical." 21 While we are supportive of the industry's 22position on revised standards and schedules for 23 compliance, we are also in agreement on the various 24 technical issues that have been raised by the Portland 25 Cement Association and their request for additional

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1 considerations that would both approve the clarity of 2 the rule and simplify its administration and 3 enforcement. 4 These include things such as clarifying 5 certain definitions, clarifying the basis for 6 determination of certain emission standards for both 7 PM and other constituents, amending or clarifying both 8 the testing and monitoring protocols and some issues 9 related to the start-up and shut-down requirements. I 10 won't go into those in detail in the interest of time 11 today. I believe you have received, or will receive 12 comments about them from the association, as well as 13 other commenters. 14 I will also note that these issues are 15 raised by the industry based on their real world data 16 and their real world practical experience in operating 17 cement kilns. I believe that basis provides a 18 credible and compelling rationale for further review 19 and clarification and improvement of the rule. 20 I want to thank you for the opportunity to 21 be here. I appreciate your consideration, and will 22 certainly answer questions if you have them. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 24Mr. Minick. Thank you for your testimony. 25 Dr. Bowman.

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1 BONITA BOWMAN 2 Good afternoon, panelists. My name is 3 Dr. Bonita Bowman, It's B-o-n-i-t-a, Bowman, 4 B-o-w-m-a-n. I am the president of the Tarrant 5 Coalition for Environmental Awareness, and we are a 6 coalition of individuals and groups in Tarrant County 7 who are interested in the protection of our 8 environment. 9 We spoke at the first hearing of this 10 subject, which was held out at the Dallas/Fort Worth 11Airport. And we spoke to our concerns on health and 12 science and so forth. And we're here again to speak 13 up for the importance of safe breathable air. 14 Because for most of the people in Tarrant 15 County, the emissions from the cement kilns are in the 16 only air they have to breathe. Thus, the standards 17placed on these industries matter. 18 The first time we spoke, as I said, to the 19 impact of the emissions. But this time we wonder why 20 we're here again and so soon. It's not like this 21 issue started yesterday. It started over 20 years 22 ago. So we asked, why the rollback? Has the science 23 changed? Nothing in the scientific news suggests that 24 somehow, in less than three years, our bodies have 25 become more tolerant of inhaled particulate matter and

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1 toxic chemicals. 2 Yet, we know that the existing technology has 3 been tested and if used, can meet the current 2010 4 emission limits. So science and technology are not 5 the reason why we're here. Is it economics? Can a 6 population weakened by pollutants that affect the 7 critical organs of the body, the heart, the lung, the 8 brain, can they create a strong workforce? 9 Your own data predict that the 2010 rules 10 will save 130,000 work and school days that would 11 otherwise be missed because of health issue. How do 12 absences improve a workforce? 13 Are the jobs, we wonder, protected by the 14 rollback really jobs in the health care sector? Is 15 the idea that with the rollback we will create more 16 health care jobs in order to care for the people 17 affected by the pollution created by an industry that 18 is producing an important building material needed to 19 build more health care facilities so that they can 20 treat the people who are damaged by the plant 21 emissions and so on it goes? 22 Have the political winds changed? Well, yes, 23 that's true. And it's an election year. For those 24who spend most of their time away from the prevailing 25winds that carry cement plant emissions, this might

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1 not be a very important issue. But for those of us 2 who live in the shadow of these plants, this is a high 3 priority issue that should not be delayed. 4 Recently, our area witnessed shutdown action 5 in Frisco by neighbors of an alleged smelter plant who 6 were concerned about toxic emissions. Frisco, is by 7 no means, a political hotbed of environment 8 socialists. Regardless of our political hats, all of 9 us who live here really do care about what is in our 10 air. 11 The health effects of air pollution are slow. 12 They're insidious and deadly. And it often takes 13 long-term exposure to bad air for some medical 14 conditions to manifest, a long enough time that the 15 cement industry relies on cloudy memories, here and 16 around Washington when it extols that the garbage 17 their plant puts out in the air we breathe has no 18proven effect on our health. But we know that there 19 are canaries in our mind shaft. 20 Vulnerable people with underlying medical 21 conditions, older people and children, their plight is 22 no secret to you. We ask that you not let political 23 considerations interview with your mission to 24 safeguard public health through caring for our natural 25 environment.

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1 We have lived and died with this problem for 2 20 years, and it's time for it to stop. The 3 technology exists. Industry needs to apply it. Quit 4 staling. Make them use best management practices in 5 their kilns, in the materials they burn and how the 6 toxics are removed before they're released to the air. 7 They have had a long time to prepare. They 8 don't need further postponements to start doing the 9 right thing. We in Tarrant County call this little 10 spot of the planet home, and we would like it to be a 11 safe home. 12 We call upon you to let the 2010 emission 13 standards rules goes forward. So thank you for your 14 time. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Dr. Bowman. 16 Are there any follow-up questions for 17 Mr. Minick or Dr. Bowman? 18 Thank you both for being here today, and 19 thank you for your testimony. 20 I would like to ask Neil Carmen and Byron 21 Brewer to please to come forward, if they're here. 22 Good afternoon, gentlemen. 23 I would like to have you start by stating 24your name and spelling it for the court reporter. 25 NEIL CARMEN

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1 My name is Neil Carmen, N-e-i-l C-a-r-m-e-n 2 I'm with the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club here 3 in Texas. And I'm presenting comments of behalf of 4 25,000 members of the Sierra Club who are very 5 concerned about air quality impacts from cement kilns. 6 The Portland Cement kilns are in the MACTs 7 because of the fact that the 1990 Clean Air Act 8 amendments mandated by the Congress and signed by 9 President Bush on November 15th of 1990 that 10 industrial sectors, including the Portland Cement 11 kilns, needed to address air toxic emissions and other 12pollutants, particulate matter, soot. 13 And so 20 years ago, I began efforts to 14 track when EPA would get around to adopting, 15promulgating the MACT for the Portland Cement kilns. 16And so we began to realize in the late 1990s that EPA 17was going to be late. So we began to look at legal 18 actions to push EPA because it was running behind, but 19 not just on that MACT, but on quite a few of the MACT 20 standards. 21 So I'm very concerned because here in Texas 22 the Portland Cement industry is one of the largest 23 sectors in the nation in terms of cement companies, 24with about 11 active plants and multiple kilns at many 25 sites. And there's people living in these communities

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1 that deal with the dust emissions. 2 In some cases there's ponds and lakes. 3 Like, here in the D/FW area, Joe Pool Lake has got 4mercury contamination in it that has happened pretty 5 quickly over the last 15 to 20 years. So there's a 6 lot of environmental impacts and public health 7 problems, in my view, because of these plants. 8 Nationwide, I've dealt with people in dozens 9 of states who have a lot a similar problems with the 10 cement industry from the west coast to the east coast 11 to the heartland that -- people live in communities 12where there are Portland Cement kilns have a lot of 13problems. They have odor problems. They have dust 14problems. And they have not gotten any relief from 15 the companies or the regulatory agencies. 16 So these Portland Cement kiln MACT rules are 17 very critical for the health of the people living in 18 these communities nationwide, and there will be 19probably some new cement kilns that will be built in 20 the coming years. And they need to meet strict 21 standards. 22 So it's very important that EPA adopt strict 23mercury rules. We know that mercury, for over 20 24years -- back in 1994 EPA put out a 1,000-page mercury 25 report to Congress. We have known even for decades

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1 before that that mercury is a very harmful 2 environmental contaminates. It bioaccumulates in the 3 food chain. And, you know, we should not be putting 4mercury out. 5 And, yet, the Portland Cement kilns in Texas 6 and nationwide put out thousands of pounds of mercury 7 a year. And I would emphasize to you that mercury is 8 not just toxic in terms of a pound. 453.6 grams is 9 the equivalent to a pound. And every gram of mercury 10 is all it takes to contaminate a 20-acre lake so you 11 cannot eat the fish. 12 We've got big problems in Texas with mercury 13 contamination. Some of it is from power plants, and a 14portion of it, I'm sure, comes from the cement kilns 15 because they're emitting mercury when they're 16 operating. And nationwide these cement kilns put out, 17you know, as I said, thousands of pounds of mercury 18 because they don't have to address it. 19 They should be monitoring for mercury, and 20 they need to be reducing their mercury emissions 21 because of the fuels they burn and the raw materials 22 they're using. But mercury is a huge issue 23 nationally. There's whole states where you can't eat 24 the fish because of contaminants. 25 So it's very important that EPA stick with

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1 the 2010 Portland Cement kiln MACT standards and that 2 it move forward with the 2013 compliance date. I 3 mean, we're already now 22 years past the timing on 4 the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. And so this 5 industrial sector is one of the last to get these MACT 6 rules being implemented. 7 But there's, you know, tens of thousands of 8 citizens, not just in Texas, but across the nation, 9 who have problems with these facilities. And, you 10 know, they need to have reductions in the soot 11 emissions because we have known since scientists at 12 Harvard testified to Congress back in the early 1990s 13 that there is no safe level of soot pollution. 14 And the Portland Cement sector in Texas put 15 out over 850 tons in the 2010 inventory of PM 10 and 16 PM 2.5 emissions. So they're large major source 17 emitters of particulate matter. They put out too much 18mercury. They put out a lot of other air toxics. 19 So I urge EPA to stick with the 2010 MACT 20 standards and the 2013 compliance date because, you 21 know it's very critical to help protect the community 22 health of over 100 communities in the United States 23 with Portland Cement kilns. Thank you. 24 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 25 Mr. Carmen.

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1 Mr. Brewer. 2 BYRON BREWER 3 My name is Byron Brewer. I live in 4Arlington, and I'm retired. My remarks are directed 5 at the cement companies and not at the EPA panel. 6 It's likely every one of us was told by our 7 mothers, pick up after yourself. If you make a mess, 8 you pick it up. That simple lesson of childhood was 9 never learned by many industrial corporations in Texas 10 like the cement plants at Midlothian. 11 Their rule of thumb is delay, deny, debate, 12push it into the future, stick it on to the taxpayers' 13 tab. All of us have been working on improving air and 14water quality in the nation for 40 years. In Texas we 15 have some of the most recalcitrant avoiders of 16 cleaning up their own mess in the country. 17 Corporations who think they are entitled to a 18 free dump in the air or water, 40 years of variances 19 and special allowances for the large industrial 20 sources of pollution allows pre-1970 technology to be 21maintained into the second decade of the 21st century, 22 40 years. How many of us are still driving a 23 40-year-old car for or primary transportation or watch 24 a 40-year-old television set? 25 In 1970 board members of the polluting

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1 industries whispered to each other, let's keep these 2 dinosaurs going until I'm off the board. Today their 3 grandchildren whisper the same thing to each other. 4 Enough is enough. No more excuses. Be a man, 5 Midlothian cement plants. Make your mothers proud, 6 and clean up your own mess and leave it to the 7 taxpayers or insurance companies to come after you. 8 Thank you for your time. 9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Brewer. 10 Are there any follow-up questions for 11 Mr. Carmen and Mr. Brewer? 12 Gentlemen, thank you both for your 13 testimony, and thank you for being here. 14 I would like to ask at this time Jeralynn 15 Jackee Cox and Karin Anderson to please come 16 forward. 17 JERALYNN JACKEE COX 18 My name is Jeralynn Jackee Cox. I'm known 19 as Jackee primarily. I'm here as a member of Texas 20 Interfaith Power and Light, which is a group of people 21who are looking for faith-based approaches to 22 environmental management. 23 And also, I'm here as interested party 24because I live downwind from the Midlothian plants. 25And my parents, brothers and sisters, nieces and

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1 nephews live in Midlothian where they catch the worst 2 of the fallout from those plants. So a negative 3 change in the plant rules for Midlothian is a health 4 concern to our family. 5 I also want to direct your attention to the 6 published executive statement concerning the proposed 7 changes in the rules and the executive summary that 8 talks about the changes in particulate emissions for 9 every year after 2015 when the new regs become 10 effective if the changes you propose are adopted. 11 Essentially, I'm looking at Table 1 on what's 12 labeled as Exhibit 1, Page 1. It's actually Page 13 42370 out of the Federal Register. And as I 14 understand the narrative and your chart, industry 15 under the regulations nationwide would have a reduced 16 capital cost of $18,640,000 as a result of your 17 changes. 18 And the reduction -- the increase in 19 emissions, if you change from the 2010 proposed regs 20 and take the 2015 proposed changes, nationwide we get 21 135 tons of additional emissions each year. So 22 industry get's an $18 million break on their cost, and 23 we have a 135-ton increase in the emissions. 24 Exhibit 2 attached is from the facts 25 statement that you-all put out with 2010 regs when

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1 they were proposed indicating that this benefits to 2 health cost reductions from the 2010 regs would be 3 between $6.7 billion and $18 billion a year. 4 I am sure you're aware that presently health 5 costs are a huge issue nationally. You know, what's 6 going to happen to -- the budget that provides my 7 Medicare would be really impacted if there were a 8 potential $18 billion on the table to take care of 9 those costs. Besides the money, there is the pain and 10 suffering that was predicted to come from leaving the 11particulate emissions where they were. 12 For example, it was predicted that somewhere 13 between 960 and 2,500 premature deaths could be 14 avoided by sticking with the rules that were to become 15 available in 2013 and that other benefits would be 16 that you could reduce the number of cases of 17 aggravated asthma, the number of heart attacks, the 18 incidents of chronic bronchitis, the number of 19 emergency room visits for respiratory problems and 20 respiratory symptom aggravation, days of work lost and 21 days when people were on restricted activities because 22 of particle pollution related symptoms. 23 So I am concerned. I pray that you-all 24 somehow can reconsider the trade which gives a cost 25 benefit to the cement industry of $18 million and

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1 somehow ends up costing the health care system 2 somewhere between 6.7 billion and 18 billion. I think 3 that's an unfortunate tradeoff. 4 And I hope that you have room to address 5 that and to fix that because health care costs are now 6 a huge consideration. And I think the human costs 7 also need to be considered. So my prayer to you-all 8 for administrative relief is that you do whatever you 9 can to ameliorate the situation. 10 And specifically, I favor no rollback on the 11 effective date of the regulations. And I thank you 12 for your time and attention. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Cox. If 14you'll just sit tight. 15 Mrs. Anderson. 16 KARIN MICHELE ANDERSON 17 My name is Karin Michele Anderson, K-a-r-i-n 18 M-i-c-h-e-l-e A-n-d-e-r-s-o-n. I am just a concerned 19 citizen living in Dallas, Texas which is also downwind 20 from the cement plants in Midlothian. 21 There has already been a 20-year delay in 22 enforcing the guidelines, and I'm asking you not to 23push it back two more years. The Midlothian cement 24plants are the largest source of air pollution in 25North Texas and the largest source of tiny particulate

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1matter, which has been linked to heart attacks, 2 stroke, immune system damage and brain function loss. 3 Please do not raise the allowable limits by 4 50 percent. One of the reasons why I voted for 5 President Obama was his stand on environmental issues. 6 And this one now affects me directly. Last December I 7 was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, which carries 8 a greater risk of stroke and heart attack. So the 9 longer you delay and if you raise the limits, you're 10putting my life at risk and the lives of many other 11people. 12 By extending the compliance with the Clean 13Air standards two more years, you're going to be 14 creating a lot of damage. And what I brought today to 15 shred is my EKG report. Please don't shred me and the 16 lives of many other people. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 18 Mrs. Anderson, before you leave, I just want to check 19 with the panel to see if they have any follow-up 20 questions, and Mrs. Cox. 21 Any questions from anyone? 22 Thank you. And Mrs. Cox, just a reminder to 23 turn in your exhibit out front so that we can get it 24 in the record. Okay. Thank you both very much for 25 coming today. Thank you for your testimony

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1 At this time we're going to take a 2 ten-minute recess. We will reconvene here at -- I 3 guess, that would be, what, 2:45. 4 (Recess taken at 2:35 to 2:50.) 5 MR. THOMPSON: Penland and Chatham. 6 Good afternoon, ladies. 7 JAN PENLAND 8 My name is Jan Penland, and I'm here as a 9 concerned citizen. I live here in Arlington. 10 I want to tell you, first of all, that the 11 first thing I do every morning when I get up is go to 12my computer to check the day's air quality forecast. 13 I do this because I have COPD, Chronic Obstructive 14 Pulmonary Disease. And that air quality determines 15much of what I'm able to do on any given day. 16 Even though my condition is not yet so 17 severe, that I have to have supplemental oxygen, I am 18 limited in many ways. On Orange Alert days, I simply 19 have to stay indoors, if at all possible. Yellow 20Alert todays like today are somewhat better, but still 21 limit my activity. 22 I find it very difficult and sometimes 23 impossible to climb stairs or to walk even a block. 24Many ordinary household chores are difficult, 25 especially those that require bending over because

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1 that puts pressure on my diaphragm and it literally 2 takes my breath away. Shopping, even for necessities 3 like groceries, has become a major chore, rather than 4 the pleasure it used to be. 5 This is the handbook that I have lived with 6 since I was diagnosed with COPD ten years ago. I wish 7 I could take it out there and shred it, but I can't do 8 that. I defend on the information that it contains to 9 help me maintain the lung function I have left and to 10 help me cope with the problems of living with this 11 condition. 12 I want to tell you a little bit about COPD. 13According to the American Lung Association, COPD is 14 the third leading cause of death in the U.S. In 2008 15 13.1 million U.S. adults were estimated to have COPD. 16 That's a lot of people. It's progressive. It's 17 irreversible. It's incurable. The costs associated 18 with the disease are enormous. 19 In 2010 the cost of the nation for COPD was 20projected to be approximately 49.9 billion, with a 21 "b." For the individual patient, the preferred drugs 22 used to treat the disease are inhale steroids. And 23 they're not available in generic form. 24 Most COPD patients have annual drug bills in 25 the neighborhood of $6,000. And for many like me who

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1must also treat other chronic diseases, drug bills 2 alone can exceed $10,000 a year. For those who must 3 use supplemental oxygen, the costs are greater still. 4 Without insurance I would be bankrupt. 5 COPD patients are frequently hospitalized 6 most often for the treatment of pneumonia. And that 7 usually involves a trip to the ICU and, perhaps, many 8 days on a ventilator. Those trips to the hospital can 9 be quite lengthy, and they're usually followed by 10 extensive rehab. 11 The pollution pumped into our environment by 12 the cement plants to our south exacerbate the 13 condition of many thousands of North Texas residents 14who, like me, suffer from lung diseases. The 15 emissions from these plants contribute greatly to the 16 extraordinary number of Yellow and Orange Alert days 17 that we experience here. 18 According to the EPA website, in fact, the 19 line on the home page, the mission of EPA is to 20protect human health and the environment. Delaying 21 the new rules by two years certainly does nothing to 22 that mission. Stringent air quality standards can go 23 far to alleviate the physical and economic suffering 24 caused by lung diseases and will improve the air 25 quality in North Central Texas for all its citizens.

