NEWS RELEASE 

Citizens to File Suit for Clean Air in Boulder County
Lyons Cement Plant's Smokestack Lacks Pollution Controls, Putting Communities and Rocky Mountain National Park at Risk

For Immediate Release: February 26, 2007

For More Information Contact: Jeremy Nichols, Director, Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, (303) 454-3370; Julie Smith, Lyons resident and mother of two, 303-823-0879; John Barth, Attorney, 303-774-8868

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Lyons—Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action put CEMEX, Inc. on notice today that the group intends to file suit in federal court to clean up the company’s coal burning cement plant in Lyons, which threatens peoples’ health and Rocky Mountain National Park.

According to Colorado Air Pollution Control Division records, the kiln at the Lyons cement plant has been modified numerous times since 1979, leading to steady increases in air pollution from the smokestack. Under the Clean Air Act, best available pollution controls must be installed whenever a modification leads to increased air pollution. The cement plant has now been illegally operating without pollution controls for nearly three decades.

“Three decades of rising air pollution is not only extremely unhealthy, it’s illegal,” said Jeremy Nichols, Director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action. “When it comes to protecting our clean air, we need the best controls possible. We’re set to make sure that’s what we get at the CEMEX cement plant.”

Although several air pollutants have increased, nitrogen oxide gases, which are products of coal burning, pose a slew of dangers: 

• They react with sunlight to form ozone, also known as smog.  Health standards for smog were exceeded in Boulder and in Rocky Mountain National Park last summer.

• They form acid rain and deteriorate clean water and soils. Acid rain and nitrogen deposition in waters and on soils are key threats to the health of Rocky Mountain National Park.

• They form microscopic particulate pollution. Health standards for microscopic particulate pollution were exceeded in Boulder five times just this February. 

• They contribute to climate change. Nitrous oxide is a key greenhouse gas.

Nitrogen oxide emissions from the kiln have increased from 277 tons/year in 1979 to 2,162 tons/year today. The cement plant is permitted to release 2,649 tons of nitrogen oxides annually. This amount is more than is released by the Valmont power plant in Boulder and equal to the amount released by over 139,000 cars each driven 12,500 miles in a year.  A car releases 38.2 pounds of nitrogen oxides in a year.

“Clean air is vital to the health of our families, our communities, and even Rocky Mountain National Park,” said Julie Smith, a resident of Lyons. “Air pollution may be our past, but it can’t be our future.” 

Increases in nitrogen oxide emissions are tied to several modifications at the cement plant. For example, in 1980 the kiln was cut in half to maintain higher temperatures. Nitrogen oxide emissions increased by 508 tons per year. In 1989, the kiln was modified to burn tires for the first time. Nitrogen oxide emissions increased by 506 tons per year.

In total, nine modifications have taken place at the cement plant since 1979, all of which led to increases in either nitrogen oxides or other harmful air pollutants like sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. CEMEX has yet to use best available controls for these pollutants.

If modern pollution controls were used, nitrogen oxide emissions could be reduced by 90% or more, leaving local communities safer and healthier. Significant reductions in nitrogen oxides would also help rescue Rocky Mountain National Park from ecological collapse.

“The technology is available, it’s simply a matter of making the investment,” said Nichols. “Sadly, CEMEX has not made that investment, putting us all at risk.”

Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action, a clean air group with numerous members in Lyons, has formally put CEMEX on notice of an impending lawsuit to secure pollution controls. Under the Clean Air Act, citizens can file suit against polluters to hold them accountable to clean air after giving them 60 days notice. Civil penalties can also be assessed. Polluters can be fined up to $32,500 per violation per day under federal law. CEMEX could be required to pay over $500,000,000 in civil penalties because of its violations.

CEMEX, a multinational cement and mining company headquartered in Mexico, also releases massive amounts of toxic air pollutants from its Lyons cement plant. According to the company’s own records:

• 53 pounds of mercury are released annually. The amount of mercury released by the cement plant is equivalent to the mercury in over 34,000 household thermometers (53 pounds * 453.5 grams/lb. = 24,035.5 grams/0.7 grams per thermometer = 34,336).

• 0.114 grams of dioxins are released annually. The National Research Council of the National Academies recently described dioxin as “among the most toxic anthropogenic substance ever identified.”  There is no “safe” level of exposure to dioxin.
  

CEMEX is also a chronic air polluter and was most recently fined $1.5 million for over 72,000 violations of its dioxin emission limits. The state of Colorado has taken enforcement action against CEMEX four times in the last five years for violations of clean air laws. The state of Colorado has taken tremendous steps to clean up the Lyons cement plant and citizens hope to build on the state’s success.

After 60 days, citizens can file suit against CEMEX in U.S. District Court in Denver. Once in court, citizens will ask a judge to hold CEMEX in violation of the law, to require CEMEX to install pollution controls, and to require CEMEX to pay civil penalties for its violations. 

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