U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

PUBLIC HEARING RE: NATIONAL EMISSION 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 the proposed revised 

PM standards and the proposed extension 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)

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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

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13 ARLINGTON, TEXAS

14 AUGUST 16, 2012

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21 ATKINSON-BAKER, INC.

COURT REPORTERS

22 (800) 288-3376

www.depo.com

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REPORTED BY: KENDRA ROWLAND, CSR NO. 5500

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FILE NO.: A607AB8

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1 U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA)

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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

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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.

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1 A P P E A R A N C E S:

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3 APPEARING ON BEHALF OF U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY (EPA)

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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

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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

4 Associate 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

10 my 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

15 National 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

25 production.
5

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

14 proposed 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

21 meeting a limit for total hydrocarbons.

22 I would like to draw your attention to the

23 deadline for submitting written comments on the

24 proposal. 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

14 part 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

11 waste.

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,

15 please 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

11 here today representing the Portland Cement

12 Association, 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

18 material, 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

15 proposal, but is generally supportive of many of the

16 modifications the agency has proposed.

17 I would like to highlight a few provisions in

18 the proposal which are strongly by PCA, including a

19 modification to the emission standards for particulate

20 matter, 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

24 proposed 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

10 proposed 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,

14 moving 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

24 matter 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

10 process 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

15 you 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,

24 Mr. 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

22 you're proposing. Some involve public health, others

23 public 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

4 Air 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

23 money or local newspapers surviving on cement plant

24 money 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

12 wanted to implement it. Sue Pope is responsible for

13 successfully arguing for the inclusion of the cement

14 plants 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

17 plants 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

22 plants. 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

11 very last moment, you steal them back, get important

12 provisions 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

15 very 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

11 Arabians 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

18 you'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

21 we 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

11 past eight years. And to see that it has taken 20

12 years, 20 long, painful years in which people have

13 been dying, even by your own statistics, from the

14 pollution 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

24 Ruling 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

14 have, 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

13 parents who worked hard to raise their kids. And we

14 were 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

15 years 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

24 more 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

14 plants. Why are the people still waiting for the EPA

15 to implement them? Now the EPA wants to make the

16 people wait two more years, two more years of

17 thousands of pounds of more air pollution, two more

18 years 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

23 years 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

15 when 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

21 was 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

11 years, 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

15 you 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

19 you'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.
27

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 --

11 Nizich, 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

14 May, winning the democratic primary unopposed in

15 November.

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.
28

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
29

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

12 previous speakers. I will probably just be a little

13 more 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
30

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

12 public interest. But I am furious with the Obama

13 Administration.

14 What about the cost of delay? I just told

15 you my father died from emphysema and congestive heart

16 failure. He didn't smoke. He breathed the air in

17 North Texas. It makes me sick. It makes me sick. It

18 makes 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

21 North Texas sick, disproportionately, the poor inner

22 city kids that I represent.

23 It is outrageous that we even have to be

24 here today. We have won this battle, and you're in

25 retrogression. I didn't get here in time to get one
31

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,

14 Representative 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
32

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

13 year with higher temperature, and this intensifies our

14 bad 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

20 particulate matter pollution rate to be kept to the

21 lowest amount possible. Exposure to particulate

22 matter or soot is detrimental to human health, period.

23 No level is safe.

24 I want the particulate matter pollution to

25 be monitored at cement plants constantly. Companies
33

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.
34

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.

17 Although we have lived there for the past eight years,

18 I was mostly oblivious to the pollution from the

19 plants, aside from the seasonal allergies that had

20 manifested 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.
35

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
36

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

15 poisoning. 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

25 pollution.
37

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

11 mercury who had autism.

12 In retrospect this makes sense. The

13 autistic kids have mercury problems because their

14 bodies 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

17 proving 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

25 monitor the results.
38

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

4 method 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

24 here on behalf my son Ziggy and my family. Our son

25 has withdrawn from us, and he may never fully recover.
39

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

15 you 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
40

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

16 Action 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

20 many 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

24 website that over two million people in the

25 Dallas/Fort Worth area alone will be affected by
41

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

10 pressures of mega corporations and big money

11 influenced elected officials and government agencies.

12 The EPA must stand strong and firmly resist any such

13 pressures.

14 I read the EPA's own mission statement from

15 your 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

21 protecting human health and the environment are firmly

22 enforced fairly and effectively. Environmental

23 protection contributes to making our communities and

24 ecosystems diverse, sustainable and economically

25 productive. And to accomplish this mission, we
42

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

10 your 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

25 very much.
43

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

14 people, 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

17 you 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
44

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.