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1 I implore you to live up to the challenge of 2 your mission statement by implementing the new rules 3 without further delay. Thank you. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Penland. 5 Mrs. Chatham. 6 FAITH CHATHAM 7 I am Faith Chatham, C-h-a-t-h-a-m. And I'm 8 representing D/FW regional concerned citizens. I 9 especially thank those who have come from out of state 10 and from long distances on such short notice to this 11 one scheduled hearing. 12 I come to you today with less confidence 13 that the Environmental Protection Agency will act on 14 the settled science from decades of investigation and 15 testimony by medical professionals, environmental 16 scientists, elected officials of all parties and the 17 citizens than I had in your agency the last time I 18 appeared before you. 19 Since that time, your national director has 20 accepted the resignation of Dr. Al over an 21 illustration which was no different than saying that 22when a police officer tickets someone for running a 23 red light, it deters others from running a red light. 24 The difference is that most motorists who run 25 red lights are not large corporation with CEOs and

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1 shareholders with deep pockets who make substantial 2 political campaign donations and underwrite expensive 3 public misinformation campaigns. 4 I am thankful that this hearing occurred 5 here today because it's convenient to my home. That 6 is the only scheduled hearing on this very important 7 life critical question in the United States and that 8 you gave such short notice feeds my fear that Dr. Al's 9 exit from the EPA signals a downturn in the resolve of 10 the agency to fulfill the mission of the agency. 11 I know that Dr. Al was not the only person 12 employed at the EPA who cares about protecting 13 children, vulnerable adults and animals in the food 14 supply chain of our country from unnecessary 15 endangerment by for-profit companies. 16 Not everyone in your office will duck under 17 his or her desk trying merely to hold on and 18 continuing drawing your paycheck so you feed your 19 family while the rest of us shrivel up and fade into 20 oblivion. 21 I am the daughter of a career federal 22 employee. I know the political climate from above and 23 from outside an agency impacts how far those inside 24 stick their necks out in doing their jobs. I fear 25 that the EPA will, or is, reverting back to where

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1 those who truly act for the public good do not have 2 the strong support from those above you watching your 3 backs and standing with you through conflicts to 4 effect the changes which are necessary to overcome the 5 decades of criminal inactivity by your agency and by 6 those on the state level. 7 Do I need to mention Rita Lavelle and the 8 toxic waste dumps and the arsenic that leached into 9 the Metroplex's water supply system for years? 10 Criminal inactivity, I say criminal because 11 in this case, sitting back or actively rolling back 12 the standards on emissions of particulates from the 13 cement kilns leaves human consequences resulting in 14 infirmity and death for hundreds of people of all 15 ages. 16 A .02 part per so much doesn't seem like a 17 lot unless you are struggling to breathe. When your 18 lungs are impaired, it can be the difference between 19 life and permanent end of breath. I am glad that the 20 EPA announced changes to the O&G standards and that 21 they have been published in the Federal Register. 22 When you add the emissions from the cement 23 kilns to those of the compression station south of my 24 friend, Harriet Irby's home, her oxygen level drops 25 significantly. She barely functions without oxygen

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1 when the air comes from the north, but goes into 2 almost instant respiratory distress when it comes from 3 the south. 4 Most of those impacted are not as savvy as 5 Harriet. They're too oxygen-deprived or too young to 6 check the wind directions online after severe 7 respiratory attacks, but she does. Just the wind 8 direction from the south is proven, set aside science 9 for spikes and reports of pediatric respiratory 10 distress. 11 My friend's trips to the hospital after 12 events while outside, her calls for 911 assistance 13 while at the grocery store or while she is attempting 14 to get to her home from managing her rental property 15 to go to her oxygen tank while trying to work for a 16 living reflect the need for strict enforcement and 17 timely enactment of these good standards. 18 It's criminal to draw a paycheck to protect 19 the environment, specifically people, animals and the 20plants and to roll back these standards. I wonder if 21 Harriet Irby would be on oxygen 24/7 today if the 22 standards had been revised and enforced a decade or 23 two ago when people began coming to you and begging 24 for relief from these polluting industrial giants? 25 Harriet Irby has more than respiratory

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1 problems in common with the pediatric cases reported 2 in your EPA study. Neither Harriet nor these children 3 have ever smoked a cigarette. She's never even lived 4 with a smoker. She has lived near the cement kilns 5 for decades -- I've got two sentences. 6 MR. THOMPSON: Mrs. Chatham, I'm sorry 7 to interrupt. I'm just letting you say final 8 thoughts. 9 (BY THE SPEAKER) Adding a natural gas 10 compression station emissions a few blocks south of 11her hastened her deterioration into chronic COPD. 12 Do not allow the industry or political 13pressure to turn children into cases similar to hers. 14My message to the EPA, do not roll back these 15 standards. Do not cave under industrial or political 16pressure. When you cave to bullies, you merely have 17 less and less solid ground to stand upon. Thank you. 18 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Chatham. 19 Are there any follow-up questions for 20 Mrs. Penland or Mrs. Chatham? 21 Ladies, thank you both for your testimony. 22 Thank you for being here today 23 I would like to ask Julie Schaar and Julia 24 Burgen. And certainly you can correct my 25pronunciation once you begin your testimony. So

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1 forgive me if I'm mispronouncing your names. 2 Good afternoon. And if you could begin with 3 the correct pronunciation of your name. 4 JULIE SCHAAR 5 My name is Julie, J-u-l-i-e, Schaar, 6 S-c-h-a-a-r. And I live in the city of Dallas, ZIP 7 code 75214. I'm a retired community health nurse, a 8 member of the Sierra Club, founder of the Texas 9 Section of the International Dark Sky Association, 10 which is related to the particulate matter, and a 11 long-time advocate for clean air. Thank you for 12presenting this opportunity to speak out. 13 I am here in opposition to the EPA proposal 14 to weaken and delay the recently improved pollution 15 limits for cement plants in the U.S. by more than two 16years. I ask the EPA to enforce the previously 17 improved higher standards for cement kiln emissions 18 starting in 2013 without a two-year delay. 19 The previously approved emission standards 20 should not be delayed, as having them would greatly 21 enhance this region's ability to meet its air quality 22 standards. The 2010 EPA emission rules to be 23 implemented in 2013 were hailed as the largest single 24 advance in air quality for the U.S. cement industry 25 and were widely supported by citizens living near to

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1 the nation's cement plants. 2 And I'm trying to understand this situation 3 here. Purportedly, the new rules had already passed 4 all necessary regulatory reviews and were on their way 5 to President Obama for his signature and 6 implementation by 2013 when they got yanked by the 7 administration's Office of Management and Budget 8 earlier this year. 9 When the rules re-emerged, their enforcement 10 was pushed back to 2015, and their strict particulate 11matter pollution provisions were considerably 12weakened. My question is: Why the sudden change? 13 What happened? So many people have asked this 14 question this afternoon since I have been here. 15 It's hard to believe that the reversal of 16 rule implementation was barely a budget decision. 17 Maybe this is wrong information, but I would like to 18 know that. I would hope to see some evidence in the 19 report in December that gives some background to this 20 situation that we're in. 21 But there is a remedy for this situation. 22 Certainly, the EPA is, and has been, supportive of 23 aggressive reduction and enforcement of emissions 24 according to the goals of the U.S. Office of 25 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, the OECA.

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1 The OECA works with EPA regional offices and 2 in partnership with state and tribal governments and 3 other federal agencies to enforce the nation's 4 environmental laws. So one of the OECA's overall 5 enforcement goals in their final plan for fiscal year 6 2013 is to quote, "aggressively go after pollution 7 problems that make a difference in communities." 8 The OECA then outlines in Publication No. -- 9 final draft -- final publication for fiscal year 2013 10No. 305R12001, Page 27. This -- the OECA outlines a 11multipoint remedy to justify implementing any 12 regulations saying, quote, "regions and delegated 13 state, tribal and local agencies should implement and 14 identify the most important air pollution problems and 15 the most serious violations using specific targeting 16 tools and other information," which are outlined in 17 this document. 18 Today's testimony highlights why it is so 19 important to address the most serious pollution 20problems beginning with the North Central Texas cement 21 kilns. There are -- the North Central Texas has the 22most concentration of cement kilns and very high 23population affected by that. Thank you very much. 24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your 25 testimony.

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1 Mrs. Burgen. And have you submitted a copy 2 out front or do you -- 3 JULIA BURGEN 4 Thank you very much for your doing this 5 today, even though it is the only one in the country. 6 I want to preface with the underlying 7 belief, any business plan has two paramount themes. 8 MR. THOMPSON: I'm sorry to interrupt, 9 but could you state your name for the court 10 reporter. 11 (BY THE SPEAKER) Julia Burgen, J-u-l-i-a, 12 B-u-r-g-e-n, Arlington, Texas 13 MR. THOMPSON: Yes, ma'am. Thank 14you. 15 (BY THE SPEAKER) Any business plan has two 16paramount themes, maximize profits and minimize costs. 17 That's what a business is about. It is imperative 18 under such a system that there be a government agency 19 charged with acting in the interest of the public to 20 see that the businesses and the industries play fair. 21 I am very concerned about proposed changes 22 in the current schedule for 2013 implementation of 23particulate matter standards for cement kilns. From 24 recent readings in area documents and newspapers, I 25 quote a frequently expressed statement, which I will

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1 get to this in a minute. 2 Economics depends on sound environment and 3 healthy communities. I keep hearing that. That has 4 been my mantra since I became politically active in 5 Dallas County in the late 1960s and '70s and then in 6 Tarrant County from the late '80s on. 7 1973 is the earliest date in my files for a 8 letter addressed to EPA regarding air quality, 1973. 9 The earliest item in my files regarding burning of 10 hazardous waste for fuel at cement kilns is dated 11 1988. I have advocated multiple times for regulation 12 of this harmful fuel that is used. 13 That is 24 years in which people have been 14 subjected to breathing hazardous particles in order to 15make cement to fuel the economy. And they want two 16more years? Surely, EPA doesn't want to give it to 17 them. Surely, you are the people's protection agency. 18 The concept of economic success without sound 19 environment and health is an anomaly. It is abnormal. 20 Providing escape clauses for the cement kiln industry 21puts the burden on the breathing public. 22 As an asthmatic, this is three months' 23 supply. My cost for one year's worth of medicine, 24 co-pay, plus drug insurance is $2,000. That doesn't 25 include doctor visits. That is money, $2,000, which I

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1 don't have to spend for the so-called Metroplex's 2 economy's benefit. That money, due to my available 3 drug insurance, goes to Kansas and California. This 4 is just a three-month supply. 5 I am among the fortunate, though, able to 6 fund my health. There are additional local medical 7 visits. But, perhaps, local doctor and medical 8 expenses are figured as a positive for the local 9 economy. Sometimes I wonder why I'm not already dead. 10 I did almost die once in the 1980s from an 11 anaphylactic reaction after a preventative injection. 12 Additional costs due to poor air quality come 13 from donations from caring people to the many social 14 service agencies to assist those with no insurance and 15 little income. And also our property taxes go to 16 support county and local public health agencies. 17 Among our citizens so many exhibit breathing 18problems and it's especially worrisome among the 19young. Our schools and societies are having to deal 20 with these costly issues in ways which truly hamstring 21 economic development, not to mention the future of the 22 individuals involved. 23 We greatly appreciate Downwinders and its 24 leaders for their steadfast effort on this regional 25 shame. Kudos also to Earthjustice for their

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1 leadership on this. I have been a donor to them since 2 1983. They have been the citizens' lawyer against 3 activities by industry which defy the goal of a sound 4 economy and healthy communities. 5 In this case today, the decision in the 6 United States Court of Appeals eight months ago should 7 stand as is without any weakening. To now delay 8 compliance with rules which EPA has proposed should 9 not be an option. Thank you very much. 10 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you. 11 Ladies, before you step away -- before you leave, 12 Ms. Schaar, I will ask the panel if they have any 13 follow-up for you. 14 All right. Thank you very much for your 15 testimony. And just to remind you to please give a 16 copy and thanks for sharing with us a copy of your 17 testimony out front. 18 Everyone, before I call up the next two 19 speakers, I just want to let everybody know that we 20 have a very full agenda today. I mean, we've got 21 speakers right up through 7:00. We're actually 22 running behind. 23 So given that, what I'm asking of you is to 24 just be respectful of folks who are at the table and 25 let them get their five minutes. If you are speaking

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1 and I give you kind of a reminder that your time is 2 up, please be respectful of your time and be 3 respectful of the others that have to speak today. 4 Okay? Thank you very much for that. 5 I would like to ask Mel Caraway and Laray 6 Polk to please come forward. 7 Good afternoon. 8 MEL CARAWAY 9 Good afternoon, and thank you for the 10 opportunity to be here. My name is Mel Caraway. 11 That's M-e-l C-a-r-a-w-a-y. I'm a resident of 12 DeSoto, Texas in the downwind section of Dallas 13 County. I have lived there for the past ten years. 14 I'm here today representing the board of 15 directors of Texas Impact, of which I'm the past 16president. Texas Impact is a statewide grassroots 17 organization whose members include individuals, 18 congregations and governing bodies of Christian, 19 Jewish and Muslim faith communities. 20 Texas Impact exists to advance public 21policies that are consistent with the universally held 22 social principles of all of the Abrahamic faith 23 traditions. I'm also a United Methodist pastor in the 24North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist 25 Church.

