Feds studying hazards at Texas cement factory town

Talk to state, local or industry officials here and they'll tell you that decades of studies prove the air around the nation's largest concentration of cement plants is just fine.

Both sides hope a sweeping new federal study will finally answer the question that environmentalists, industry leaders, politicians and scientists have argued about for at least 20 years: Just how toxic is this place?

Cement factory pollution has become an increasing concern around the country, with the Environmental Protection Agency in April proposing new rules to cut emissions at the nation's 99 plants.

In Midlothian, the plants are tightly clustered a few miles apart in this town of about 16,000 just south of Dallas. The factories, with 10 massive kilns that bake limestone and other ingredients into cement at temperatures up to 2,800 degrees, can produce up to 6 million tons of cement a year. They do it in a pollution-producing process fueled mostly by coal but also by hazardous waste and old tires.

According to the most recent EPA statistics, the plants in 2007 emitted about 300 tons of sulfuric acid, nearly 20 tons of benzene, and smaller amounts of mercury, chromium, manganese and other chemicals. Those emissions were within the annual limits allowed on their state emissions permits, but that doesn't comfort some folks in town.

"A lot of people have paid the price," said Pope, a 69-year-old former horse breeder who lives near one plant and leads an environmental watchdog group. "They are responsible for a lot of the pollution and are causing the climate catastrophe."

State, city and industry officials disagree, citing a stack of studies that find no clear link between the heavy industrial activity and health problems. The Texas Commission for Environmental Quality has tested air and soil for toxins, metals and more than 100 chemicals since 1990. The agency is in the middle of another study that it says shows no major problems.

"A lot of people have looked at it over the years, and we just can't find anything based on the data we have," said Michael Honeycutt, who oversees toxicology studies for TCEQ. "People everywhere have asthma, have birth defects, have cancer; it's not a localized phenomenon."

The federal study, commissioned after nearly 400 residents petitioned the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, began with interviews of residents this week. The agency, charged with protecting public health around toxic sites, promises an extensive review of all major environmental issues.

"We welcome the study," said David Perkins, a spokesman for Dallas-based Texas Industries, the operator of the biggest polluter among the three plants and the only one permitted to burn hazardous waste. "There's a lot of studies that have been done over the past 20-plus years, and this is going to be an opportunity to really strengthen those results."

Officials at the other plants -- owned by Overland Park, Kan.-based Ash Grove Cement Co. and Holcim AG, a Swiss company with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Mass. -- didn't return messages seeking comment.

"We're not worried," said City Manager Don Hastings. "I think most people in the community aren't worried about the outcome because this is the most studied community in Texas, at least that's what we're told."

The results of those studies have been criticized over the years by environmentalists and some scientists.

Pope and her group, Downwinders at Risk, paint a much bleaker picture. They cite "innumerable" people who've contracted strange illnesses, cancer, birth defects, respiratory problems and "gusher" nosebleeds. Pope has chronicled dozens of problems with animals, including some born with short legs and extra paws or have hair loss, cancer and reproductive problems.

Former resident Carrie Walker, 35, said she had strange rashes, bronchitis, pneumonia and a fever that persisted for a couple years. She said nobody could figure out what was wrong and then a doctor finally told her she needed to leave town.

"Considering the fact that prior to living there my lung capacity was excellent and then after two years it was at 55 percent and now it's normal again, I'd say it's pretty certain there's a link," said Walker, who now lives in Dallas. "When I go see my doctors now, the first thing they say is, 'Please tell me you're staying away from Midlothian.'"

Alexandra Allred, whose young son has landed in the emergency room several times with asthma attacks he never had before moving here in 2001, hopes to be leaving soon. She's put her house up for sale, eager to leave a place where half of her daughter's 12-girl soccer team routinely runs to the sideline for their asthma inhalers.

"All the studies say everything's fine, but if you just look at the sky and the smoke you know it's not," she said.

The state health agency says birth defect rates are slightly higher in Ellis County than in the rest of the state, but that it's higher in a large area of North Texas including Dallas and Fort Worth. It's unclear why those figures are higher in that portion of the state, agency spokeswoman Emily Palmer said. State statistics also show a cancer rate that's slightly higher but not statistically significant.

The agency doesn't track respiratory problems, so it's hard to quantify those anecdotes from around town.

But that doesn't sway Pope, who lives downwind from all three plants. She said she plans to stick around Midlothian -- whatever the study finds -- to keep a close eye on the plants.

"I know if I had a brain I'd have been out of here a long time ago," she said. "But I didn't do anything wrong. It's our home."

Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090717/tx_cement_town_toxins.html?.v=1