14 All 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
45

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
46

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

24 monitors were set up during the plant shutdown. And

25 that was one of our requests throughout the whole deal
47

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

14 not 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

24 what aluminum castings has to do with energy

25 reduction.
48

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

20 you'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.
49

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

17 was 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

24 been -- you will hear from the rest of the testimony

25 how combative it's been.
50

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

10 you 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

14 name 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.
51

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

15 yea. But everything she said about the mission

16 statement, I really wanted to impress that idea on

17 you.

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
52

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
53

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.
54

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

10 Administration came in, it's been under attack for a

11 variety 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.
55

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

4 you 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

21 wait, what you're telling us is that based on the

22 material 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?
56

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

14 here, 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.
57

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.
58

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

10 people who have asthma in the Metroplex, it's 20 feet

11 high.

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

16 American, $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

23 publicity 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.
59

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

13 producers from international competition is just plain

14 wrong. Overseas shipping typically adds about 20

15 percent 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

23 mystery.

24 Let's talk about morality and common

25 decency. Genesis tells us that man was put in the
60

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

16 polluters 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.
61

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

20 years 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

24 previously approved and scheduled to take place in

25 2013. I oppose this postponement.
62

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

22 percent. 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
63

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

22 makers. 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
64

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

16 professional 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

21 Association, 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
65

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.

4 And 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,
66

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

11 within 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

22 well suited to long-distance travel, a report from the

23 Woodrow Wilson Institute noted that one-fifth of the

24 mercury entering the Willamette River Valley in Oregon

25 comes from abroad, mostly from China.
67

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

12 potential 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

19 particular 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
68

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,

17 will 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.

21 Any 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
69

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

14 body when you're breathing in things that you should

15 not.

16 I worked for a Fortune 100 company for 25

17 years, 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
70

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

18 put 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

24 business as usual anymore and that's the major theme

25 of this big document. But there is one part that they
71

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

11 whole 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

14 happen. And please do not extend that rule. Thank

15 you 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
72

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

12 protecting us from environmental pollutants.

13 And to think that you would delay that --

14 people 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

24 health.

25 But it's -- those people will not be
73

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.

4 And 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

16 more 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

21 you'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

24 back. And we're counting on you to have ours. Thank

25 you.
74

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

11 more 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

22 you 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
75

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

15 parents 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
76

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

11 postpone 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

18 you.

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.
77

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

13 people, 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.
78

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

4 pickup. 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,

10 more 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

17 public 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

22 your 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
79

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

22 much 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
80

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

11 have to wonder what good reason there could be for

12 wanting to roll back these protections.

13 The industry has had all of the time in the

14 world 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

25 work?
81

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

11 voices 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

14 place 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

22 we could for the people of Texas because we wanted to

23 tell our story of what we're having in Chanute, Kansas

24 with Ash Grove Cement, which is one of the main

25 employers in our town of about 9,000.
82

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

18 meeting 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

21 had 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.
83

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.

14 We 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

21 would 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
84

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.
85

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
86

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

10 Abilene 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

19 mother 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
87

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

14 years 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

24 being affected, and will be affected by any decision

25 to roll back very important rules on particulate
88

1 matter 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

14 not do it and to remember Dorothy Campbell and Mary

15 Ann 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
89

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

14 proposed 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

17 what 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
90

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

11 Assessment and Planning Survey conducted by Cook

12 Children's Hospital in 2009 demonstrated the

13 likelihood of a causal link between the cement plants'

14 pollution 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
91

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

4 problems 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
92

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

13 proposed changes and rules for cement manufacturers.

14 The health of our citizens, especially the most

15 vulnerable, 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
93

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

19 meeting 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

23 point 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.
94

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

11 particularly 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

19 parent. 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?
95

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

14 make 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

24 your service, people from the industries on the other

25 side, usually any PA, are paid to come. This is their
96

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

20 modification 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
97

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

10 measuring.

11 That is not exactly a confidence builder

12 when 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.
98

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

12 we have extrapolated from those benefits the cost of a

13 two-year delay. I'm not going to repeat that here. I

14 won'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.

19 Among 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

24 worker in Northern Columbia County, New York who lives

25 across the river seven miles from the cement plant.
99

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

14 help clean up the mess. And it's a very expensive

15 mess.

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
100

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.