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1 What I want to talk a little bit about today 2 is what it means to be a good steward. Preventing 3 pollution, protecting God's creation are shared 4 concerns of all of the world's faith traditions. And 5 these concerns have particular resonance because what 6 we do to God's creation has a direct effect on the 7 health and well-being of all of God's children. 8 Here in Texas and throughout the entire 9 nation, we face a number of challenges each day. Not 10 all of them are budgetary. Some of them are moral. 11 When we make decisions to permit certain economic 12 activities, we have to do so with values that support 13 human life. 14 We must bear strong witness to the ongoing 15 need for all governmental entities to protect the 16 health of our nation's citizens. Good health is a 17prerequisite for an abundant life. And the health of 18 all of our citizens is not just a priority; it must be 19 our top priority. 20 In 2010 EPA finalized standards reducing 21particulate matter from Portland Cement kilns. And 22 these standards were to be fully implemented next 23year. These standards have been upheld by the Circuit 24 Court in Washington, DC. And the current proposal to 25 delay the implementation of these standards by another

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1 two years is not only unconscionable, but it's morally 2 unacceptable. 3 Each day the implementation of these 4 standards is delayed means an increase in preventable 5 deaths, an increase in disease, an increase in costly 6 absences from work and school. From a faith-based 7 perspective, implementation of these standards can 8 only be described as good stewardship. Stewardship of 9 God's creation, stewardship of our children's future, 10 stewardship of our health care dollars, stewardship of 11 our bodies. 12 Speaking from a personal standpoint, I enjoy 13 working in my yard in southern Dallas County, in the 14 shadow of the cement kilns. Several months ago I 15 noticed that I was increasingly becoming short of 16 breath every time I worked in my yard. 17 Three months ago on the Friday before 18 Mother's Day, I had a heart attack while working in 19 the yard. And I had no ideas that all of the 20 scientific evidence shows that I was at a higher risk 21 for that heart attack because of the air that I was 22 breathing when I was in my own yard. 23 It's a problem for me because I enjoy the 24health benefits that I should be able to derive from 25working in my yard. And I want the EPA to protect by

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1 implementing strong protective standards that are 2 based on modern scientific research that will protect 3 my health. 4 My wife also likes to work in the yard, and 5 she has asthma. I want the EPA to protect her health 6 as well. And failure to implement these already 7 approved standards on the current timeline without any 8 further delay is not good stewardship of our precious 9 resources. These standards were mandated and further 10 delay is unacceptable and only places our most 11vulnerable citizens at risk. 12 EPA must reject all pressure from industrial 13polluters to delay and weaken these common sense 14 standards because delaying implementation will ignore 15 the health risk posed to all of our citizen. And all 16Americans deserve to breathe clean air, and we are 17 counting on the EPA to deliver that clean air because 18 that's the clean air that God gave us. 19 I will say that -- one speaker mentioned the 20 EPA's mission statement to protect human health. Here 21 in Texas that was initially part of the mission 22 statement of the Texas Commission on Environmental 23 Quality. They have eliminated that from their mission 24 statement. We don't want EPA to become what TCEQ has 25 become. Thank you.

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1 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Caraway. 2 Mrs. Polk. 3 LARAY POLK 4 Hi. My name is Laray Polk. That's 5 L-a-r-a-y P-o-l-k. 6 I have to say ahead of time, I have no 7 coordination with Mrs. Schaar. We just came to the 8 same type of presentation. Because I came to speak 9 from my heart and tell you what the daily routine of 10my life and my husband's life is like. 11 So I'm bringing Exhibit A. These are his 12 asthma inhalers. And I want to take them out because 13 I want to show how many are on standby at all times. 14 These are in every room of our house. And the reason 15 they're in every room is because of the distance 16 between him and one of these means the distance 17 between life and death. 18 We don't have to look at the news every day 19 for air quality reports. I know about 3:00 in the 20morning when the air is bad, when the air is full of 21particulate matter. So I stay awake and I listen to 22 him and make sure that he catches his next breath; and 23 that if he has difficulty, that he wakes up and he is 24 able to access one of these inhalers. 25 Now, I'm going to kind of venture off that

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1 very, very personal path to another story about the 2 inhalers themselves, which is another federal agency, 3 the FDA, in 2008 said that asthma inhalers -- people 4must take steps to get rid of the chlorofluorocarbons, 5 the propellant because it was determined by scientific 6 consensus that the ozone was being depleted, and that 7 was harmful for everybody. 8 And prior to the FDA making that ruling, we 9 know that there were lobbyists that worked hard to say 10 that ozone depletion, it was a liberal hoax. We don't 11have enough data. We question the scientific 12 validity. And those lobbyists also hired a few select 13 scientists who would say the same thing. And it's 14 just delay tactics. The data are in. We know what 15 the data are. I know what the daily consequences are. 16 And I tell that story because these inhalers 17 cost 20 to $30 more than the inhalers before that did 18 not -- that are not in compliance with FDA. I am 19 saying that we pay the daily price. We're in 20 compliance. My husband and I have decided we don't 21want to contribute to the hole in the ozone. 22 FDA -- the FDA action, it wasn't just the 23 United States Government making that decision. It was 24 a worldwide cooperative action, scientific consensus 25 around the world there is a hole in the ozone. We

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1 work together. We pay a higher price, and we're glad 2 to do it. 3 But I'm also saying -- I'm bringing this 4 back to another type of loop, which the data are in. 5 We know that particulate matter and pollutants are a 6 trigger to severe asthmatic attacks. We live downwind 7 of the cement kilns. And the delay -- this is what 8 we're talking about when we talk about delay in these 9 rules. This is what we're talking about. 10 So the cement kilns and their lobbyists, you know, 11 they can spend unlimited amounts of money lobbying to 12 question the scientific validity. We do not believe 13 the data is in. Well, it is. It's a delay tactic. 14 Spend that money to do what you need to do to be a 15 good steward in the community. 16 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Polk. 17 Are there any follow-up questions? 18 Well, Mr. Caraway and Mrs. Polk, thank you 19 so much for being with us today. 20 Would Melissa Ashmore and Rita Beving come 21 forward if you're here. 22 Good afternoon, ladies. And starting with 23 Mrs. Ashmore. If you pronounce your name for the 24 court reporter and spell it. 25 MELISSA ASHMORE

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1 Melissa Ashmore, M-e-l-i-s-s-a, 2 A-s-h-m-o-r-e. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 4 I am a member of Fort Worth Interfaith Power 5 and Light. I'm here as an individual who happens to 6 be a member of faith, a resident of Burleson, Texas. 7 I want to acknowledge something that somebody 8 else has already acknowledged, that people have come 9 from a great distance to be here. And I appreciate 10 that -- from a great distance away leaving their homes 11 to be here. And I recognize that there are people 12 from the different agencies that have done that as 13 well. 14 And there's a lot more people who I think 15would have been here had they been able to get around 16 scheduling conflicts without having the short notice. 17 So I want to appreciate each and every person who is 18 here today. 19 And I wanted to talk a little bit briefly 20 about traveling here. I think most people are a 21 little bit familiar with Arlington's corridor, their 22 recreational and entertainment corridor where there 23 are lot of people outside, a lot of children outside 24 at Hurricane Harbor on the stairs going up to the 25 slides, a lot of people outside at Six Flags.

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1 And it's also the same place where we can 2 see on the highway what the alert is that day. And I 3 lot of those people are unaware of what that alert 4means, not understanding that they should not be 5 outside on that particular day. And it's -- they 6 shouldn't really have to, I don't believe. 7 I also know that people don't go into public 8 administration, except that they care about the common 9 good. Certainly, those who are employed by the EPA 10 demonstrate their commitment to the environment. And 11people don't go into business in the cement industry 12 because they expressly want to kill people. But 13 they're doing for their families what we do for our 14 only families. And when they can, I hope that they 15will take every action they can to make our community 16 safe. 17 Each us is trying to do the right thing, I 18 believe. But we still have a lot more to do. Each 19person present here, I believe, has heard a lot of 20 statistics today. And I hope that we're able to take 21 those all to heart, and take those to heart, not as 22 statistics, but as people -- 5,000 possible deaths. 23 And I think by now you understand that we, 24 as a community, care greatly about this issue. And we 25 care about those statistics as human beings, not just

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1 as statistics. Some of them are our neighbors, our 2 children, the people we see at the pharmacy. I want 3 you to know that there also is a large community of 4 faith who cares about this too. 5 And from my own personal faith, it's the 6 example of Jesus to love your neighbor. Leading a 7 good Christian life means more than giving money to 8 charity and feeding those who are hungry. It means to 9 me to protect others from harm, as I would hope that 10 they would protect my family. 11 Our Creator calls us to go beyond mere 12 charity, to protect others. And for many of my 13 colleagues, they, from own faith perspectives and 14 their own traditions, have come to a similar 15 conclusion, that we need to do whatever we can to 16protect people. 17 And I stand for those people on the charts 18 as your statistics. I stand with those who have 19 voices that are silenced by soot. We call on the EPA 20 to safeguard the health of our community and nation by 21 implementing emission standards on toxic chemical kiln 22pollution without weakening them and without delay. 23 We challenge each person present to find a 24way to do the right thing, to do what your conscious 25permits you to do and to do what is in your heart.

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1 Thank you. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 3 Mrs. Ashmore. 4 RITA BEVING 5 Good afternoon. My name is Rita Beving. 6 I'm a staffer for Public Citizen. I'm also a 7 volunteer board member of the Dallas Sierra Club, 8 which has approximately 5,000 members in Dallas. And 9 the Fort Worth group probably has around 1,700 10members. And lastly, I'm a long-term member of the 11North Texas Clean Air Steering Committee, which 12 oversees 16 counties in the region on clean air 13 issues. 14 In my view as member of that clean air 15 committee for the region, rules delayed are rules 16 denied. And rules which are denied will deny 17 thousands of people in the Metroplex the relief they 18 need from asthma, respiratory diseases and possible 19 death. 20 Already, hospitals such as Cook's Medical 21 and other facilities have conducted research about the 22 escalation of asthma and other respiratory problems in 23 our region. And I suggest if the EPA doesn't have 24 those studies, that they should get ahold of them 25 because it reflects upon the serious nature of where

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1 we are in non-attainment. 2 Since 1995 I have worked on cement issues 3 with the Sierra Club and Downwinders. We went to an 4 expensive contested case hearing with Texas Industries 5 that lasted for years between the initial hearing and 6 the appeal. 7 Back in 1995 we had an air modeler by the 8 name of Jim Tarr come into the initial hearing on TXI. 9 He proved up at that hearing -- because, as we know, 10 in a contested case hearing, the TCEQ would like to 11 only think people two miles are affected by air 12pollution -- we proved up that there was significant 13 fallout from the TXI kilns at least 17 miles away from 14 those wet kiln stacks. A significant amount of 15 fallout was 13 miles from the stacks. 16 Additionally, during the course of this 17 case, we hired Dr. Marvin Legator from Galveston, a 18 toxicologist with credentials -- he is now deceased -- 19 to conduct a health study in Midlothian. That health 20 study, though, it wasn't admitted in court because we 21wouldn't reveal to TXI's attorneys who participated in 22 that study -- that there were health impacts indicated 23 by that toxicology study. Those studies were quite 24 in-depth. Each study on paper was 13 pages' worth of 25 questions that college students and graduate students

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1 performed on a laptop that were sent to Dr. Ligator. 2 So all the way back to 1995 here in the 3 region, we have had studies, air modelers and so forth 4 look at the effects of cement kilns in our backyard. 5 TXI, Holcim, Ash Grove, they have fought tooth and 6 nail against regulations. 7 During my course of time on the North Texas 8 Clean Air Steering Committee when Margaret Kelleher, a 9 republican judge from Dallas, spoke to the Portland 10 Cement Association about actually helping them fund 11 new technology for these kilns by which they could 12 clean up, of which Mayor Burroughs from Denton also 13 was on that cement kiln subcommittee. 14 The Portland Cement Association did nothing 15 but buck any new pollution controls that could be put 16 on these kilns, even when it was supplemented by 17 funding. And now today they're here bucking rules 18 once again. I have a message for the cement kilns. 19And it's simply this: They need to simply clean up or 20 shut up and shut down. 21 Delaying these rules are going to cause 22 deaths and more trips to the emergency rooms. We're 23 going to have more particulate pollution, of which 24 it's been clearly proven the effects of particulate 25pollution. And lastly, we will continue to have

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1 increased mercury pollution. The time to delay is 2 over. We need these rules implemented now and not 3 later. Thank you. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 5 Are there any follow-up questions for 6 Mrs. Ashmore or Mrs. Beving? 7 MR. BARNETT: You mentioned that you had 8 talked with the PCA about potential new pollution 9 controls. Do you -- were there any specific controls 10you had in mind at that time, or did you not get far 11 enough to -- 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) At the time we were 13 talking about SCR and some other various levels of 14pollution controls, some which has already been used 15 in Germany and in Italy. And we have the 16 documentation. I'm sure Mike Eastland from COG could 17 get you the documentation on what was reviewed. And 18 this was some time ago. I want to say it's -- Jim 19 served on that air committee probably three air 20 committees ago when that was discussed. 21 So those possibilities for the Portland 22 Cement Association and for the cement kilns were put 23 out there then with Margaret Kelleher fully willing to 24 lobby to get them the money to help underwrite those 25 new controls.

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1 MR. BARNETT: Well, you know, if you 2 have some information on those types of controls, we 3 certainly would be happy to see that. 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) I'm sure between 5 Mr. Schermbeck or myself or Judge Kelleher, we could 6 get that to you. Thank you. 7 MR. BARNETT: Thank you. 8 MR. THOMPSON: Ladies, thank you both for 9 being here and for your testimony. 10 I would like to ask Bill Betzen and Gordon 11 Jones to please come forward. And starting with Mr. 12 Betzen, if you will pronounce and spell your name for 13 the court reporter. 14 BILL BETZEN 15 My name is Bill Betzen, That's B-e-t-z, as 16 in zebra, -e-n. And everybody by that name is a 17 relative, so that's the way it goes. But I'm from 18 Dallas, from ZIP code 75237. And I moved to the 19 Metroplex 45 years ago. 20 I came from a little town in the Panhandle 21 called Hereford. It's the highest concentration of 22 grain-fed beef on the planet. So needless to say, 23 we've got our own air pollution problems. 24 But my dad taught me a lesson when he built 25 his first feed yard. He built it a mile downwind from

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1 our house out in the country. I mean, we were out in 2 the middle of nowhere. But he put it a mile downwind. 3 And as that feed yard developed, I learned the lesson 4 of prevailing wind very well. Dad was very smart. 5 So then I moved to Dallas, and I went to 6 school here. And then about 40 years ago, I started 7 working. And I'm a teacher, social worker. I worked 8 mostly the last 40 years with children in West Dallas. 9 So as you can figure, I saw the effects of pollution 10 firsthand. The RSR smelter and the fact that all of 11 the pollution was on the north side of that smelter. 12 There was a little bit on all sides, but the highest 13 concentration was on the north side. 14 And I also saw the effects on the children. 15 I mean, it was not good. And it continues to this 16 day. That's why Pinkston High School right in the 17middle of West Dallas still has major achievement 18 issues amongst the students. So that brings me here 19 today. Because pollution in general causes multiple 20problems. 21 Well, then I went to buy my own home in 1975 22 in Dallas. And I paid attention to my dad's lesson, 23 and I looked at the prevailing wind in Dallas. So I'm 24 in South Oak Cliff. I bought a house there years ago, 25 best decision I've ever made. I've raised four kids,

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1 have six grandkids. They all live in Dallas. And 2 that's why I'm here today. 3 I'm concerned because back when I built that 4 house, the pollution I was aware of was downtown 5 Dallas. Now it's south of me. It's that cement kiln. 6 And I do not -- it's amazing to me -- since both of my 7 sons are science teachers, it's rather surprising this 8 is an issue. It seems like the science has advanced 9 well enough that we know the dangers of that 10prevailing wind and of what is being blown onto the 11 Metroplex. 12 Now, in the years that I've been in my home, 13 I have had the lesson repeated over and over that I 14made a wise decision. If you remember, back in the 15 '80s and the '90s on TV in Dallas -- I don't know if 16y'all are from Dallas -- but we used to have -- it was 17 very common to have a map of the high ozone area in 18 Dallas. They would have it circled in a different 19 color so it kind of stood out from the others. 20 And that map was almost always north of I-30 21 because the prevailing wind, it blows the pollution 22 north. But they stopped doing that map about ten 23years ago. They don't do it on the evening news. I 24presume Realtors on the north side of town got tired 25 of it, and that may have be what affected it. I don't

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1 know. 2 But they are not doing the public a service 3 by not making it public as to where the highest 4 concentrations of pollution are. Where is the most 5 dangerous air in Dallas in the Metroplex? The public 6 needs to know. And that's probably the most critical 7 message that I would like to get across. I know 8 you're talking about standards and getting the 9 standards in. 10 But if the public knew what was happening, 11 there would not be any standing room in this building. 12 I mean, they would be here. Because the effects that 13 we're talking about are overwhelming. Mercury -- I 14mean, just so many things that have so many problems. 15 Just now when I was driving from my home, I 16 come down I-20. And if you're familiar with I-20, as 17you come across the hill, you will come down into 18 valley where Fort Worth and Arlington are. And you 19 can just see the air from Dallas to Fort Worth. And 20 needless to say, it's hazy. And how much of it comes 21 from that kiln? 22 You know, that's what we've got to fight, 23 and we have got to go forward with the standards that 24were approved and not delay. It's just simply too 25 dangerous for my grandchildren and for all the

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1 grandchildren who live in Dallas. It's just not safe. 2 I have got a sister-in-law who is on oxygen 3 here in the Metroplex, and I'm sure it's affected by 4 the cement kilns. So we've got to watch that. 5 Finally, I just simply need to say -- and it's a 6 sentence -- we need air quality maps to return to the 7 public media. We need air quality maps to return. 8 They need to be normal on the evening news, just a 9 fast blip so people can see where it's at. But that 10 needs to be a normal fixture. If it becomes a normal 11 fixture, then we're going to have more public 12 attention. Thank you. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Betzen. 14 Mr. Jones. 15 GORDON JONES 16 My name is Gordon Jones. I'm from Double 17 Oak, Texas, which is about 35 miles north of here. 18 I'm a homeowner. I've been in the area for 24 years 19 in the area. And I like concrete and cement. I won't 20 deny it. I like to build things. We poured our own 21 driveway, in fact, two years ago. I formed it up 22myself. I helped finish it up. And it was 22 yards. 23 It was a huge project, really nice, wife loved it. 24 But I'm also an air traffic controller of 23 25years and eligible to retire. And I'm a marathon

