Mr. Terry Schimmel

Vice President, Technical Services

Boral Bricks, Inc.

P.O. Box 1178

Columbus, Georgia 31902

Re: Requirement to provide information according to Title 42 of the United States Code, 

Chapter 85, Subchapter I, Part A, section 7414 (42 U.S.C 7414)

Dear Mr. Schimmel:

We at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are collecting information about 

your industry, brick and structural clay products (BSCP) (SIC Codes 3251, 3253, and 3259). At 

EPA, the development of regulations involves gathering and analyzing a large amount of 

information. We are looking for your help in acquiring information specific to your company’s 

facilities because we believe that knowing about individual facilities is the key to knowing how 

an industry operates, and what facilities do and/or can do about air pollution. We are requesting 

this information under the authority given to us within section 114 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 

as explained further below, and request that you send the completed surveys for all of your 

facilities to us by August 13, 2008. The law, as written in the United States Code (42 U.S.C. 

7414), requires that you complete the enclosed survey and return it to us.

As you know, the EPA previously developed national emission standards for hazardous 

air pollutants (NESHAP) for BSCP manufacturing under section 112(d) of the CAA. The 

NESHAP for BSCP manufacturing was promulgated on February 28, 2003 and published in the 

Federal Register on May 16, 2003. As a result of judicial review, the standards were 

subsequently vacated. We are now in the process of collecting updated information on the 

hazardous air pollutant (HAP) emission sources and controls in the BSCP industry. This 

information will be used as the basis for developing new standards and updating our inventory of 

BSCP sources and facilities.

In the enclosed survey, we request information on BSCP processes, emissions, and 

controls. Enclosure 1 includes the survey form that you should use to provide the information to 

us. An electronic version of the survey form can be found on the compact disc (Enclosure 2).

Please complete either the hard copy survey form in Enclosure 1, or the electronic survey form in 

Enclosure 2, for each of your facilities, unless any of those facilities is part of another company

and is separately incorporated as a subsidiary or affiliate of your company. If any one of your 
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facilities is separately incorporated, please do not complete the surveys in Enclosures 1 or 2 for 

that facility. Instructions for completing the survey form are provided in Enclosure 3.

Using the information you provide to us in this survey, along with similar information we 

receive from other companies in your industry, we will determine the amount of HAP emitted;

define the present level of emission control; and assess what would be the environmental, energy, 

and economic impacts associated with installing and operating emission control techniques that 

are feasible for your industry. We are sensitive to the amount of time and effort required to 

complete this survey. Therefore, we have tried to limit the information requested to only those 

features important to developing the regulation so as to minimize the time you need to spend. I 

would like to assure you that nothing is being requested that we do not feel is necessary to 

achieve our goals stated above. You may respond “Not Applicable” to questions that do not 

apply to your facilities. 

Enclosure 4 contains a summary of our legal authority in section 114 of the CAA to 

obtain the information requested in this survey. If you believe that providing any specific 

information to us would reveal a trade secret, please identify this information clearly in your 

response. However, please do not label your entire response “Confidential” if only a portion 

includes trade secrets. You can see in Enclosure 4 the type of information that EPA may ask of 

you at a later time to prove that any information you have so identified is truly confidential. Any

information determined to be a trade secret will be protected by 18 U.S.C. 1905. If you do not 

claim as confidential any of the information in your returned survey, we can make this

information available to the public without notifying you further (40 CFR Part 2.203, 

September 1, 1976). Because section 114 of the CAA does not allow emission data to be claimed

as confidential, the emission data you provide to us can be made available to the public. A 

detailed explanation of what we consider to be emission data is contained in Enclosure 5.

We have contracted RTI International (RTI) (Contract No. EP-D-06-118) to help us 

gather information about your industry. As noted in Enclosure 6, we have designated RTI to be 

our authorized representative. Therefore, RTI has the same rights discussed above and in 

Enclosure 4 as EPA has. This means that RTI will have access to all information provided to us 

in your completed survey. As a designated representative of the Agency, RTI must, by law, also 

abide by the requirements of 42 U.S.C. 7414(c) in regard to the confidentiality of what you claim 

to be trade secrets.