14 All 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

17 with 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,

22 perhaps, 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
101

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

17 when 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

23 your 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,

12 myself, 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

17 water. 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

10 presentation 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,

18 probably 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

24 probably 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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1 more. 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

4 permits 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

25 plant 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

4 professor 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

12 peaked. 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

17 mirrors. And they're concentrated. There's 24,000

18 mirrors 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

21 pressure -- 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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1 mega 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

21 peak 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

25 make 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.

4 And 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,
110

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

11 problems.

12 To not reduce ozone levels in the D/FW area,

13 or any area, for that matter, is unconscionable. Why

14 would 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

24 health 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

14 will 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

19 yields. 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

16 protecting 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

10 pollution. 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

17 platform 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

22 politics on this thing. I don't think you're doing

23 this because you want to. You're doing it because

24 you're being forced to, either by the corporations or

25 by a court decision that was loaded up with republican
114

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
115

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

12 years 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

18 pounds 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

19 millions 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

18 person 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

4 matter 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

12 young 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

22 proverb, 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.
119

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

21 hearing is taking place. I just so happen to be

22 working 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

4 miles 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

14 possibly going to be pushed back another two years.

15 And not only this, but with weaker regulations on

16 particulate 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

22 Air Act in 1991, I was one year old. These amendments

23 should have put in place the regulations on

24 particulate 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

12 would 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

21 how 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

25 promise.
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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
123

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

4 pollution 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

17 place 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

25 year. 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

10 politics. 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

15 where 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

19 years 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.
125

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
126

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

15 particles 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

21 particle levels are high. That's from the EPA's

22 website.

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

14 benefit 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

21 moving 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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1 myself 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

10 patients 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

17 put 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,

24 Mr. McDermott. What is your son's name?

25 (BY THE SPEAKER) His name is North
129

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

20 my 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

25 National 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

10 production.

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

14 would be necessary with the monitoring change. EPA

15 proposed 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

24 proposed 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

24 part of the official record for this rule.

25 The first standards issued under -- I'm
132

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

11 proposed 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

15 waste. 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

21 waste.

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,

25 please 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

18 passed; and I will ask you to please complete your

19 testimony.

20 Today's hearing will continue until 7:00

21 p.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

24 myself 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

17 we 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

4 political 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

19 protect 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

24 peeing 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

15 you 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

10 public 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

18 paper 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

14 Advair, 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

21 have 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

16 muscle sort of exploded after I touched a flowerpot

17 with 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

24 poisoned 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

13 please come forward.

14 Good afternoon to the both of you. Starting

15 with 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

18 pollution 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

23 Alpena 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
143

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

19 per 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

22 mercury emissions from Lafarge and 96 percent of that

23 mercury is the most toxic form that will be found in

24 combustion stacks, the oxidized, divalent and ionic

25 form of mercury.
144

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

4 mercury-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

13 members 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

17 American 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

20 personally. 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

25 we're all here because EPA is under a draft settlement
145

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

20 you'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
146

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

11 well tonight.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

13 testimony. If you could remain seated, please. Thank

14 you.

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

25 water 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

11 honored 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

16 process limestone from its strip mine. The facility

17 would 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

21 would be no escaping the pollution emitted by the

22 plant.

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

12 methylmercury, 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

17 mercury.

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

16 pollution 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.
150

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

4 years 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

21 you 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

17 Norco, 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

24 here 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

15 what we don't want our children to have to wear and

16 people 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

22 VOCs, 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

11 proximity.

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

15 mean 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

19 medications, 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

24 breathing 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

10 percent 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

14 me. 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

24 my 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

10 protect us. Thank you.

11 MR. THOMPSON: Okay. Thank you for

12 your 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.

22 And I'm here with the Texas Campaign for the

23 Environment. Thanks for this opportunity to testify

24 today.

25 MR. THOMPSON: Sure.
157

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

13 many 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

21 misfortune 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
158

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

14 would weaken the standards by 50 percent and delay

15 them by another two years. This isn't necessary. And

16 you 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

22 would you do that? Because cement manufacturers told

23 you to because it's in their interest? What about our

24 interests?

25 So don't go forward with the cowardly,
159

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

13 pollution 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

19 may 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

20 profit, 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.

23 All for the money, digital numbers on a computer

24 screen, plastic in your hand. It's hardly tangible

25 anymore. It's nothing.
161

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

22 what 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

19 you 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?
163

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
164

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.
165

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
166

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

20 practical."