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1 runner. As a runner, I have an interest in breathing 2 air that is low in particulates. 3 I haven't yet fallen prey to any of the 4 ailments that some of the people before me have 5 developed. Thank goodness. But I'm waiting for the 6 day. 7 When we poured our driveway, it was the dead 8 of winter. And because of that, it was below 9 freezing, and we had to pay for the calcium 10 additive -- I don't know if you guys are familiar with 11 that -- $2 to $5 per yard. And it was 22 yards, so it 12was a premium, which I gladly paid because I didn't 13 want the thing to crack five years down the road. 14 From what it sounds like, if the cement 15 companies have to comply with their clean -- their 16particulates and mercury and things, it will cost a 17 little bit more. And they will inevitably pass that 18 cost on to us, and I will gladly pay for that so I can 19 keep running and my children can stay in our school 20 district. It's a wonderful district. 21 As a federal employee, however, I know 22 firsthand the corruption, incompetence and downright 23 willful subversion of the rules, all in the name of 24 expediency. This was all too apparent when our first 25 speaker of the day, Mr. O'Hare, presented,

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1 representing the cement companies bemoaned that his 2 industry needed more time, two years to implement the 3 regulations. Place this in the stark contrast to the 4 two weeks that this agency has given us to speak, and 5 you see what is going on. 6 And finally, I pray that those who have the 7 power, perhaps, not you, but whoever has the power to 8 make the upcoming decisions are not swayed to this 9 pervasive corrosiveness. 10 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Jones. 11 Gentlemen, sit tight for a second. 12 Any follow-up? 13 Okay. I have a question, though, for 14Mr. Betzen. You referenced a high school, and I 15missed that. 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) Pinkston, 17 P-i-n-k-s-t-o-n, High School. I have been working 18 with the children there for a long time. But that is 19 a factor. The children have suffered from pollution 20 there. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, sir. 22 Thank you for your testimony. 23 (BY THE SPEAKER) You're very welcome. 24 Thank y'all for doing this? 25 MR. THOMPSON: I would like to ask Ann

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1 Trenton and Linda Hanratty. Good afternoon, ladies. 2 Are you Mrs. Trenton? We would like to start 3 with you. Just pronounce your name and spell if for 4 the court reporter. 5 ANN TRENTON 6 Ann Trenton, T-r-e-n-t-o-n. First name is 7 Ann. And I live in Arlington. 8 And I am delighted that all the spots today 9 are filled. That is excellent. I am here actually to 10 wish you courage to stand by your original decision to 11 go with the standards of 2010 and compliance of 2013. 12 I realize -- and I think everybody has 13 expressed this concern about the forces of industry 14 and politics that, you know, certainly appear to be at 15play. And so I really trust, and I hope that just, 16you know, the fact that we have -- in fact, just had 17 one day, we do have people here despite the fact that 18many people working could not come and so forth, that 19 the EPA knows that people are interested, that you do 20 have our support. 21 And so as far as the health considerations 22 that have been raised, I'm sure that those were 23 considerations that the EPA thought of when making its 24 decision. So I just -- health simply trumps a lot of 25profit concerns. And so that's basically -- you know,

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1 I would just ditto a lot of the comments that have 2 been previously made and trust that you, the EPA, will 3 make the right decision and stand by its -- stand its 4 ground. Thank you. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 6 Mrs. Trenton. 7 LINDA HANRATTY 8 I am Linda Hanratty. It's Linda with an 9 "i." And Hanratty is H-a-n-r-a-t-t-y. And I'm here 10 representing the League of Women Voters of Texas and 11 the League of Woman Voters of the United States. 12 On behalf of those two groups, I want to 13 thank you -- it's one group, but two -- one 14 organization. Anyway, I want to thank you for holding 15 this hearing in Arlington, Texas. Unfortunately, I 16must express our disappointment for EPA's proposal to 17 dilute the previously proposed regulations to reduce 18 and better monitor the emissions of the Portland 19 Cement manufacturing industry. 20 As you know, Texas has 11 of the 93 cement 21manufacturing plants in the United States. While the 22 93 facilities average less than two kilns per plant, 23many of the facilities in Texas have a number of 24 kilns, including the largest, TXI in Midlothian with 25 five.

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1 Of the 11 cement manufacturing facilities in 2 Texas, eight are arrayed along the limestone deposits 3 of the Interstate 35 corridor between Dallas/Fort 4 Worth to the north and San Antonio to the south. This 5 area had a 2010 population of almost 11 million 6 representing over 43 percent of the Texas population. 7 So the impacts of the cement kiln emissions affect a 8 very large population. 9 Our specific comments are as follows: We 10 support implementation in 2013 as originally proposed. 11 Delaying implementation of stricter emission standards 12 until September 2015 would keep our air dirtier and 13 embolden the industry to continue its efforts to 14 defeat even these watered-down standards. 15 Mercury continuous emission monitors, or 16 CEMs. We continue to support CEMs for mercury 17 emissions because we understand that when EPA 18monitored mercury emissions, it selected cement 19plants. Their emissions readings were significantly 20 higher than the formula-based self-reported readings 21 numbers currently used to report emissions. Actual 22mercury emission data are needed to ascertain the 23probable impact of emissions on the surrounding 24watersheds. 25 We also support CEMs for monitoring other

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1 emissions. Because without accurate monitoring, it is 2 difficult to determine compliance with emission 3 standards. We support emission standards for startup, 4 shutdown and malfunctioning equal to normal operating 5 conditions. We do not support industry monitoring of 6 startups and shutdowns via recordkeeping as the new 7 regulations propose. And it has to do with your 8 findings in your original draft regulations. 9 We accept keeping the emission standards for 10mercury, hydrochloride and total hydrocarbons at their 11 current proposed levels. We are very concerned about 12 the new particulate matter emissions standards, given 13 the negative health impacts of this form of air 14pollution. And I'm sure you have heard about that all 15 day. 16 Midlothian, Texas in the Dallas/Fort Worth 17 Consolidated Metropolitan Area, or CMSA, has the 18 largest concentration of cement plants in the U.S. 19And I suspect that's why you're here today. The 20 Midlothian cement kilns are also the largest 21 stationary source of air pollution in the Dallas/Fort 22 Worth CSMA. 23 Thus, the previously proposed emission 24 standards would greatly enhance the region's ability 25 to meet air quality standards, something they have not

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1 done for years. 2 Thank you for the opportunity to comment on 3 these proposed regulations. Please reconsider the 4 dilution of the previously approved rules which had 5 the potential to greatly improve the air and water 6 quality in Texas and the nation. Thank you. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 8 Mrs. Hanratty. 9 Are there any questions for Mrs. Trenton or 10 Mrs. Hanratty? 11 Ladies, thank you both for your testimony 12 today. Thank you very much. 13 At this time I would like to ask Suzanne 14 Dunlop and Daniel Harrison to come forward with your 15 testimony. 16 Good afternoon. Starting with you, 17 Mrs. Dunlap, if you could just state your name and 18 spell it for the court reporter. 19 SUZANNE DUNLAP 20 I'm Suzanne Dunlap, S-u-z-a-n-n-e, 21 D-u-n-l-a-p. I am a citizen of Fort Worth. I have 22 lived in this area, and I have practiced as a 23pharmacist in this area for the last 20 years. 24 I am increasingly concerned about the air 25 quality of my environment. I have made this my home,

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1 and I do not want to move. I have been here for a 2 time now, and this is where I would like to stay. 3 I'm an active -- nonsmoker. I live an 4 active outdoor lifestyle. I like to bike. I like to 5 hike. I like to canoe the rivers and streams in the 6 area. I ride motorcycles. And in 2010 I competed as 7 an amateur mountain bike racer. 8 In January of 2010, getting ready for the 9 new season, I found that I was getting short of breath 10 while riding my bike. I went to see the doctor. He 11 did two chest x-rays and diagnosed exercise 12 intolerance the first time of my life of 45 years. 13 This cost was at $250. 14 On March 16th of 2010, I returned to the 15 doctor's of office. I had shortness of breath, 16malaise and fatigue. We did another chest x-ray and 17 an EKG. I was diagnosed at that time with reactive 18 airway disease. Again, never before had I had a 19problem like this in my history. 20 I was then sent to Fort Worth Heart. They 21 did a stress echo test. Conclusions, no evidence of 22myocardial ischemia, good function capacity, normal 23 ejection fraction. In other words, everything was 24normal. There was nothing wrong with my heart. 25 I followed back up on March 23rd again with

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1my regular doctor, again diagnosed with reactive 2 airway disease and shortness of breathe. I was sent 3 for a CT scan. Fort Worth Heart cost $450. I don't 4 recall how much the CT scan was. But at that time I 5 was diagnosed with asthma. So at a cost of over 6 $1,000. 7 I see here that I was diagnosed with asthma 8 and reactive airway disease, which is a result of 9 probably particulate matter in our air. So I'm 10 guessing at over $1,000 cost with the medical doctor, 11you probably could have diagnosed that yourself, 12 knowing what the history of this area for the last 20 13years that we have had such poor air quality. 14 I believe it wasn't too long ago that we 15were in the top five of the nation for the worst air 16 quality in the whole United States. I was kind of 17 shocked to hear that. 18 Recently, I made a trip out of town. When I 19 came back in town, it was a nice spring day. I had my 20 windows rolled down. And when I was just south of 21 Burleson, as I was coming into town, my eyes began to 22water. My skin began to feel sticky. My throat 23 tightened up, and my chest tightened up. And I 24 thought to myself, what in the world am I doing 25 bringing myself into this environment?

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1 I'm living in a place where the air is 2 toxic. I can't imagine what it's doing to the 3 children that live here, the elderly. I'm a healthy, 4young adult. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm driving 5 into a cesspool of poor air quality. Why are we 6 allowing this to happen? 7 I have an automobile, as most of us do. 8 Every year I go for an inspection. Every year, if 9 that car doesn't pass, I don't get inspected. I don't 10 drive it on the road. If I do, I get a citation. If 11 I continue to drive it, I will get another citation. 12 I don't get away with polluting the air and the water 13 in the environment. As a citizen, I'm held 14 accountable. 15 I'm asking you to hold the companies that 16pollute the air so much more than the average 17 individual here to hold them accountable as you do us. 18 You're charged with us, our human lives, our health, 19 the environment. I ask you -- I'm sure you went into 20your field of study at one time because you had a 21 concern for the environment, the care of the people. 22 Please, I'm asking you to take a stand, take 23 a stand. Look back on your values where you came 24 from, why you're here. Consider that, and use your 25values. Stand up and do what you think is the right

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1 thing to do. Thank you. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Dunlap. 3 Mr. Harrison. 4 DANIEL HARRISON 5 Hello. My name is Daniel Harrison. That's 6 D-a-n-i-e-l H-a-r-r-i-s-o-n. I live in ZIP code 75211 7 in Dallas. I've been in Dallas since 1999. And I'm 8 here, although I'm having trouble getting my mind 9 wrapped around the reason that we're having this 10 hearing. 11 As I understand, for over 10 years, the EPA 12 studied the issue of air pollution from cement plants. 13 The evidence was found that the pollution causes 14 asthma, heart attacks, brain damage, cancer and as 15many as 2,500 early deaths every year. As of earlier 16 this year, the EPA was ready to enact rules to clean 17 up this toxic air pollution. 18 But now, as of last month, the EPA is going 19 to weaken those rules and delay them by two years. 20 What is going on here? Are you saying that this 21 decision is because of a court settlement with the 22 Portland Cement Association? But that case was 23 decided in the EPA's favor, I understand. 24 How can that case require that the 25protections against cement plant pollution be weakened

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1 or delayed. Are you actually proposing to raise the 2 particulate matter pollution standard by 50 percent? 3 Is that a scientifically-based amount of increase in 4 the PM standard? 5 In addition, there is scientific data that 6 shows that the current levels of pollution from cement 7 plants are negatively affecting public in nearby 8 communities and resulting in deaths, asthma and heart 9 attacks. These health problems could be greatly 10 reduced if the cement plants had to change their 11 operations to comply with the standards which the EPA 12was prepared to enact. 13 So what has changed to cause the EPA to 14 reverse course on the standards? I have not heard 15 anyone claim that previous EPA estimates of the 16 adverse health consequences from cement pollution are 17wrong. It appears that the EPA is proposing this 18 regulatory rollback due to political pressure from the 19 regulated industry. That is a very sad development. 20 The public depends on the EPA to clean up the 21 air and enforce regulations to protect public health. 22 Those of us who live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area 23 have waited long enough for these rules. Please drop 24 this proposal to delay them further. We don't have 25 any more time to delay, and we need the standards to

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1 be scientifically based and based on health standards. 2 Thank you. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 4 Mr. Harrison. 5 Any questions for Mrs. Dunlap or 6 Mr. Harrison? 7 Well, thank you both very much for being 8 here, and thank you for your testimony. 9 I would like to ask Penelope Bisbee and 10 Sherry Kessel to please come forward. 11 Good afternoon, ladies. Thanks for coming. 12 We'll start with Mrs. Bisbee. Just state your name 13 and spell it for the court reporter and begin your 14 testimony. 15 PENELOPE BISBEE 16 My name is Penelope Bisbee, P-e-n-e-l-o-p-e 17 B-i-s-b-e-e. Hi, Sharon, Fred, Keith and Ruben. How 18 are you? Okay. I live in Dallas, Texas, 75214. 19 Thank you for being here. 20 I am here as a concerned citizen. I am 21wearing this "No Rollback" sticker so that you have a 22 big clue the direction I'm headed. As a concerned 23 citizen, I'm not concerned about TXI, Holcim or Ash 24 Grove making enough profit to pay lobbyists and 25 support political action committees.

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1 Please don't roll back what has already been 2 decided. Abide by your mission of protecting our 3 health and environment. I am asking you to be fierce 4 in your mission. Don't let industry be your bully. 5 I have four kitty-cats. They're very sweet. 6 When one of them does something they think they 7 shouldn't, they're so quick to scamper off and abandon 8 their plans to shred the side of the sofa. 9 EPA, don't be the kitty-cat. Be fierce. Be 10 the lion. Stand up to industry and politicians and 11 the pocket of industry. Be the lion. Thank you. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Bisbee. 13 Mrs. Kissel. 14 SHERRY KESSEL 15 Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing 16me to address this panel. Today I would like to speak 17 to you, not about a gas driller fracing in Dallas, 18 Texas but about John Glenn, the astronaut. 19 MR. THOMPSON: Ms. Kessel, if I could 20 interrupt, could you state your name and spell if for 21 the court reporter. 22 (BY THE SPEAKER) Oh, I apologize. I'm so 23 sorry. It's Sherry Kessel, S-h-e-r-r-y K-e-s-s-e-l. 24 I live in Carrollton, Texas 75006. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you.

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1 (BY THE SPEAKER) So I'm here to talk to you 2 about John Glenn, the astronaut. Upon his return from 3 space, Mr. Glenn explained that the one thing that 4 truly shocked and amazed him and impressed him more 5 than any other thing from his flight was how very tiny 6 and thin the layer of air is that surrounds our earth, 7 a layer merely thousands of feet high adjacent to the 8 vast infinity we call space. 9 He gave an analogy in which he stated that, 10 if the diameter of the earth was the height of his 11 body, the layer of air around it would be about this 12 thick, just a millimeter or two. Please think about 13 it. How precious this wonderful life-giving layer of 14 air is. Beyond it there's nothing but the vacuum of 15 endless space. 16 Ladies and gentlemen, our little layer of 17 air is being abused. And so it has no voice. So I'm 18 here to speak for it. By trade, just up until last 19year, I was, for the past 25 years, a traveling 20 saleswoman throughout the state of Texas. I 21wholesaled optical frames, and I carried them in huge, 22 large heavy sales rep bags. 23 Because my home office in New York only paid 24me $50 -- that's $50 for a hotel, I tried to look for 25 inexpensive Motel 6 type of places. And I would

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1 always ask for a room on the first floor that opened 2 into the parking lot. This way I could carry my sales 3 rep bags in with little difficulty. 4 On two different occasions within the past 5 several years, once in Houston and once in Odessa, I 6 was awakened in the wee hours of the night by noxious, 7 toxic gas fumes. Evidently, in Houston a refinery was 8 dumping poison into the air about 4:00 or 5:00 a.m. 9 These fumes were so strong, they woke me up. And I'm 10 a pretty sound sleeper. 11 A few years ago I was in a motel along I-20 12 in Odessa. I remember waking up around 3:00 or 4:00 13 in the morning because I sensed my eyes were burning. 14When I opened them, they were really smarting. And 15 there was a horrible strong gas smell in the room. 16 You could literally almost feel the particulates in 17 the air. It was sort of like a barely visible foggy 18 vapor. 19 I assumed that my room had a faulty air 20 conditioner spewing poisonous fumes, so I ran to open 21 the door to let in fresh air. But when I opened my 22 door, it was much worse. It was the outside air. So 23 I quickly closed my door, and I looked around in 24horror. My eyes were still really burning badly, and 25 now I was having difficulty inhaling.