Enclosure 7 summarizes our policies and procedures for handling trade secret information 

and describes how our contractor also is required to use the same procedures as we do. Because 

our contractors or other authorized representatives are required to follow the requirements in 

Enclosure 6, we believe that we can ensure your rights and protect any privileged information 

you submit to us.

Copies of this survey form have been given to representatives of your industry for their 

comments. We have attempted to incorporate their comments and suggestions into the final 

version. If you have questions regarding the need for this survey or need clarification on the 
3

information we are requesting, please contact Jeffrey Telander with EPA’s Office of Air Quality

Planning and Standards at 919-541-5427 (e-mail: telander.jeff@epa.gov).

Please return the completed survey form(s) to Mr. Telander at the address below by

August 13, 2008.

Jeffrey Telander

U.S. EPA Mailroom (D243-02)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27711

I am sure you understand how important it is for the EPA to use the very best information 

available to develop the most meaningful standard. Your help in providing this information is 

greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Peter Tsirigotis 

Director, Sector Policies and Programs Division

Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards 

7 Enclosures

cc: State AQM Office

U.S. EPA Region (w/o Enclosures)
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Identical letters also sent to:

Mr. Dennis Knautz, President

Acme Brick

P.O. Box 425 

Fort Worth, TX 76107

Mr. J. David McKeown

Regional Environmental Manager

Hanson Building Products America

P.O. Box 3307

Columbia, SC 29230

Mr. Dave McNees

Director of Environment & Corporate Real Estate

General Shale Brick, Inc.

P.O. Box 3547 

Johnson City, TN 37602

Mr. William Belden, Jr.

Chairman & CEO

The Belden Brick Co.

P.O. Box 20910

Canton, OH 44701

Mr. Steve Matsick, President

Glen-Gery Corporation

P.O. Box 7001

1166 Spring Street

Wyomissing, PA 19610

Mr. Michael Borden

President & Owner

Carolina Ceramics Brick Company

9931 Two Notch Road

Columbia, SC 29223

Mr. Norman Davis

General Manager

Morin Brick Company

P.O. Box 1510

Auburn, ME 04211

Mr. Charles Taylor, Jr., President

Taylor Clay Products, Inc.
5

P.O. Box 2128

Salisbury, NC 28145

Mr. Ronald Methier, Chief

Air Protection Branch

Georgia Environmental Protection Division

4244 International Parkway

Suite 120

Atlanta, GA 30334

Mr. James Brooks, Director

Bureau of Air Quality

Maine Department of Environmental Protection

17 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333-0017

Mr. B. Keith Overcash, Acting Director

Division of Air Quality

North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources

1601 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-1601

Mr. Robert Hodanbosi, Chief

Division of Air Pollution Control

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

122 S. Front Street

Columbus, OH 43215

Ms. Joyce E. Epps, Director

Bureau of Air Quality, 

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

P.O. Box 8468

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105-8468

Ms. Myra C. Reece, Chief

Bureau of Air Quality

South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control

2600 Bull Street

Columbia, SC 29201

Mr. Barry R. Stephens, Director

Division of Air Pollution Control

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

401 Church Street, 9th Floor

L & C Annex
6

Nashville, TN 37243-1531

Mr. John Steib, Director

Air Permits Division

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (MC 163)

P.O. Box 13087

Austin, TX 78711-3087

Mr. Dave Conroy, Chief

Air Programs Branch

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Region I

1 Congress Street, Suite 1100

Boston, MA 02114-2023

Mr. Judith Katz, Director

Air Protection Division

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Region III 

1650 Arch Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029

Ms. Beverly Banister, Director

Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Region IV 

Atlanta Federal Center

61 Forsyth Street, SW

Atlanta, GA 30303-3104

Ms. Cheryl Newton, Acting Director

Air Division

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Region V 

77 W. Jackson Boulevard

Chicago, IL 60604-3507

Ms. Becky Weber, Associate Director

Air Programs

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Region VI

1445 Ross Avenue

Dallas, TX 75202-2733