21 While we are supportive of the industry's

22 position 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
167

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,

24 Mr. Minick. Thank you for your testimony.

25 Dr. Bowman.
168

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

11 Airport. 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

17 placed 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
169

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

24 who spend most of their time away from the prevailing

25 winds that carry cement plant emissions, this might
170

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

18 proven 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

24 your name and spelling it for the court reporter.

25 NEIL CARMEN
172

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

12 pollutants, particulate matter, soot.

13 And so 20 years ago, I began efforts to

14 track when EPA would get around to adopting,

15 promulgating the MACT for the Portland Cement kilns.

16 And so we began to realize in the late 1990s that EPA

17 was 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,

24 with 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

4 mercury 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

12 where there are Portland Cement kilns have a lot of

13 problems. They have odor problems. They have dust

14 problems. 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

19 probably 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

23 mercury rules. We know that mercury, for over 20

24 years -- 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

4 mercury 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

14 portion 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,

17 you 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

18 mercury. 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

4 Arlington, 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,

12 push it into the future, stick it on to the taxpayers'

13 tab. All of us have been working on improving air and

14 water 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

21 maintained 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

21 who are looking for faith-based approaches to

22 environmental management.

23 And also, I'm here as interested party

24 because I live downwind from the Midlothian plants.

25 And 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

11 particulate 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

14 you'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

23 push it back two more years. The Midlothian cement

24 plants are the largest source of air pollution in

25 North Texas and the largest source of tiny particulate
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1 matter, 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

10 putting my life at risk and the lives of many other

11 people.

12 By extending the compliance with the Clean

13 Air 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
182

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

12 my 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

15 much 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

20 Alert 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.

24 Many 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.

13 According 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

20 projected 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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1 must 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

14 who, 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

20 protect 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

22 when 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

20 plants 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

11 her hastened her deterioration into chronic COPD.

12 Do not allow the industry or political

13 pressure to turn children into cases similar to hers.

14 My message to the EPA, do not roll back these

15 standards. Do not cave under industrial or political

16 pressure. 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

25 pronunciation 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

12 presenting 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

16 years. 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

11 matter pollution provisions were considerably

12 weakened. 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

10 No. 305R12001, Page 27. This -- the OECA outlines a

11 multipoint 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

20 problems beginning with the North Central Texas cement

21 kilns. There are -- the North Central Texas has the

22 most concentration of cement kilns and very high

23 population affected by that. Thank you very much.

24 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you for your

25 testimony.
193

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

14 you.

15 (BY THE SPEAKER) Any business plan has two

16 paramount 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

23 particulate 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

15 make cement to fuel the economy. And they want two

16 more 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

21 puts 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
195

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

18 problems and it's especially worrisome among the

19 young. 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
196

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
197

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

16 president. 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

21 policies 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

24 North Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist

25 Church.
198

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

17 prerequisite 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

21 particulate matter from Portland Cement kilns. And

22 these standards were to be fully implemented next

23 year. 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

24 health benefits that I should be able to derive from

25 working in my yard. And I want the EPA to protect by
200

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

11 vulnerable citizens at risk.

12 EPA must reject all pressure from industrial

13 polluters 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

16 Americans 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.
201

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

10 my 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

20 morning when the air is bad, when the air is full of

21 particulate 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
202

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

4 must 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

11 have 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

21 want 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
203

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
204

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

15 would 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.
205

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

4 means, 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

11 people 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

15 will 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

19 person 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
206

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

16 protect 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

22 pollution without weakening them and without delay.

23 We challenge each person present to find a

24 way to do the right thing, to do what your conscious

25 permits you to do and to do what is in your heart.
207

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

10 members. And lastly, I'm a long-term member of the

11 North 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
208

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

12 pollution -- 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

21 wouldn'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
209

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.

19 And 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

25 pollution. And lastly, we will continue to have
210

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

10 you 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

14 pollution 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.
211

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
212

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

17 middle 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

20 problems.