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1 So I jumped to the phone and called the 2 front desk, but there was no answer. So alone and 3 afraid in an attempt not to breathe it directly in, I 4 simply got under my covers and used the sheets and 5 blankets as a face mask. I lay in bed thinking, this 6 must have been what the gas chambers were like in 7 Nazi, Germany. It was totally surreal. Of course, 8 there was no getting back to sleep at all. 9 And talk about fumes, I was fuming mad. 10 Some for reason the EPA never even came into my mind. 11 Instead I lay there lamenting the fact that all I had 12 between me and these poisonous noxious fumes was 13 Governor Perry. But knowing how he favors big 14business over the rest of us, I figured why even 15 bother to call his office? What is the use? 16 In the morning the front desk lady said that 17 there was a plant up street that was the source of the 18problem. It was a tire plant. People who have homes 19 with bedrooms that don't open into the parking lot 20probably don't notice the poisonous fumes when they're 21 sleeping in the middle of the night. They probably 22 have better insulation for windows and doors. 23 But my eyes and my lungs knew it that night, 24 and they are here today to testify to it. It 25 happened, and it happens routinely while we all sleep.

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1 It doesn't matter whether it's a refinery, a tire 2 plant or a cement plant. Any business that abuses our 3 thin, little layer of air around our planet needs to 4 be stopped. 5 Of course, people working in them have jobs 6 and families that rely on these plants. But science 7 needs to be applied so that the jobs would be 8 plentiful and our air will not be under assault by 9 pollutants. 10 Unless these businesses can solidly prove 11 they're part of the solution and not the problem, I 12 say they need to be intensely monitored, especially 13 late at night by watch dogs from EPA. Let your 14 conscience be your guide. Let the EPA do its job 15without interference and support them to the 16 fullest. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Are you about to make 18your final thoughts? 19 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yeah. I've got two or 20 three sentences. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Your time is up. 22 (BY THE SPEAKER) Give me 15 seconds. 23 MR. THOMPSON: Final thoughts. 24 (BY THE SPEAKER) Do it for Dallas. Do it 25 for the people of Odessa. Do it so no other sales rep

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1 has to hide under their covers, choking in an attempt 2 to try to breathe. But most of all, do it for yours 3 and mine and Astronaut John Glenn's miraculous and 4 incredible life-sustaining, little, tiny layer of 5 vulnerable air surrounding Planet Earth. And thank 6 you for the additional 15 seconds. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you. 8 Are there any questions for Mrs. Bisbee or 9 Mrs. Kessel? 10 Thank you both for being here and for your 11 testimony. 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) And thank you so very much 13 for really coming here. And please, please support 14 the people. 15 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you both. 16 I would like to ask Joanne Stewart and Faith 17 Delevante to please come forward. Thank you. 18 I would like to start with Mrs. Stewart 19please. State your name and spell it for the court 20 reporter. 21 Good afternoon, ladies. 22 JOANNE STEWART 23 I am Joanne Steward. I live at 2004 24 Elmridge, Arlington, Texas 76012. And you spell my 25 name J-o-a-n-n-e S-t-e-w-a-r-t

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1 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you. 2 (BY THE SPEAKER) I am here today to ask you 3 not to roll back the protections that were established 4 to start in 2013. I don't need anybody to tell me 5 that there is pollution in the air. Because when I go 6 out about on my errands and look towards the horizon, 7 I can see a dirty haze in the air when I look towards 8 Fort Worth or towards Dallas. 9 I have a lot of friends who have breathing 10 difficulties. And they would have been here today, 11 but they couldn't for one reason or another. And they 12 said that they would be sending you some e-mails. So 13 I hope that you will receive them and read them. 14 And I wanted to tell you about another 15 friend I have. Her name is Melissa Gutzmer, and she 16 has two little girls, Maddie and Mellie. And the 17 little girls have drawn some pictures. 18 Maddie, 4 -- I don't know if you can see. 19 It's kind of -- has drawn this picture of she and 20 herself outside with the sun shining, and she is 21 really happy. But she had her mother put a caption on 22 the picture. And it says, I can't go out and play. 23 It's an ozone day. 24 And her little sister, who is only 2, did 25 her best representation of a happy day outside. But

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1 she also had her mother say for her on a caption, I 2 can't go out and play because it's an ozone day. 3 So on behalf of all of the little Mellies 4 and Maddies who would like to go out and play -- but 5 when it's an alert ozone day, an Orange Alert day, 6 they are supposed to stay inside. And we have had a 7 lot of those. 8 So on behalf of them, I ask you not to roll 9 back the protections that were established and set to 10 go into place in 2013 and to keep that date. Thank 11you very much. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Stewart. 13And thank the two young ladies for those photographs, 14 those pictures. 15 MIRIAM FAITH DELEVANTE 16 Okay. My name is Miriam Faith Delevante. I 17 go by Faith. The Miriam is silent, but I will spell 18 it all out for you. It's M-i-r-i-a-m F-a-i-t-h and 19 Delevante is D-e-l-e-v-a-n-t-e. I live on Fair Meadow 20 Drive in 76012, which is just a little north of here 21 in Arlington. 22 And I have COPD, which gives me difficulty 23 when breathing. Particularly on days when it's bad 24 outside, I have trouble breathe. I have to keep the 25 Combivent with me, and I have something to use in the

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1 evening with me too. 2 And I just -- Joanne brought it up well. 3 It's not only myself with COPD or other people like me 4 or people with asthma. It's also little children who 5 get sick and have -- there's more cases of asthma that 6 you hear of than there ever has been. And the little 7 babies, that scares me. Little babies come into our 8 environment in their treated air that is not safe, not 9 healthy and certainly is doing things to their bodies. 10 So I ask you like Joanne did and like the 11 others do, please don't roll back the rules. Please 12make these manufacturers abide by the rules. Because 13 what it's costing in human life and the quality of 14 life is much more, much more important than what it 15 cost in money to make the corrections. And I thank 16you very much for listening. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much for 18your testimony, Mrs. Delevante. 19 Are there any questions for Mrs. Stewart or 20 Mrs. Delevante? 21 Ladies, thank you both for being here. 22 Thank you. 23 I would like Grace Darling and Becky 24 Bornhorst to please come forward. 25 Hello, ladies. Thanks for coming.

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1 Well, Mrs. Darling, please state your name 2 and spell it for the court reporter and begin your 3 testimony. 4 GRACE DARLING 5 My name is Grace Darling. That's G-r-a-c-e, 6 Darling just the way it sounds, D-a-r-l-i-n-g. And I 7 am here today representing the Arlington Conservation 8 Council, which is an environmental nonprofit in 9 Arlington. We have been in business for 42 years. 10 My members are so confused. I'm the 11president, by the way. And we are totally confused 12 about this proposed rollback. We don't understand the 13 reasons for it. The perception is very strong that it 14has to do with political motives because the science 15 certainly would not back it up. 16 We ask you to please stand by the 2010 rules 17 and enforce them as proposed. Because if you roll 18 back, the perception is going to be that the 19 grassroots organizations in this area who have been 20 working on this issue with the cement plants for 21 20-some years are wasting their time. It will have a 22 really bad chilling effect on future efforts to try to 23 clean up our air. 24 It will just really take the wind out of our 25 sales. We win so few victories, and we need your

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1 organization, the EPA, to really back us up. If it's 2 for political reasons, please reconsider. My board 3 has recommended that we write to President Obama and 4 let him know just what the effect on us is going to be 5 for the future in terms of grassroots organizations 6 fighting local environmental issues that are so 7 important to us. Thank you for your time. 8 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Darling. 9 Mrs. Bornhorst, please. 10 BECKY BORNHORST 11 Becky, B-e-c-k-y, Bornhorst, 12 B-o-r-n-h-o-r-s-t. 13 I am submitting written comments, which I 14 originally gave orally on June 17th, 2009. Three 15years ago, we were here testifying about the exact 16 same issue. We were optimistic because we had a new 17president who was touting hope and change. We had 18 great hope for change. 19 In my testimony I pleaded that you ignore 20 industry's complaints that they could not meet the 21 emissions standards in these rules. I testified about 22 the equipment available to industry to allow them to 23meet the standards, the new limits. None of that has 24 changed in three years, except more asthma attacks, 25more heart attacks, more deaths.

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1 I am furious that we are forced to do this 2 again. I am furious that we were given so little time 3 to notify citizens at the end of the summer. I am 4 furious with the Obama Administration for caving to 5 industry's demands. And I'm furious because my dear 6 friend, Sue Pope, is too ill to be here to testify. 7 Sue has been asking for your help longer than 8 anybody. She has been dealing with her closest 9 neighbors, the cement plants for many years, the 10 cement plants in Midlothian, Texas. And because of 11your delays, it may be too late for Sue. Sue was told 12 last Friday that the only thing that is going to save 13 her is a heart transplant. A transplant, that is very 14 devastating. Sue has lived on her family's homestead 15 for longer than the cement plants have been there. 16 I am also furious for the woman who sent in 17 this testimonial who couldn't be here. And I quote 18 her, "My 19-year-old daughter died in her sleep. She 19 had severe asthma and respiratory problems. I have 20 had COPD since I was 30, and I never smoked. My 21 remaining daughter has had asthma since the age of 15. 22 We have lived here for 60 years in this worsening 23North Texas D/FW air." 24 "Please, these rules being delayed will 25 cause deaths and illness of the most vulnerable, the

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1 children and the elderly, the ones who already have 2 heart and lung disease. Stop this now." 3 How many more of us will end up like this 4 woman and Sue before you do something about it? 5 According to your own numbers, these rules could save 6 up to 2,500 lives a year and up to $18 billion a year 7 in health care costs. It simply will not cost the 8 industry that much money to make the upgrades to meet 9 the standards. 10 It's a matter of choice, and I fear the 11 Obama Administration is choosing industry over public 12 health. I'm pleading with you to recommend the only 13 right choice for public health and support the final 14 2010 cement kiln air toxic standards and implement 15 them on time next year. That is the only honorable 16 choice. Thank you. 17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 18 Mrs. Bornhorst. 19 Are there any questions for Mrs. Darling or 20 Mrs. Bornhorst? 21 MS. NIZICH: You said that you had 22 testified at the last hearing, and you had information 23 on control technologies? 24 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes, I did. 25 MS. NIZICH: Are you going to submit

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1 that again this time? 2 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes. I'm going to submit 3 it in writing. 4 MS. NIZICH: Okay. And anything about 5 the control technologies relevant to the timing it 6 takes to get those up and running, if you have that 7 information, we would like to see that. 8 (BY THE SPEAKER) No. I don't have anything 9 that specific. 10 MS. NIZICH: Okay. Well, whatever you 11have, just please add it to the record. 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. 13 MS. NIZICH: Okay. Because you have 30 14 days after today, 30 days with anything relevant to 15 this particular hearing and that's relevant what you 16 have. You can supplement it. 17 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. Thank you. 18 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Well, 19 Mrs. Darling and Mrs. Bornhorst, thank you very much 20 for being here, and thank you for your testimony. 21 All right. At this time we're going to take 22 a ten-minute break. We will start again at, let's 23 say, 4:33. According to my clock, it's 4:23. So see 24you in ten minutes. Thank you. 25 (Recess taken at 4:23 to 4:35.)

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1 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would 2 like to ask Louise Dunn and Jules Sears to please come 3 forward. 4 Again, ladies and gentlemen in the back of 5 the room, I'll need to ask you to take a seat so we 6 can move forward. Thank you so much, so much. 7 Hello, ladies. We'll start with you, 8 Mrs. Dunn. If you could just state your name and 9 spell it for the court reporter and then begin your 10 testimony 11 LOUISE DUNN 12 My name is Louise Dunn. That's L-o-u-i-s-e 13 D-u-n-n. I have been a resident of Arlington for 30 14years. 15 I am here because I care about the health of 16 everybody in our country. But more than anyone, I 17 care about my grandchildren. And one of them has a 18 very severe case of asthma, and the other has a slight 19 case. 20 So after 20 years of delay, the EPA finally 21 released those rules in 2010 that were the first toxic 22 air pollution standards for all United States cement 23plants. They were -- these rules were the largest 24 single advance in air quality for the U.S. cement 25 industry and were universally supported by the

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1 citizens living near and around the nation's cement 2 plants. But it seems like at the last minute, they 3 got yanked by the administration's Office of 4 Management and Budget. 5 The EPA pulled the rules back and has 6 proposed to change them in at least two very important 7 ways. You've proposed to wait another two years 8 before implementing the rules at all U.S. plants from 9 2013 to 2015. 10 The EPA also proposes to weaken the cement 11plant standards for particulate matter pollution and 12 no longer use real-time monitoring of PM pollution to 13 enforce that standard. Instead, plants will use 14 special supervised test burns that don't reflect 15 routine operating conditions. 16 Here in North Texas, there are three large 17 cement plants, TXI, Holcim and Ash Grove. And they 18 still generate thousands of tons of air pollution 19 every year, including toxic metals like lead, 20 endocrine disrupters like dioxin and plain old 21 smog-forming nitrogen oxide. 22 These cement plants are still the largest 23point sources of air pollution in North Texas. And 24now, since it looks like things are going to loosen 25 up, they're all looking forward to expanding their

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1 list of non -- so-called nonhazardous wastes that they 2 can burn to include, not only used tires, but plastic 3 garbage and car interiors. The entire Metroplex is 4 still downwind from the poisons released from the 5 smokestacks of these cement plants. 6 According to EPA's own health impact studies 7 for the rules, 2,000 to 5,000 lives will be sacrificed 8 if you-all delay to 2015. D/FW residents represent a 9 disproportional number of these deaths since we're 10 exposed to more cement plant pollution than any other 11 region. 12 And there is scientific consensus -- a 13 growing scientific consensus that there is no safe 14 level of exposure to particulate matter pollution, 15which is now linked to heart attacks, strokes, immune 16 system damage and brain function losses. 17 Cement plants are among the very largest PM 18polluters. EPA estimates that its proposed weakening 19 of cement PM standards will allow 135 additional tons 20 of soot a year to be released from U.S. cement plants. 21 Now, this rollback that y'all are thinking 22 about is completely unnecessary. The EPA has already 23 successfully turned back the cement industry's attack 24 on this rule in the court and in Congress. And last 25year the agency won a DC Circuit Court ruling that

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1 upheld the cement air toxic standards and found that 2 maintaining the implementation deadline of September 3 2013 would not harm the industry. 4 In 2011 the industry-sponsored legislation 5 to delay and weaken the cement standards failed in 6 Congress and in the Senate. So why would the EPA 7 propose to weaken and delay the rules now? 8 So again, I am here because of my 9 grandchildren more than anything. And my request is 10 simple. I would the original rules, and I want them 11 implemented on the original schedule next year. Thank 12you. 13 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Dunn. 14 Mrs. Sears. 15 JULES SEARS 16 My name is Jules Sears. That's J-u-l-e-s 17 S-e-a-r-s. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. 18 Like many, I'm here today because I'm 19 dismayed and frankly outraged at what has occurred 20 recently with the decision to not go along with the 21 original proposal that was made. 22 I was president three years ago. I came to 23 the hearing such as this one in D/FW. I felt very 24hopeful at that meeting when I saw how many people 25were speaking. And later when I learned the outcome

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1 of that, I also felt very hopeful. 2 And I think it's kind of a sense of betrayal 3 that I feel at this moment because we -- I felt 4 democracy was speaking. I felt that we were doing the 5 process the way we're supposed to do it, which is 6 giving our concerns as private citizens of this state 7 and also this nation; and that that was apparently 8 overlooked is disconcerting, to say the least at a 9 time right now when there's a lot of Americans who are 10 frankly not very trustworthy of our government. 11 I think it's extremely important that we 12 feel that the citizens, the private citizens have an 13 important say in the matter and that it's not going to 14be overthrown or outweighed by corporate interest. So 15 that is extremely important to me. 16 I drove down from McKinney today, which is a 17 long drive. It can be, especially with traffic. And 18 I felt a little hesitant about coming in some ways 19 because I thought, well, is it going to make a 20 difference? Does it matter if I come here? Am I just 21 creating pollution by driving down here? But I felt, 22 no, I can't give up. I have to continue because I 23 know so many other people many depend on those of us 24who stand up. 25 I am an educator. I teach at Collin

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1 College, and I teach many young freshmen. So I see 2 the future. Every year, I see new students coming in, 3 and I invest myself a lot in thinking about their 4 future, where they're going, what is going to happen 5 to them. 6 So it's very important to me that we 7 continue to speak out for our youth and to make sure 8 that we provide for them the opportunity to grow and 9 flourish, which I feel this will certainly not allow 10 if the changes are not made, specifically restoring 11 and implementing the original rules as they were 12proposed and making sure that what we thought we 13 accomplished in 2009 will stand. Thank you. 14 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Sears. 15 Are there any questions for Mrs. Dunn or 16 Mrs. Sears? 17 Well, ladies, thank you both very much for 18your testimony today. Thank you. 19 I would like to ask Marilyn Gabler and Tim 20 Maschal to come forward. 21 MARILYN GABLER 22 My name is Marilyn Gabler. I live in Fort 23 Worth. And my concern is, you know, the Environmental 24 Protection Agency is exactly that, environmental 25protection. I mean, that's always been my impression.

