Walden hopes to help Ash Grove

Rep. Greg Walden warned a group of about 30 people attending Wednesday’s Baker County County Chamber of Commerce meeting he will continue to push the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen the noose it holds on the Ash Grove cement plant in Durkee and other industries across the country.

“Clearly EPA has given Ash Grove a tiny bit of relief with their sidebar statement that they may let the Durkee plant operate a little longer” than 2013, when the agency’s strict new limits on mercury emissions are scheduled to take effect.

On Aug. 6, the EPA adopted new mercury rules without a subcategory sought by Ash Grove allowing slightly higher mercury emissions for plants like the one in Durkee that make cement from limestone with higher levels of naturally occuring mercury.

However, EPA officials sent a letter to Ash Grove officials essentially saying that since the company just completed installation of a $20 million mercury system that reduced mercury emissions by around 90 percent, the EPA might let them operate for an unspecified period of time beyond the date the new mercury emission limits take effect, as long as the company continues to strive to reach the target 98 percent reduction in mercury emissions.

“Unfortunately, we are not sure what their sidebar letter really means,” said Walden, R-Oregon.

Terry Kerby, manager of the Durkee Ash Grove plant, attended the Chamber meeting along with job steward representatives for the union workers employed at the plant.

Kerby said Ash Grove officials are trying to get clarification from the EPA about exactly what the letter means, in terms of how much beyond 2013 the plant might be allowed to operate, if they can’t reach the 98 percent reduction in mercury emissions required under the new rules.

“They are obviously concerned,” Walden said. “The question we all have is whether the EPA will really come through with a life line, and if so, how long is the rope.

“The letter hinted at a bit of relief. There is a bit of a lifeline extended, but to me this is a very unusual provision,” Walden said. “They still have their hand firmly around Ash Grove’s neck.

“We are trying to get them to loosen their fingers a bit and give them some air flow,” Walden said in an interview after the meeting.

Walden said the new mercury emission rule is part of one of the 3,006 new rules and regulations the Barack Obama Administration  issued in 2008.

These rules address everything from speed restrictions to reduce the threat of ship collisions with North Atlantic whales to energy conservation standards for vending machines. Many of those rules are simple and required to ensure the regular operation of our government. However, they also include major rules that can have a staggering impact on our economy, according to Walden.

Walden said the EPA is currently considering a new boiler impact standard that could prevent a new state-of-the-art pellet-fired boiler built in John Day by Malheur Lumber from ever firing up to burn pellets made from woody biomass, derived from forest health and fire mitigation thinning projects, from every firing up.

“I posed the question to EPA, ‘Do you realize the conflict you are setting up when Obama is trying to create green jobs on one hand, and the EPA is about to adopt rules that will kill it on the spot’,” Walden said.