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,
213

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

10 prevailing 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

14 made a wise decision. If you remember, back in the

15 '80s and the '90s on TV in Dallas -- I don't know if

16 y'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

23 years ago. They don't do it on the evening news. I

24 presume Realtors on the north side of town got tired

25 of it, and that may have be what affected it. I don't
214

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

14 mean, 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

17 you 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

24 were approved and not delay. It's just simply too

25 dangerous for my grandchildren and for all the
215

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

22 myself. 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

25 years and eligible to retire. And I'm a marathon
216

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

12 was 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

16 particulates 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,
217

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

14 Mr. Betzen. You referenced a high school, and I

15 missed 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
218

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

15 play. And so I really trust, and I hope that just,

16 you know, the fact that we have -- in fact, just had

17 one day, we do have people here despite the fact that

18 many 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

25 profit concerns. And so that's basically -- you know,
219

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

16 must 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

21 manufacturing plants in the United States. While the

22 93 facilities average less than two kilns per plant,

23 many of the facilities in Texas have a number of

24 kilns, including the largest, TXI in Midlothian with

25 five.
220

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

18 monitored mercury emissions, it selected cement

19 plants. Their emissions readings were significantly

20 higher than the formula-based self-reported readings

21 numbers currently used to report emissions. Actual

22 mercury emission data are needed to ascertain the

23 probable impact of emissions on the surrounding

24 watersheds.

25 We also support CEMs for monitoring other
221

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

10 mercury, 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

14 pollution. 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.

19 And 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
222

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

23 pharmacist 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,
223

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,

16 malaise 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

19 problem 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

22 myocardial ischemia, good function capacity, normal

23 ejection fraction. In other words, everything was

24 normal. There was nothing wrong with my heart.

25 I followed back up on March 23rd again with
224

1 my 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,

11 you probably could have diagnosed that yourself,

12 knowing what the history of this area for the last 20

13 years that we have had such poor air quality.

14 I believe it wasn't too long ago that we

15 were 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

22 water. 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?
225

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,

4 young 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

16 pollute 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

20 your 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

25 values. Stand up and do what you think is the right
226

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

15 many 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

25 protections against cement plant pollution be weakened
227

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

12 was 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

17 wrong. 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
228

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

21 wearing 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.
229

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

16 me 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.
230

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

19 year, I was, for the past 25 years, a traveling

20 saleswoman throughout the state of Texas. I

21 wholesaled optical frames, and I carried them in huge,

22 large heavy sales rep bags.

23 Because my home office in New York only paid

24 me $50 -- that's $50 for a hotel, I tried to look for

25 inexpensive Motel 6 type of places. And I would
231

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.

14 When 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

24 horror. My eyes were still really burning badly, and

25 now I was having difficulty inhaling.
232

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

14 business 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

18 problem. It was a tire plant. People who have homes

19 with bedrooms that don't open into the parking lot

20 probably 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.
233

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

15 without interference and support them to the

16 fullest.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Are you about to make

18 your 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
234

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

19 please. 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
235

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
236

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

11 you very much.

12 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Mrs. Stewart.

13 And 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
237

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

12 make 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

16 you very much for listening.

17 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you very much for

18 your 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.
238

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

11 president, 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

14 has 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
239

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

15 years ago, we were here testifying about the exact

16 same issue. We were optimistic because we had a new

17 president 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

23 meet the standards, the new limits. None of that has

24 changed in three years, except more asthma attacks,

25 more heart attacks, more deaths.
240

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

11 your 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

23 North Texas D/FW air."

24 "Please, these rules being delayed will

25 cause deaths and illness of the most vulnerable, the
241

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
242

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

11 have, 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

24 you in ten minutes. Thank you.

25 (Recess taken at 4:23 to 4:35.)
243

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

14 years.

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

23 plants. 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
244

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

11 plant 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

23 point sources of air pollution in North Texas. And

24 now, since it looks like things are going to loosen

25 up, they're all looking forward to expanding their
245

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,

15 which is now linked to heart attacks, strokes, immune

16 system damage and brain function losses.

17 Cement plants are among the very largest PM

18 polluters. 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

25 year the agency won a DC Circuit Court ruling that
246

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

12 you.

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

24 hopeful at that meeting when I saw how many people

25 were speaking. And later when I learned the outcome
247

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

14 be 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

24 who stand up.

25 I am an educator. I teach at Collin
248

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

12 proposed 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

18 your 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

25 protection. I mean, that's always been my impression.
249

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

4 protection, 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

22 park.

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
250

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

14 messing 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

20 protected 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

24 personally have any children -- but the children in

25 Texas and throughout the United States. But since
251

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

13 your testimony. If you will just sit tight for a

14 minute.

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
252

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

11 practice, 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

19 young 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
253

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

14 home. 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

21 wasn'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
254

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

12 Very 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.
255

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

13 miles downwind from the cement plant capital of Texas,

14 which 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

25 matter pollution each year. And there is no safe
256

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

15 protecting 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

22 people's kids that I care for. Delay the rules, and

23 you cost our kids a fulfilled childhood. Do this, and

24 you shred their childhood. Do this, and things like

25 birthday parties are impossible to have outside.
257

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.