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1 But we don't always feel protected when things like 2 this happen, when a ruling is made and then it's 3 rolled back, a ruling that would give us more 4protection, and then it's rolled back to give us less 5 protection. 6 I have been told that you-all don't really 7 want to answer the question as to why. Okay. That's 8 fine. But I would like -- my question is: Why is 9 this happening? Why is the protection part not 10 happening? 11 I live, oh, I guess it's about 45 minutes 12 from the Midlothian plant. But the soot, even being 13 that far away, about 30 miles away, still affects the 14 air that I breathe. 15 There is a park in Mansfield, Texas, which 16 is very close to Midlothian that used to be my family 17 farm. It's now a city park named after my mother. 18 Lots of children play there. There's lots of trees. 19 There's 110 pecan trees. Some of them have been there 20 over 200 years. I like seeing the children play 21 there. I like seeing people walking and enjoying the 22park. 23 But if we have soot in the air, it can 24 certainly kill all that. It can kill the children. 25 It can kill the environment. So I guess my question

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1 is: Environmental Protection -- if you're rolling 2 this back, how is that name, Environmental Protection 3 being applied? 4 I think probably everyone in this room has 5 the same concern. But with three cement plants, it's 6 just only going to get worse. And we don't want to 7 see that. Our motto in Texas is, don't mess with 8 Texas. And we are very serious about that. Our 9 governor wants to do away with the EPA if he ever has 10 the chance to. 11 When he was running for president, he made 12 that statement. I would hate to see that happen. I 13 want environmental protection. I don't want anyone 14messing with Texas, so to speak. I want to keep Texas 15 beautiful. I want it to be a place that people can 16 enjoy living and working and playing, children of all 17 ages. 18 I am very definitely a green person. I'm an 19 organic gardener, and I want to see my plants 20protected too. You know, I want the beneficial 21 insects to be able to live and protect my plants and, 22 therefore, protect our children. 23 When I say "our children" -- I don't 24personally have any children -- but the children in 25 Texas and throughout the United States. But since

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1 this problem is particular to Texas at this point, 2 then I will stick with that. 3 But keep Texas beautiful. Don't mess with 4 Texas. Be the agency that protects our environment. 5 That's what we expect. And I think, you know, we not 6 only expect that as Texans, but I think the entire 7 United States expects that. 8 I certainly respect the EPA, and I want 9 you-all to respect our environment because that's what 10 I feel your job is. And that's basically what I have 11 to say. 12 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you for 13your testimony. If you will just sit tight for a 14minute. 15 Please state your name and spell it for the 16 court reporter and begin your testimony, sir. 17 TIM MASCHAL 18 My names is Tim Maschal, T-i-m, last name 19 M-a-s-c-h-a-l. I'm a resident of Arlington. And 20 thank you for giving the citizens a voice today. 21 I am a team manager for the Texas Lightning 22 Youth Soccer Club. I'm also a member of the Sierra 23 Club and a sponsor of the Go Green Club at Timberview 24 High School. 25 In addition, I'm a cyclist. And I very much

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1 enjoy cycling through the Metroplex on some very 2 smooth, well-maintained concrete roads. The Texas 3 Lightning Soccer Club is celebrating its 20th year in 4 existence, training some of the very best soccer 5 players in the Metroplex. 6 Unfortunately, each year our players miss 7 more and more practice sessions due to field closings. 8 No, the fields are not being closed due to rain, but 9 rather due to heat and unhealthy air. The club is 10 afraid that someone will have an asthma attack during 11practice, so practices continue to be cancelled. 12 Despite the club's best efforts, young soccer players 13 are still having increased numbers of asthma-related 14 issues at the fields. 15 In July I witnessed a twelve-year-old boy 16 give up his dream of playing Select soccer, as he was 17 unable to complete the warm-up at tryouts due to an 18 asthma attack. His father was distraught, and the 19young boy could only cry and gasp into his inhaler. 20 It's called an Orange Air Pollution Watch. 21 For whatever reasons, the citizens of North Texas, 22 including myself, seem perfectly content with these 23 Orange Air Watches as millions of cars pass beneath 24 the warning signs on a daily basis. 25 I was recently reintroduced to these alerts

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1 two weeks ago upon returning from a four-day 2 backpacking trip in Rocky Mountain National Park. We 3 returned home to Texas with a Rocky Mountain high. Of 4 course, that feeling wore off some as the temperatures 5 began to rise, but nonetheless that was expected. We 6 felt renewed, refreshed and ready to start a new 7 school year. 8 But then it happened. There it was. 9 Brilliantly glowing in the night air, perched above 10 Highway 287 outside of Decatur, Orange Air Pollution 11 Watch, unhealthy air. My wife and I looked at each 12 other, then at the kids, then back at each other. I 13 felt as if I had been kicked in the gut. This is our 14home. This is where we have chosen to raise a family. 15 We are college educated. What are we doing here? And 16 then I said a few other things that I won't share in 17 this public forum. 18 To make a long story short, I lost my Rocky 19 Mountain high. And then the next night my son's 20 soccer practice was canceled. And guess what? It 21wasn't canceled due to rain. 22 When I was a child, I suffered from asthma. 23 I can recall a nervous mother always nearby with an 24 inhaler, ready at a moment's notice. But I was lucky. 25 I grew up in a small town with healthy air, and I

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1 eventually grew out of my asthma. I was never forced 2 off the field in tears gasping for air, forced to give 3 up a lifelong dream because of unhealthy air and an 4 EPA that chose not protect its children. 5 Eventually people are going to wake up. 6 Eventually people like myself are going to move away 7 and leave the Metroplex, leave Texas, not for economic 8 reasons, but for health reasons. Our air is already 9 unhealthy. 10 Are we waiting to change the signs to 11 Extremely Unhealthy Air or Really Unhealthy Air or 12Very Unhealthy Air? The cement industry has already 13 been given Clean Air Act extension. Why are we 14 considering another extension? Now is the time to act 15 upon the Clean Air Act. Now is the time to choose 16 children's dreams over corporate profits. 17 America can do better. The EPA can do 18 better. The cement industry can do better. The 19 Metroplex can do better. It's time to do better than 20 unhealthy air. Thank you. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Maschal. 22 Are there any questions for Mrs. Gabler or 23 Mr. Maschal? 24 Thank you both for being here, and thank you 25 for your testimony.

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1 Okay. I would like to ask Diane Castillo 2 and Anne Hagan with State Representative Marc Veasey's 3 office to please come forward. 4 Hi, ladies. I would like to start with 5 Mrs. Castillo. State your name, and spell it for the 6 court reporter and begin testimony. 7 DIANE CASTILLO 8 My name is Diane, D-i-a-n-e C-a-s-t-i-l-l-o. 9 I just want to start off by saying thank you for the 10 opportunity to speak today. 11 My reasons for coming today are twofold. 12 I'm a mother, and I'm also an educator. We live three 13miles downwind from the cement plant capital of Texas, 14which happens to also be where the highest 15 concentration of point search pollution in North Texas 16 is emitted. 17 I keep a close eye on the ozone levels on 18 the alert days because I keep my kids, both mine and 19 those that I'm entrusted with, inside on those days. 20 The last school year, the kids were allowed 21 to go outside a total of ten days all year out of 180 22 days school year. 23 The Midlothian cement plants release 500,000 24 to 1 million pounds of PM pollution, particulate 25matter pollution each year. And there is no safe

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1 level of exposure to PM pollution, and even modern 2 amounts have been suspect in many deaths in our area. 3 And with hundreds of thousands of kids with 4 asthma in the D/FW alone and with thousands more new 5 cases each year, we need stricter guidelines, not 6 weaker standards; less pollution, not more. In my 7 honest opinion, the standard for particulate pollution 8 is weak. But the current standards, if we are to 9 implement them when they're supposed to, would improve 10 the lives of school children suffering from asthma and 11 other breathing disorders, but not if the EPA delays 12 implementation for two years. 13 You should keep the current deadline of 14 2013. Delaying the new standards would mean you're 15protecting the wrong people. Protecting the bottom 16 line of an industry is a blatant contradiction of the 17 EPA's mission statement which is to protect the public 18 health and the environment. 19 Rolling back the proposed rules will mean 20 less days playing outside, swimming and feeling the 21 sun on the faces of my kids and the hundreds of other 22people's kids that I care for. Delay the rules, and 23you cost our kids a fulfilled childhood. Do this, and 24you shred their childhood. Do this, and things like 25 birthday parties are impossible to have outside.

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1 And that's all I have to say. I think you 2 should keep the proposed rules and the proposed 3 deadline and not roll it back for our future, for our 4 children's future. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. 6 Castillo. If you'll just sit tight. 7 Mrs. Hagan. 8 ANNE HAGAN 9 My name is Anne, A-n-n-e, Hagan, H-a-g-a-n. 10And I just have a short statement from State 11 Representative Marc, M-a-r-c, Veasey, V-e-a-s-e-y. 12 As the Environmental Protection Agency 13 considers whether or not to delay new stricter 14 regulation that would address many of the 15 environmental concerns raise by emissions from local 16 cement plants, I strongly urge that agency officials 17 keep the health of area residents as their primary 18 concerns. 19 Certainly, federal regulations should not 20 create unnecessary stress on our local economy. 21 However, when necessary, actions should be taken to 22protect the public. 23 Area residents have presented compelling 24 information that the pending regulations should be 25 implemented now and that any delay will have an

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1 adverse impact on the health and well-being of local 2 families and individuals. 3 These regulations have been long in the 4making and much anticipated by the citizens they are 5 designed to protect. 6 I respectfully ask that the EPA officials 7 give full and sympathetic consideration to the request 8 of local citizens that the pending regulations be 9 implemented to ensure the health and safety of area 10 residents. 11 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Hagan. 12Are there any follow-up questions for Mrs. Castillo or 13 Mrs. Hagan? 14 Just one for you, Mrs. Castillo -- or a 15 couple. You said you're an educator? 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) Yes. 17 MR. THOMPSON: How long have you been 18 an educator? 19 (BY THE SPEAKER) This is my second year. 20 MR. THOMPSON: Second year. And what 21 age group? 22 (BY THE SPEAKER) I do early childhood 23 through 6th grade. 24 MR. THOMPSON: And how do those kids 25 respond when you tell them out of that 180 days they

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1 can only go out ten, I think you said? 2 (BY THE SPEAKER) Ten days. 3 MR. THOMPSON: What do they say? 4 (BY THE SPEAKER) They're bored. They're 5 already at home stuck inside all day during the summer 6 because, you know, their parents are working or they 7 don't have an outlet to be outside. So they're stuck 8 playing, you know, video games. We're creating an 9 X-Box generation where they won't have any Vitamin D 10 anymore in their system that is created from being out 11 in the sunlight. 12 It's tragic. The kids -- I think there's 13 higher incidents of bullying. There's higher 14 incidents of acting out. And just because they're 15 bored, they want to be outside. They don't have any 16 outlet. 17 There's tons of schools that go to in-school 18 suspension because of talking out or talking, you 19 know, when they're not supposed to be talking. And 20 we're punishing these kids because we're not giving 21 them an outlet because we can't. 22 If it's unhealthy air, it's unsafe for them 23 to go outside. And I wouldn't feel right as a parent 24 or as people -- being entrusted with other people's 25 children letting people go outside, you know, on those

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1 days when the air is not healthy to breathe. 2 And if we have, you know, this rollback, I 3 foresee even less days that they will be able to go 4 outside. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you for 6 sharing that. And thank you both for your testimony. 7 I would like to ask Ken Sambell to please 8 come forward. Hello, sir. And thanks for coming. If 9 you could just state your name and spell it for the 10 court reporter. 11 KEN SAMBELL 12 My name is Ken Sambell. I live in southwest 13Arlington. I have lived in Arlington over 50 years. 14 And when the wind is to the northwest from 15 the cement plants, my garden eventually is covered 16 with black and white soot. I have had TCEQ out to 17 look at this twice and to take samples and swab. And 18 they don't know what it is, and they don't have any 19 funds to analyze it. It's a very disturbing result. 20And I think the TCEQ needs to be disbanded. 21 My lung doctor estimates that my lungs are 22 about 40 percent degraded probably from this. And I 23 suffer from major shortness of breath. So it is a 24 real problem, and I request EPA to really address the 25problem. And this rollback is not required by court

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1 order. I am assured of that. So I urge you not to 2 roll back. It's a very urgent requirement. Thank 3 you. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you, 5 Mr. Sambell. 6 Does anybody have any questions for 7 Mr. Sambell? 8 Thank you, sir. Thank you very much for your 9 testimony. 10 At this time is there anyone in the audience 11who has not spoken that would like to testify? 12 Please come forward. Hi, how are you? If 13you could state your name, and spell it for the court 14 reporter. And you will have five minutes to testify. 15 MARISSA MORELAND 16 My name is Marissa, M-a-r-i-s-s-a Moreland, 17 M-o-r-e-l-a-n-d. 18 I just want to say as a college-aged North 19 Texan, this is a really concerning matter for me 20 because -- I'm sorry. I'm not a good public speaker. 21 It's a concerning matter for me because with life 22 expectancy rates, I could live 50 or 60 more years. 23And it just makes me think, you know, if I don't take 24 a stand when I'm young, I won't have any right to 25 complain whenever I'm older that these things

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1 happened. 2 I would just like to see the Environmental 3 Protection Agency do more to protect us from these 4 emissions. And I don't want to see this rollback 5 happen because I have got a long way to go, and I want 6 some change to happen here. That way this can start 7 to become the standard for the rest of my life, my 8 children's life, my grandchildren's lifetimes. 9 And I think if we start now, this will be, 10you know -- this pollution will be a thing of the 11past. And everyone will be really glad they did 12 something to change it. And so I think it would be 13 best if we went ahead and made this happen in 2013. 14 That way you will be the ones responsible for making 15 this change happen, and I think that will be a 16precedent for others. 17 And I just think that it's just incredulous 18 that the health of the people would be second to any 19 financial setbacks for the Portland Cement companies. 20And I think that's all I have to say. Thank you. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Well, thank for having 22 the courage to come forward. You did a fine job, by 23 the way. 24 Any questions for Mrs. Moreland? Any 25 questions?

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1 Again, thank you so much. Thanks for your 2 testimony. 3 Is there anyone else? If not, then we're 4 going to sit tight until our next speaker shows up. 5 So you guys can stand, stretch, do whatever. And I 6 will give you a call when we get ready to start again. 7 (Recess taken at 5:07 to 5:22.) 8 MR. THOMPSON: At this time I would 9 like to ask Gary Hogan to please come forward. Hello 10 again, Mr. Hogan. Glad you came. If you'll state 11your name and spell it for the court reporter. And 12 then you can begin your testimony. 13 GARY HOGAN 14 My name is Gary Hogan. I live in Fort 15 Worth, Texas. That's Gary, G-a-r-y H-o-g-a-n. I am 16president of NCTCA, North Central Texas Communities 17Alliance. 18 Although we are -- our association mostly 19 deals with the gas well drilling issues in the Barnett 20 Shale Region, we too have partnered with Downwinders 21 at Risk and all the other environmental groups our 22North Texas Region for the cleaner air quality that 23 we're all looking for. 24 And I think what we're getting really 25 depressed about in this state of Texas is that our

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1 TCEQ is not stepping up to better standards. And, our 2 course, or railroad commission isn't either. And we 3 keep looking to y'all, the EPA, who come up with great 4 standards we believe in. 5 But what we're really, really getting 6 depressed about is when those deadlines come, when 7 these things are supposed to take effect, whether it's 8 the energy industry, whether it's the electric 9 industry that's fueled by coal, whether it's natural 10 gas drilling, we try to set a better standard and then 11when that deadline comes, the industry lobbies 12politically and tries to get those dates put off and 13put off and put off. 14 We have got to stop putting off good 15 standards, good steps to correct our air quality in 16North Central Texas in the North Texas Region, whether 17 it's the cement plants, whether it's our power plants 18 that are fueled by coal mostly or whether it's this 19 natural gas drilling that's proliferated all over 20 through our urban centers where people are living, 21 dense populated areas. 22 These standards have got to be looked at and 23 the combined contribution of all of this pollution 24 from all these various industries are choking our 25 children to death.

