Thursday, August 16, 2012

4 28 comments (1) By Randy Lee Loftis / Reporter rloftis@dallasnews.com 10:22 am on August 16, 2012 | Permalink The Obama administration’s only hearing on its proposal to give the cement industry more time to meet a looser clean-air standard is under way at Arlington City Hall. But the jury is already back with a verdict. The Environmental Protection Agency is getting shredded — literally. Some opponents of the move — that is, all but one of the speakers so far — are feeding EPA handouts into a shredder as they present their case. The four EPA officials running the hearing are hearing everything from quiet, compressed anger (“This is outrageous,” declared state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth) to table-pounding and shouts. Jim Schermbeck, director of the North Texas environmental group Downwinders at Risk, said he was speaking in the place of group founder Sue Pope, who has campaigned to slash cement plant pollution for 20 years. Pope, he said, was too sick to appear. The debate isn’t really over EPA rules or industry rules, Schermbeck said, but whether the EPA was going to keep insulting people who have worked to protect public health. “These are Sue Pope’s rules that we are debating today,” he said, “and we shouldn’t be messing with them.” Following years of inaction, the EPA in 2010 moved ahead with rules to cut air pollution from cement-making plants. Midlothian has the nation’s biggest concentration of cement plants. People jammed a 2009 EPA hearing in Dallas to hail the move. But on June 22 this year, the Obama administration said it wanted to soften some requirements. One change would amend the way particulate matter — microscopic bits released from smokestacks — is counted. The effect would be to give plants more leeway, essentially boosting emissions compared to the 2010 rules. Another would give the industry two more years to comply. The deadline would move from September 2013 to September 2015. The EPA offered engineering explanations that closely mirrored the industry’s position. Gary Stuard of Dallas left no doubt about how that struck him. “People have been dying,” he told the EPA. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” There was one early voice for the industry. Andrew O’Hare, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Portland Cement Association, opened the hearing by endorsing the proposed changes. “New compliance strategies take time to implement,” he said. Time has been a major complaint of the opponents. The EPA gave the public just two weeks’ notice of Thursday’s hearing, which goes on until 7 p.m., and the deadline for written comment on the proposal is tomorrow. In a hurry to be heard? Read details and submit comments at www.regulations.gov. Enter doceket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0817. 4 28 More From Dallasnews.com Investigations Parkland launches recruitment campaign, calls special board meeting to discuss hospital's 'executive leadership' Entertainment Mario Tarradell: After naked DWI arrest, Randy Travis' career and credibility are all but dead Frisco Blog Frisco man indicted on capital murder charge after 22-month-old son's death The Scoop Blog Cleburne woman sues Cowboys, Jerry Jones, claiming hot bench outside stadium caused third-degree burns The Scoop Blog 4,000 without power in North Dallas after fire at electric substation From the web Autoblog BMW dealer sends armed tracker team with helicopter backup to recover loaner car StyleBistro Sandra Bullock As You've Never Seen Her Before Moneynews Billionaire Has Choice Words for Obama Left Lane News 2015 Ford Mustang to boast futuristic styling, updated suspension CafeMom Off-Duty Cop Crashes Motorcycle Into Little Girl Then Kills Her Enraged Dad What's this? Comments Dallasnews.com is now using Facebook Comments. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then add your comment below. Comments are subject to Facebook's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service on data use. If you don't want your comment to appear on Facebook, uncheck the 'Post to Facebook' box. To find out more, read the FAQ. 1 Comments This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Randy Lee Loftis / Reporter. Bookmark the permalink. Post navigation← Previous Next → ARCHIVES ABOUT THIS BLOG Local News columnists, reporters and editors invite you to join the discussion of the hot topics of the day. We encourage thoughtful reader contributions on any interesting subject in the news. VIDEO GENERAL NEWS STORIES Burl Osborne, former executive editor and publisher of The News, dies at 75 Fort Worth to begin ground spraying Overnight rains flood roads, trigger accidents across D-FW Is aerial spraying safe for people, pets and the environment? Amid safety debate, 5 Dallas-area cities OK West Nile aerial spraying North Texas thunderstorm system weakening but may linger awhile Eye About Town: Sinking pavement exposes pipe at Far North Dallas intersection U.S. Navy destroyer collides with oil tanker in Gulf CATEGORIES STAY CONNECTED more» MOBILE Get dallasnews.com on your mobile device Sign up for alerts or coupons sent to your phone NEWSLETTERS Subscribe to a variety of newsletters MORE IN UNCATEGORIZED 4 teenagers hurt, 2 airlifted to hospitals after crash in Maypearl Four teenagers were injured, two of them critically, in a roll-over crash Wednesday night in Maypearl. The crash occurred about... Close