10 And 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

22 protect 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
258

1 adverse impact on the health and well-being of local

2 families and individuals.

3 These regulations have been long in the

4 making 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.

12 Are 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
259

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
260

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

13 Arlington. 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.

20 And 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

25 problem. And this rollback is not required by court
261

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

11 who has not spoken that would like to testify?

12 Please come forward. Hi, how are you? If

13 you 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.

23 And 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
262

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,

10 you know -- this pollution will be a thing of the

11 past. 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

16 precedent 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.

20 And 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?
263

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

11 your 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

16 president of NCTCA, North Central Texas Communities

17 Alliance.

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

22 North 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
264

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

11 when that deadline comes, the industry lobbies

12 politically and tries to get those dates put off and

13 put off and put off.

14 We have got to stop putting off good

15 standards, good steps to correct our air quality in

16 North 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.
265

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

10 politicians 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

22 want 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.
266

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

17 politicians. 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
267

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

23 your name and spell it for the court reporter and then

24 begin your testimony.

25 MARY CATO
268

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

14 Arlington is not due solely to the pollution from the

15 Midlothian cement plants. However, I'm aware that

16 Arlington is in the area covered by the plume coming

17 from those plants, which increases the toxic air

18 pollutants 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

24 primarily, if not solely, focused on profits. They

25 will not take voluntary actions necessary to clean up
269

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

4 penalties 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

14 business 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

20 place. 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
270

1 scheduled in 2013 without backing down on the

2 standards imposed on this industry.

3 MR. THOMPSON: Thank you, Ms. Cato.

4 Are 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

12 you 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
271

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.

14 plant 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,

20 Arlington, Irving and Grand prairie had a 2011

21 population 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
272

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

21 workers 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
273

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

12 will not protect human health. Protection outweighs

13 cost of regulations. The more medical researchers

14 learn about the microscopic bits of soot, chemicals,

15 pulverized 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
274

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

4 pronounce 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

24 monitoring do not need to be changed, diluted or

25 delayed.
275

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

12 problems.

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

21 more 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
276

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,

14 R-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

18 proposed situation. We need much stronger EPA

19 regulations in this area. I deal with elderly

20 parents, 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

24 breathing 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

10 pollutant days. It is very difficult to breathe.

11 Even the fire department and local police departments

12 will tell you.

13 I lived near Fire Department No. 3 for many,

14 many 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

21 handling 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

24 we 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

11 with chemical plants, oil plants, fracing, the benzene

12 problems, 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

23 pollution, 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

14 pronounce 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

4 passed 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

11 want the EPA to extend the compliance deadline for

12 meeting 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

16 North 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

22 pollution 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

18 proposing 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

21 where 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

12 pollution, 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

17 people 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

21 places 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

24 has asthma. For the first time in her life, she has

25 asthma. She carries around an inhaler, and that's
285

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

14 be 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.

21 And I would be very against any such delays or any

22 weakening 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.
286

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

18 you 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

24 pollution out there, not just the air, but the water

25 and the land too.
287

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

22 put 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
288

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

12 want 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

18 making their hearts bad. I have a history of heart

19 disease. My family has a history of heart disease.

20 And 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.
289

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

13 mean, as a matter of fact, I think El Paso has the

14 highest air pollution record, if I'm not mistaken.

15 And somebody tried to blame that on Juarez, but it

16 may 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

19 people, here for myself and my family, for my kids and

20 my 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
290

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

14 need 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

22 we 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.
291

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

22 me. The best I can look at on the website, these

23 proposed changes in the rules, the weakening of the

24 proposed rules will save the cement kiln industry

25 $20 million or so a year, something like that.
292

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

12 would have just in lost workdays. Now, that's not to

13 talk about the actual health effects and costs of the

14 health.

15 In the cases of aggravated asthma, under the

16 new rules it's supposed to save 17,000 cases a year,

17 prevent 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

21 heart 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
293

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

17 market 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,
294

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.

19 And 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
295

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

10 people 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

14 World. Diana and Martin live downwind from the cement

15 plants, 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,

19 you are harming those I love. No one should have to

20 come here and beg you for your help. Your job is to

21 protect 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.
296

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

10 Associate Director for the Sector Policies and

11 Programs Division at the United States Environmental

12 Protection Agency.

13 This concludes the public hearing in

14 Arlington, 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.)

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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

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