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1 Asthma in children in Tarrant County, as 2 released by Cook Children's Hospital has gone from a 3 national average of 5 to 6 percent to 25 percent in 4 the last five years. And we're still emitting methane 5 gas from drilling and all the toxic fumes. The cement 6 industry is still -- all of this is drifting, and the 7 accumulative effect of this is just too much to bear. 8 And we keep looking to the federal 9 government. Please, don't stand down on Texas. Our 10politicians are not protecting us enough, and we need 11 the federal EPA all over this country. Natural gas 12 drilling is going on all over this country. You know, 13 that is tons of methane we're releasing into the air 14 that we were not releasing eight years ago, just part 15 of the process, and plus all the drilling. 16 You know, enough is enough. We've got to 17 stop this hedging, crawfishing, whatever you want to 18 call it. We need the federal government and the EPA 19 to stand for what they're supposed to stand for, 20 number one, the health of the people. 21 Money -- you know the big industries don't 22want to do anything because it costs money. They're 23 not thinking about the health issues. That is your 24 job, number one, to protect the citizens and the 25 health of this nation. Texas is losing the battle.

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1 We're fighting all of these things, the cement plants, 2 the gas drilling, the electric. 3 The industry, of course, what do they 4 threaten us with? Well, if we cut back on that, 5 you're going to have the rolling blackouts. So give 6 us time. You gave them time eight, ten years ago and 7 told them, this was coming. And they didn't do 8 anything. 9 So how do you put the hammer down on anybody 10 that doesn't want the hammer put down on them? You've 11 got to squeeze them. You've got to say, this is your 12 final deadline. We're not moving anymore. You're 13 going to have to change. 14 So please stand by us. You're going to have 15 a whole lot of citizens in the state of Texas, 16 citizens I'm talking, not the industry, not the 17politicians. But you're going to have a lot of 18 citizens in this region particularly that are going to 19 stand up and cheer the EPA. 20 When we lost Dr. Armendariz, we lost a hero. 21 That's how all of us felt. We lost a hero. So we ask 22 Ms. Jackson now and our new EPA director, stand up for 23 us now. We will cheer you. We really will. We need 24 the federal government unfortunately to stand up, make 25 these standards and stick to them and don't back off

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1 anymore. Thank you. 2 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Hogan. 3 Are there any follow-up questions for 4 Mr. Hogan from anyone? 5 Thank you very much, sir. 6 (BY THE SPEAKER) Thank you-all for coming 7 too. I know that this is probably not the best job to 8 have to do is come out to these meetings. But we do 9 appreciate you have them. Just take it to the next 10 stop forward. Carry our cries back to the highest 11 levels, and let's stop this. Industry won't be 12 controlled unless you control them. Thank you 13 MR. THOMPSON: Well, we appreciate you 14 coming out as well. Thank you. 15 Okay. We'll do the informal recess until 16 our next speaker shows up. Thanks, folks. 17 (Recess taken at 5:28 to 5:40.) 18 MR. THOMPSON: Ladies and gentlemen, 19 our next person to testify is here. And I'm going to 20 have her come forward. Would Mary Cato please come 21 forward. 22 Hi, Mrs. Cato. If you could please state 23your name and spell it for the court reporter and then 24begin your testimony. 25 MARY CATO

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1 My name is Mary Cato, Mary and then C-a-t-o. 2 I'm an Arlington resident. I returned to Arlington in 3 1998 after living in Virginia for several years. I am 4 sorry. I'm really nervous in a setting like this. 5 MR. THOMPSON: Take your time and 6 relax. 7 (BY THE SPEAKER) That's why I wrote it 8 down. I began having sinus problems moving back to 9 this area. It's a chronic problem now. It cleared up 10 briefly several years ago after I spent two weeks in 11 the mountains in Virginia. But it returned when I got 12 back to Arlington. 13 I realize that the poor air quality in 14Arlington is not due solely to the pollution from the 15 Midlothian cement plants. However, I'm aware that 16Arlington is in the area covered by the plume coming 17 from those plants, which increases the toxic air 18pollutants that impact my health and I'm sure cause 19 even worse problems for many people in this area. 20 I believe that the EPA should proceed with 21 the rules released in 2010 and not delay them or 22 decrease the requirements under the proposed 23 regulations. This industry, as so many others, is 24primarily, if not solely, focused on profits. They 25will not take voluntary actions necessary to clean up

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1 their practices and the resulting impacts on people in 2 the environment unless there are regulations in place 3 with enforcement, oversight and sufficiently high 4penalties that make it less expensive to clean up than 5 to continue what they're doing now. 6 Corporations and industries have gone to 7 court to claim rights as persons under the 8 constitution. If they claim such rights, they must 9 also take responsibilities for their actions by paying 10 taxes and paying attention to the impacts of their 11 actions on actual human individuals. 12 I realize that both state and local 13 governments make great efforts to attract and retain 14business industries. But private profits should not 15 be the sole focus of government. It should be at 16 least equally important to maintain the health of 17 human persons and the environment. 18 Business and industry won't consider 19 anything but profit without strong regulations in 20place. If it decreases their bottom line, they will 21 resist changes that harm people that work for them, or 22 as in this case, who are affected by the pollution 23 they spew. 24 EPA developed toxic air pollution 25 regulations in 2010 that should go into effect as

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1 scheduled in 2013 without backing down on the 2 standards imposed on this industry. 3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Cato. 4Are there any follow-ups for Mrs. Cato? 5 Well, thank you very much for your 6 testimony. 7 Okay. Again, we're just going to be here 8 until the next person who signed up to speak shows up. 9 (Recess taken at 5:42 to 5:48.) 10 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Ladies and 11 gentlemen, we have two more speakers present. So if 12you could take your seats. 13 At this time I would like to ask Susybelle 14 Gosslee and Rebecca Hooley to please come forward. 15 Thanks for coming, ladies. 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) You're very welcome. 17 MR. THOMPSON: And we'll start with 18 Mrs. Gosslee. So if you will just pronounce your 19 name, spell it for the court reporter. And then you 20 begin your testimony. All right. 21 SUSYBELLE GOSSLEE 22 All right. I am Susybelle Gosslee. That's 23 spelled S-u-s-y-b-e-l-l-e G-o-s-s-l-e-e. I would like 24 to express my disappointment in the EPA's proposal to 25 dilute the previously proposed regulations and to have

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1 less monitoring of the emissions of the Portland 2 Cement manufacturing industry. 3 In order to protect public health and 4 welfare, as mandated by the Clean Air Act, I would 5 like to say that I support regulation of pollution 6 sources by control and penalties, inspection and 7 monitoring, full disclosure of pollution data, 8 incentives to accelerate pollution control, vigorous 9 enforcement mechanisms, including sanctions for states 10 and localities that do not comply with federal 11 standards and substantial fines for noncompliance. 12 Texas has 11 manufacturing plants with a 13 large number of kilns in each plant. The largest U.S. 14plant is TXI in Midlothian with five kilns. The TXI 15 Midlothian plant is located upwind of Dallas/Fort 16 Worth metropolitan area, which the United States 17 census for the year 2011 has a population of over 6 18 and a half million people. 19 Just the cities of Dallas, Fort Worth, 20Arlington, Irving and Grand prairie had a 2011 21population of over 2 and a half million. These five 22 cities are within 31 miles downwind of the TXI 23 Midlothian plant. A detailed dispersion analysis of 24 each pollutant for health and welfare impacts should 25 be conducted and presented to the public before any

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1 proposed regulations are considered. 2 All the other ten plants' emissions affect 3 the health and environment of a large number people, 4 as emissions in the air have no boundaries. Strong 5 emissions standards for cement plants protect American 6 families from uncontrolled emissions of mercury, 7 hydrochloric acid and other toxic pollutants that 8 cause cancer, brain damage, birth defects and other 9 diseases. 10 One argument used by some against 11 regulations is that they will cause companies to cut 12 jobs. However, enforcing regulation and in monitoring 13 emissions could create more jobs at the cement 14 factory's manufacturing facility, as well as the EPA 15 and could help to ensure that members of the community 16 and the environment are safe and well. 17 The manufacturing plant will need skilled 18 workers to oversee and maintain safety equipment. The 19 EPA will need more skilled employees to monitor and 20 enforce regulations at the sites. In addition, more 21workers in the community will not be sick so they can 22 go to work. 23 Well-crafted rules are necessary to ensure 24 fairness, health and safety in a complex 25 industrialized society and are a necessary

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1 responsibility of government. Enforcing regulations 2 does not limit growth necessarily. If wise investment 3 is made in infrastructure at the manufacturing site, 4 it could save the industry money. 5 The health benefits for millions of people 6 in the Dallas area can be a drive, for the most part, 7 through reductions and fine soot, hydrocarbons, lead, 8 arsenic, dioxins and benzene, which are air pollutants 9 emitted by cement plants. Those chemicals cause the 10 cancer, birth defects and other health damage. 11 The reduction and even absence of monitoring 12will not protect human health. Protection outweighs 13 cost of regulations. The more medical researchers 14 learn about the microscopic bits of soot, chemicals, 15pulverized dust and even liquids from vehicular 16 exhaust and other sources like cement facilities, also 17 known as fine particulate matter, the more risks they 18 find to human health. 19 The Dallas area has many days with moderate 20 levels of pollution. Fine particulate matter is 21 included in that moderate levels of pollution. 22 Moderate levels of pollution are shown in recent 23 research to be a clear and present danger to people in 24 the North Texas area. 25 A Boston study published in February

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1 connects episodes of elevated, but still moderate 2 amounts of particulates with the onset of -- and I 3 never checked this out with a doctor on how to 4pronounce it -- but ischemic might be the way to 5 pronounce it -- strokes. 6 Reducing ozone or smog helps to reduce 7 particulates. The North Texas area has created many 8 committees, task forces, state-funded incentives, 9 industrial rules and publicity campaigns to lower 10 ozone levels to protect public health. 11 However, lessening federal oversight is 12 not helpful. Urban areas in North Texas continue to 13 violate the federal limit on ozone and not comply with 14 the Clean Air Act. Oversight will reveal that 15 citizens are breathing fine particulate matter in the 16 Dallas area, which is an indicator of a need for more 17 regional clean air planning and monitoring. 18 The effects of particulate matter on human 19 health are huge -- and even propose the national 20 ambient air quality standards for particulate matter 21 need to be strengthened in order to protect public 22 health and provide adequate margins of safety. The 23 standards and enforcement of the regulations and 24monitoring do not need to be changed, diluted or 25 delayed.

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1 Texas is number one in U.S. greenhouse 2 emissions. Dallas has had 21 years of not meeting the 3 federal standards for ozone. The EPA estimated that 4 the new rules your website stated will eliminate 90 5 percent of the mercury and fine particulate emissions 6 from cement kilns around the country. 7 Texas cement emissions affect hundreds of 8 cases of bronchitis and heart attacks. Health habits 9 will inevitably make some people ill, and they will 10 spend more than they can afford on health insurance 11 and to treat their heart attacks and breathing 12problems. 13 I had my first asthma attack on a Red Alert 14 Day, for instance. More ill people will increase 15 insurance rates, which will be passed on to everyone. 16 If people don't have health insurance, they will visit 17 the emergency room, therefore, costing more. No one 18 benefits if the cement plants add to the serious 19 health hazards for the community and for the workers 20 at the plants. The impacts on health will cost a lot 21more in the long run than a small amount of 22 common-sense regulation. 23 The originally proposed emission standards 24 and monitoring will greatly enhance the region's 25 ability to meet air quality standards. I would like

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1 to also state that -- 2 MR. THOMPSON: Mrs. Gosslee, I'm going 3 to let you continue just for a moment. We have 4 someone following you. 5 (BY THE SPEAKER) I have no idea how much 6 time it's been. 7 MR. THOMPSON: Well, it expired awhile 8 ago. But if you can just give us your final thoughts. 9 (BY THE SPEAKER) Oh, my goodness. Okay. 10 MR. THOMPSON: That's fine. We had 11 time, so we're good. 12 (BY THE SPEAKER) We do have time? I would 13 like to continue, and I'll hurry. 14 MR. THOMPSON: Final thoughts. How 15 about give us another 60 seconds. 16 (BY THE SPEAKER) Okay. The July 18th, 2012 17 rule explanation stated in the DC Circuit Portland 18 Cement Association verse the EPA -- in that case the 19 Court upheld all of the EPA's methodology for 20 establishing the Portland Cement NESHAP, but also held 21 that the EPA had arbitrarily denied consideration of 22 the NESHAP to take into account the effects of the 23 EPA's nonhazardous secondary materials ruling the 24 standards. 25 The nonhazardous secondary materials rule

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1 issued after the NESHAP was promulgated had the effect 2 of reclassifying some cement kilns as commercial and 3 industrial solid waste incinerators. 4 I think my time is up, and I would love to 5 continue. But I respect your rules and the people 6 speaking. I will submit my comments in writing and 7 would really appreciate your consideration of them at 8 that time. Thank you very much. 9 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you as well. 10 Okay. Mrs. Hooley, please state your name 11 and spell it for the court reporter. 12 REBECCA HOOLEY-KIDWILL 13 My legal name is Rebecca Hooley-Kidwill, 14R-e-b-e-c-c-a H-o-o-l-e-y K-i-d-w-i-l-l. I'm a 15 long-time Arlington resident. 16 I came with the General Motors plant being 17 built here, so I am very, very concerned about the 18proposed situation. We need much stronger EPA 19 regulations in this area. I deal with elderly 20parents, elderly in-laws, elderly aunts and uncles. 21 But just since the influx of our fracing, 22 started, they have come down with horrific -- and in 23 one case already, a death who previously never had 24breathing quality issues. They were living very near, 25 one very near the Midlothian plant. And I don't think

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1 we want to turn Arlington into the pollution crises 2 that Los Angeles lived through in the '70s and '80s. 3 I very much would like to see very strict 4 rules on all EPA regulations. We have to have the air 5 to breathe to live, and it's just that simple. 6 I have two children who were raised in 7 Arlington. They were not born with asthma. They now 8 have asthma. I got asthma for the first time in my 9 life last year. We have too many high quality 10pollutant days. It is very difficult to breathe. 11 Even the fire department and local police departments 12will tell you. 13 I lived near Fire Department No. 3 for many, 14many years, and we have all talked about our quality 15 of our air is lessening every generation. I would 16 like you guys to do more to protect our rights to 17 breathe, to breathe clean air and to not wake up 18 because there is pollutant matter in our air that you 19 can taste and smell. 20 I have been in the hazardous chemical 21handling in air cargo seeing ocean freight for the 22 last 30 years. I'm very concerned about the hazardous 23 chemicals that are being spewed out of every factory 24we have left, which is not many anymore in the state 25 of Texas. Our manufacturing has fallen terribly, but

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1 our pollution has increased horrifically. 2 I didn't prepare numbers. We all -- 3 You did a wonderful job. 4 She had all the numbers. 5 We live in a very high population area, and 6 we have little to no public transportation in 7 Arlington and all of the surrounding suburbs. So 8 we're forced to a one-trick pony in a car every day to 9 and from our jobs. And that adds more pollution to 10 the air quality. And we're already having problem 11with chemical plants, oil plants, fracing, the benzene 12problems, water pollution. And we really don't need 13 any more problems with our -- breathing the air that 14 is required for life to continue. 15 I have seen horrific things happen across 16 the world in my transportation, which is all global 17 and international. And I don't want any of our 18 grandchildren to have to wear masks and oxygen tanks 19 the rest of their lives. We need to not only look out 20 for the people who are on this planet now and in this 21 area now, but for the future citizens of this area now 22 before it's too late. Because once we reach maximum 23pollution, it can take years and years and years to 24 repair. 25 That's all I have to say. I thank you for

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1 your time. Please consider. Breathing quality is the 2 essence of life, or we're all going to be getting the 3 plot at the funeral home. Thank you very much. 4 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Hooley. 5 Are there any follow-up questions for 6 Mrs. Gosslee or Mrs. Hooley? 7 Ladies, thank you both very much. And 8 please do submit your comments. Thank you. 9 I would like to ask Ken Feil and Richard 10 Wayne to please come forward. Hi, gentlemen, thanks 11 for coming. 12 I hope I'm pronouncing Feil correctly. All 13 right. We would like to start with you. If you will 14pronounce your name and spell it for the court 15 reporter. And then you can begin your testimony, sir. 16 KEN FEIL 17 Ken Feil, F-e-i-l. I'm at 409 North Elm 18 right here in Arlington. 19 And I would just like to start and say that 20 I am in the masonry trade. I have been in masonry 21 since 1983. I am now a superintendent for one of the 22 second biggest contractors in the state. 23 And in talking with my company and my 24 suppliers, there is definitely a need for more 25 stringent air quality in the Metroplex. But in

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1 talking to my company and suppliers, there is a -- I 2 asked about the cost impacts, and they really didn't 3 see a cost impact. And if there was, it would be 4passed on to the consumers or the builders that we 5 work with too. 6 So as far as industry or people saying, you 7 know, well, we can't do it because of cost, it's not 8 true. You know, that's not true at all from somebody 9 that is in the industry. 10 And specifically I would like to say I don't 11want the EPA to extend the compliance deadline for 12meeting these rules from 2013 to 2015. These rules 13 are already 20 years overdue. And by EPA's own 14 estimates, the delay could cost between 2- and 5,000 15 lives in communities across the country, including 16North Texas. 17 I'm sad and tired of going to church and 18 hearing these laundry lists of people with cancer 19 because our air and our water is polluted. And it 20 needs to stop. 21 I don't want the particulate matter 22pollution rate almost doubled. This is pollution we 23 need to reduce because scientist submit there is no 24 safe level of exposure to particulate matter or soot. 25 I do not want the agency to drop its requirement to

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1 use real-time monitoring for particulate matter 2 pollution from cement plants. A control test every 3 three years is not significant. We need monitoring 4 24/7. 5 I don't want industry waste such as tires, 6 chemical solvents, plastic scraps exempted from the 7 solid waste incineration rules. Regulate this garbage 8 like the solid waste it is, and make the cement plants 9 burning it comply with the same regulations that the 10 incinerators do. 11 I do want you to restore and implement the 12 original rules as proposed. Thousands of citizens 13 supported the original rules through their comments 14 and their testimony at three public hearings in 2009, 15 including one at D/FW that attracted over 200 16 citizens. 17 EPA is turning its back on these citizens by 18proposing such drastic changes at the last minute. 19 Don't change these important rules. We need clean 20 air. We need clean water. Tarrant County is already 21 the number one in infant mortality rate. I am just 22 tired of our environment going to the highest bidder. 23 Thanks. 24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Feil. 25 Mr. Wayne. Hi.

