Don’t punish Ash Grove

Ash Grove Cement Co. intends to spend about $20 million to cut, by as much as 85 percent, the amount of toxic mercury its Durkee plant spews into the atmosphere.

This is good.

The Environmental Protection Agency seems to believe the best way to reduce mercury emissions from cement factories is to impose rules so stringent that the factories can’t comply and thus have to close.

Which certainly would reduce their mercury emissions.

The unfortunate side effect for Baker County, in the case of Ash Grove’s Durkee plant, would be the loss of 116 full-time jobs and of $1 million per year in property tax revenue.

We don’t mean to imply that preserving jobs and tax payments is more important than reducing the release of a poison into the air.

But although the toxicity of mercury is scientific fact, there is no research showing any direct effects on people, either in Baker County or downwind, from Ash Grove’s mercury emissions.

We urge the EPA to reconsider its proposed mercury rules.

Those rules, according to Ash Grove officials, would mandate a 99-percent reduction in the amount of mercury the Durkee plant releases.

Achieving that goal, given current technology, is cost-prohibitive, Ash Grove contends.

But last year, before the EPA announced its proposed rules, Ash Grove agreed, as part of a deal with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, to slash mercury emissions by at least 75 percent, and as much as 85 percent, by installing equipment that’s scheduled to be in place within 10 to 12 months.

That’s a major accomplishment — the Durkee plant is Oregon’s biggest source of airborne mercury, and the third-largest in the nation.

Which is perfectly legal, by the way.

The federal government does not now limit the amount of mercury released from any of the nation’s 115 or so cement kilns.

This is a significant oversight.

But the government’s past failings in no way justifies its imposing belated and draconian restrictions that could decimate an industry.

Particularly when such a step could have the opposite of the intended effect.

Pushing the United States’ cement production to other countries that have lax pollution laws (or none) would result in more mercury, not less, being belched into the air.

We urge EPA take a more moderate approach in imposing the first mercury limits on cement kilns.

This is especially true for Ash Grove’s Durkee plant, which has already taken steps to substantially reduce its mercury footprint.

Since Ash Grove has proved its commitment to reducing pollution, the company should have a chance to also show that, when technology allows, it will cut its mercury emissions by the extra 14 percent that the EPA might soon demand.