By 
By  - The Dallas Morning News - August 16, 2012



The Obama administration’s only hearing on its proposal to give the cement industry more time to meet a looser clean-air standard is under way at Arlington City Hall.
But the jury is already back with a verdict. The Environmental Protection Agency is getting shredded — literally.
Some opponents of the move — that is, all but one of the speakers so far — are feeding EPA handouts into a shredder as they present their case.
The four EPA officials running the hearing are hearing everything from quiet, compressed anger (“This is outrageous,” declared state Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth) to table-pounding and shouts.
Jim Schermbeck, director of the North Texas environmental group Downwinders at Risk, said he was speaking in the place of group founder Sue Pope, who has campaigned to slash cement plant pollution for 20 years. Pope, he said, was too sick to appear.
The debate isn’t really over EPA rules or industry rules, Schermbeck said, but whether the EPA was going to keep insulting people who have worked to protect public health.
“These are Sue Pope’s rules that we are debating today,” he said, “and we shouldn’t be messing with them.”
Following years of inaction, the EPA in 2010 moved ahead with rules to cut air pollution from cement-making plants. Midlothian has the nation’s biggest concentration of cement plants.
People jammed a 2009 EPA hearing in Dallas to hail the move. But on June 22 this year, the Obama administration said it wanted to soften some requirements.
One change would amend the way particulate matter — microscopic bits released from smokestacks — is counted. The effect would be to give plants more leeway, essentially boosting emissions compared to the 2010 rules.
Another would give the industry two more years to comply. The deadline would move from September 2013 to September 2015.
The EPA offered engineering explanations that closely mirrored the industry’s position.
Gary Stuard of Dallas left no doubt about how that struck him.
“People have been dying,” he told the EPA. “Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
There was one early voice for the industry. Andrew O’Hare, vice president of regulatory affairs for the Portland Cement Association, opened the hearing by endorsing the proposed changes.
“New compliance strategies take time to implement,” he said.
Time has been a major complaint of the opponents. The EPA gave the public just two weeks’ notice of Thursday’s hearing, which goes on until 7 p.m., and the deadline for written comment on the proposal is tomorrow.
In a hurry to be heard? Read details and submit comments at www.regulations.gov. Enter doceket number EPA-HQ-OAR-2011-0817.

Fair Use

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Material from diverse and sometimes temporary sources is being made available in a permanent unified manner, as part of an effort to advance understanding of the social justice issues associated with eminent domain and the privatization of public infrastructure. It is believed that this is a 'fair use' of the information as allowed under section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, the site is maintained without profit for those who access it for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ To use material reproduced on this site for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', permission is required from the copyright owner indicated with a name and an Internet link at the end of each item. [NOTE: The text of this notice was lifted from CorridorNews.blogspot.com]

See ARCHIVE on side bar

Content is being archived weekly. Many pertinent articles regarding Transportation in the DFW Region are in the archives.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson

The Opnions On this Site are Diverse

DFW Regional Concerned Citizens attempts to examine issues from all directions. When a story says "By Faith Chatham" it contains my viewpoint. When it is by others, but posted by Faith Chatham, it is from someone else's viewpoint. When I discover contents which is on topic for this site, I frequently link to other sites. Usually those sites contain content which differs from my viewpoint (and frequently that of other members of DFW-RCC).