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1 RICHARD WAYNE 2 Good evening. Richard Wayne. I am a 3 22-year resident of DeSota, Texas. I have a wife and 4 three grown kids, and my kids all grew up in DeSoto. 5 So I'm very concerned about the quality of the air 6 that we get in DeSoto. 7 When I exercise every day on my bicycle, I'm 8 able to see the smoke coming from the kilns out of 9 Midlothian. And it's very worrisome to me to see 10 that. It's very worrisome for my family. 11 I don't want to tell you your business. But 12 being a strategic planner for a living, the first 13 thing I did was looked up the emission of the EPA, the 14 strategic plan of the EPA to see how it fit in with 15 our topic of discussion today. 16 And sure enough, right at the top, the 17 emission of the EPA is to protect human life -- human 18 health and the environment, excuse me. Its purpose is 19 to ensure that all Americans are protected from 20 significant risk to human health and the environment 21where they live, learn and work. 22 And to accomplish this, first step in the 23 strategic plan is to develop and enforce regulations. 24 So I think that fits in very well with what we're 25 talking about today.

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1 Just a little economics. There's a concept 2 which I'm sure you're aware of called externalized 3 cost. So those are negative impacts associated with 4 economic transactions, which concern people outside of 5 those transactions, meaning that neither the buyer nor 6 the seller bears the brunt of the cost. 7 One well-known example of an externalized 8 cost is factory pollution, which can have a negative 9 influence on the surrounding community. And I think, 10 again, that is exactly what we're talking about today. 11 Somebody eventually will pay the cost of this air 12pollution, and this is a big problem with pollution 13 across the board. But somebody will eventually pay 14 the cost, the cost which are now externalized for this 15 air pollution. 16 It seems to me now is the time to hold the 17people accountable that are making the profits from 18 this pollution, the companies themselves, such as TXI, 19 etc. 20 My wife -- we have lived in a number of 21places all over the country, and my wife has never had 22 allergies. In fact, she used to tease me about my 23 allergies when she put her perfume on. But now she 24has asthma. For the first time in her life, she has 25 asthma. She carries around an inhaler, and that's

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1 very disconcerting. We don't understand why that 2 should be. Is it related to the air pollution coming 3 out of Midlothian? Possibly. Certainly, there's no 4 definitive proof otherwise. 5 I think the facts have been probably 6 repeated over and over again today. But in line with 7 the mission of the EPA and the concerns we have today, 8 I am very against delaying the enforcement of the 9 rules as they were intended and as they were passed. 10 Again, by the agency's own calculations, that 11 could lead to 2- 5,000 deaths, perhaps thousands and 12 thousands of more cases of asthma, many, many sick 13 days from work and untold other illnesses. So I would 14be very against any further postponements to 15 enforcement of the laws which were passed with 16 goodwill. 17 I understand that in D/FW we've got the 18 largest concentration of cement plants in the country. 19 These are very heavy polluters, and I think the 20 regulations which have been passed should go through. 21And I would be very against any such delays or any 22weakening of those laws or enforcements. 23 That's really all I have to say today. 24 Thank you for the time. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Wayne.

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1 Are there any follow-up questions for either 2 Mr. Feil or Mr. Wayne? 3 Well, gentlemen, thank you both for your 4 time and your testimony. Thank you. 5 We will just sit tight until the next 6 speaker arrives. 7 (Recess at 6:12 to 6:14.) 8 MR. THOMPSON: I would like to 9 reconvene here and ask Daniel Melendez and James 10 Lawrence to please come forward. 11 Good evening, gentlemen. We would like to 12 start with Mr. Melendez. If you could state your name 13 and spell it for the court reporter and begin your 14 testimony, sir. 15 DANIEL MELENDEZ 16 Daniel Melendez, M-e-l-e-n-d-e-z. 17 Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank 18you for your time. I really appreciate this chance to 19 speak. I wish I had some fangled words or 20 calculations or all these odd facts that people seem 21 to delve in to come up here and make their point. 22 My only point is with the people. You know, 23 it's not hard to figure out that there is a lot of 24pollution out there, not just the air, but the water 25 and the land too.

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1 I spend half of my day outside, and I do 2 that purposely because I enjoy being outside. I used 3 to work outside. But now, you know, I have changed 4 jobs and I've been working indoors for the past 20 5 years or more. But I still miss being outside. 6 I love going outside every chance I get. I 7 have two dogs. We go playing. We mountain bike, play 8 golf. We go swimming. We do a lot of things outside. 9 And if anyone doesn't see the pollution that is 10 outside, it's because they're never outside. 11 And I really feel sorry for anyone who has 12 to work outside under these conditions because they 13 have no other means of making a living. I mean, I 14 used to do so myself in the past. I enjoy being 15 outside, and that's why I'm here. Because I used to 16 -- fortunately, I work eight miles from my house now 17 here in Arlington, Texas. 18 But before when I used to drive to Dallas, I 19 could see the brown cloud that I was about to drive 20 into. And I don't have my air conditioning on because 21 I like being outside. And sometimes I would have to 22put it on because by the time I got into Dallas, it 23 was so strong. There were times when I had to pull 24 over and cough and choke and spew up some sputum just 25 because the pollution was so bad. And now they're

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1 trying to roll back what's already been approved. 2 I mean, everybody is, like, jobs this and 3 jobs that. Well, what is more important, people's 4 jobs or their lives? I mean, there's always going to 5 be some jobs. There's always going to be hard times. 6 But we all have to make it through together without 7 killing each other. 8 This is just a few of the articles that I 9 pulled up just today alone. I am not in school, and I 10 don't want to have to go to school and be reschooled 11 every time. I don't even want to have to be here. I 12want to be at home at my family. But every time 13 something comes up, we have to come up and defend 14 ourselves. 15 Here in the Science Daily, May 11th, 2010 16 issue, it says, even among those who otherwise may 17 have been healthy for years, these pollutions are 18making their hearts bad. I have a history of heart 19 disease. My family has a history of heart disease. 20And both of my grandfathers died at 40 of a heart 21 attack. My father died at 60 of heart failure, and so 22 did my uncle. And I have several other uncles on both 23 sides of my family that have heart disease. And some 24 are due to their heavy smoking and drinking. But I 25 don't smoke. I do drink.

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1 But as you can see, I'm not that unhealthy 2 because I do like going outside and staying active. 3 And I want that to continue. 4 In the Dallas Morning News, 12 March 2012, 5 it says, the more medical researchers learn about 6 particulate matter, the worst the risks appear to be. 7 Threat become apparent even at the federal 8 government -- what the federal government now calls 9 moderate levels, which is what we see here in North 10 Texas. 11 And I just read an article not too long ago 12 that said Texas has the worst record for pollution. I 13mean, as a matter of fact, I think El Paso has the 14highest air pollution record, if I'm not mistaken. 15And somebody tried to blame that on Juarez, but it 16may be due to the copper smelter plants there. 17 So, like I said, I don't have much else 18 besides that. I'm a people person. I'm here for the 19people, here for myself and my family, for my kids and 20my grandkids. Thank you for your time. 21 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Melendez. 22 Mr. Lawrence. 23 JAMES LAWRENCE 24 Good evening. Thank you for taking the 25 time. My name is James Lawrence. That's

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1 L-a-w-r-e-n-c-e. I live in east Fort Worth. 2 I just wanted to make a few points. I 3 appreciate your comments about the people, and that is 4 especially important. But I just wanted to point out 5 that, you know, there has been some improvement of the 6 air quality index in the recent. 7 However, the area, the attainment area is 8 still not in compliance. And that's been over ten 9 years that we're not in compliance for this area. So 10 just within the last four months, we've had over 13 11 days that have been over 75 parts per billion in this 12 area. 13 So, you know, it's real simple to me. We 14need all the tools we can get to improve our air 15 quality. And this is just one tool that we need, and 16 we need it sooner than later. The longer we wait to 17 improve our air quality, the more unhealthy loss of 18 life we're going to have, unnecessary loss of life, 19 the more increase in respiratory disease and more 20 costs associated with all of those things. 21 So I just want to make the point again that 22we need these standards sooner than later. That is 23 just one tool to improve our air quality here in this 24 four-county, eight-county region. So thank you. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mr. Lawrence.

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1 Are there any follow-up questions for 2 Mr. Melendez or Mr. Lawrence from the panel? 3 Gentlemen, thank you both for coming today 4 and for your testimony. Thank you. 5 I would like to ask Dwayne Quertermous and 6 Mrs. Kerrie Kimberling to come forward. Good evening. 7 Thanks for coming. 8 Would you please state your name and spell 9 it for the court reporter and then begin your 10 testimony. 11 DEWAYNE QUERTERMOUS 12 My name is Dewayne Quertermous, 13 D-e-w-a-y-n-e Q-u-e-r-t-e-r-m-, as in Mary, -o-u-s. I 14 am the Fort Worth conservation chair for the Sierra 15 club. I'm also on the Lone Star executive committee, 16 the chapter executive committee. 17 So I live here in Arlington, and I am very 18 well aware of all the pollution that comes from the 19 cement kilns and all the asthma cases and stuff. 20 From the EPA's own data, there is some 21 economic impacts that don't seem to make much sense to 22me. The best I can look at on the website, these 23proposed changes in the rules, the weakening of the 24proposed rules will save the cement kiln industry 25 $20 million or so a year, something like that.

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1 And from a few statistics that the EPA puts 2 out, the proposed rules -- the original proposed rules 3 would save 130,000 lost workdays a year, the 4 additional workdays that would be lost without the new 5 rules. 6 Now, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. So 7 that 130,000 workdays works out to $7 and half million 8 roughly. The average wage is $23.50 in this country, 9 so that works out to about $24 and a half million. So 10 with the average wage, that basically washes out any 11 economic impact of savings the cement kiln industry 12would have just in lost workdays. Now, that's not to 13 talk about the actual health effects and costs of the 14health. 15 In the cases of aggravated asthma, under the 16 new rules it's supposed to save 17,000 cases a year, 17prevent 17,000 additional cases a year. Each case of 18 aggravated asthma, it says cost roughly $3,300. So 19 that's $56 million a year. 20 Now, it's always supposed to save 1,500 21heart attacks a year, nonfatal heart attacks. Well, 22 the cost of a major heart attack over somebody's 23 lifetime is $1 million in additional costs and health 24 costs that are paid by Medicare and Medicaid, 25 insurance premiums and out of their own pocket. A

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1 less severe is $760,000. So a major -- you're talking 2 $1 billion and a half for each year. 3 Now, that's not occurred in just that year. 4 But over the lifetime of that individual, that's what 5 it would cost. And even a less severe is over $1 6 billion. 7 So, you know, 20 or 30 million dollars of 8 added cost to the industry to clean up pollution that 9 causes, you know, several magnitudes' worth of cost 10 and health and loss of economic opportunity doesn't 11 seem to make much sense to weaken them so they can 12 save a little money. 13 The technology is known. It can be used. 14 There's no justifiable reason to weaken them. I know 15 they like to scream bloody murder when the regulation 16 is always bad, but it's not, you know. And the free 17market is not going to take that into account because 18 there's no mechanism for those increasing heart 19 attacks and stuff to affect the price of cement 20 because they don't have to cover that cost, but 21 society does. 22 So the EPA should act in the best interest 23 of society at large and our health care and our 24 economic interest. Thank you. 25 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you,

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1 Mr. Quertermous. 2 Ms. Kimberling. 3 KERRIE KIMBERLING 4 My name is Kerrie Kimberling. It's spelled 5 K-e-r-r-i-e. Last name Kimberling, 6 K-i-m-b-e-r-l-i-n-g. I live in Richardson. Thank you 7 for allowing me to speak. 8 I'm here today to implore you to stand up 9 and say that people matter more than industry. We 10 want the original cement emission rules from 2010 to 11 go into effect with the original compliance date in 12 2013. 13 The proposed weaker standards are 14 inadequate. You know that the air we breathe in the 15 Dallas area has been in violation of the Clean Air Act 16 for 20 years. By making changes to the cement 17 emission rules and delaying them, you're telling us we 18 need to wait a little longer for clean air to breathe. 19And we have waited long enough. 20 The more these things happen, the more I 21 think our lives and our health are a joke to you. 22 State implementation plans that are designed never 23 work. We all know that. And yet, they just keep 24 churning out these useless plans. 25 We drive out to these hearings. We make our

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1 case, and our opinions are carefully written down, 2 filed away and nothing happens. What is the 3 compelling case for changing and delaying these 4 crucial rules? Who gets to decide that the citizens 5 in the Dallas area don't deserve tough clean air 6 standards? 7 To me it looks like you are cowering to 8 industry lobbyists. And why do the lobbyists matter 9 more than the rest of us? If we're lucky, we have 10people and animals in our lives that give us a reason 11 to get up every day. 12 Here are two that are important to me. This 13 is Dianna, her nephew Martin and Tigger at Disney 14World. Diana and Martin live downwind from the cement 15plants, and you have no right to harm them by delaying 16 these rules. When Tigger is not in Disney World, he's 17 in the 180-acre woods. So he should be okay. 18 But by changing and delaying these rules, 19you are harming those I love. No one should have to 20 come here and beg you for your help. Your job is to 21protect us and our environment. Please do your job, 22 and enforce the original emission rules and implement 23 them in 2013. Thank you for your time. 24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, 25 Mrs. Kimberly.

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1 Are there any follow-ups for Mr. Quertermous 2 or Mrs. Kimberly? 3 Well, thank you both very much for your 4 testimony. Thank you. 5 Okay. Folks, we'll sit tight until the next 6 speaker arrives. 7 (Recess taken at 6:30 to 7:02.) 8 MR. THOMPSON: The date is August 16th, 9 2012. I am Fred Thompson, herein Chair and the 10Associate Director for the Sector Policies and 11 Programs Division at the United States Environmental 12 Protection Agency. 13 This concludes the public hearing in 14Arlington, Texas on the National Emission Standards 15 for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Portland Cement 16 Manufacturing Industry and Standards of Performance 17 for Portland Cement plants. 18 (End of proceedings at 7:02 p.m.) 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 I, KENDRA ROWLAND, CSR No. 5500, Certified 3 Shorthand Reporter, certify; 4 That the foregoing proceedings were taken before 5 me at the time and place therein set forth. 6 That the testimony of the witnesses made at the 7 time were recorded stenographically by me and were 8 thereafter transcribed; 9 That the foregoing is a true and correct 10 transcript of my shorthand notes so taken. 11 I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws 12 of California that the foregoing is true and correct. 13 Dated this ______ day of _________________, 2012. 14 15

__________________________________ Kendra Rowland, Texas CSR No. 5500 16 Expiration Date: 12/31/13 Atkinson-Baker, Inc. 17 500 North Brand Boulevard, 3rd Fl. Glendale, CA 91203 18 (800) 288-3376 Firm Registration No. 32 19 Expiration Date: 12/31/13 20 21 22 23 24 25