Frederick County residents living near Union Bridge could be impacted by decisions made on air emissions from LeHigh

Public Hearing on Lehigh Cement Co. Air Permit Renewal,  Union Bridge MD

What: Public Hearing on Lehigh Cement Co’s operating permit renewal

When: scheduled for March 2nd 7pm or March 9th in case of inclement weather.

Where: Union Bridge Fire Hall, 8 W Locust St, Union Bridge

For more info: Call the Maryland Department of the Environment at 410-537-3000

Lehigh’s Union Bridge plant is one of the largest cement kilns in the United States, and produces over 2,000,000 tons of clinker each year.  Lehigh uses sewage sludge, along with fly ash and bottom ash (waste produced from coal-fired power plants), as raw materials in its clinker production.  The cement kiln “cooks” this waste material at temperatures as high as 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit, which releases hazardous pollution into the air.  Lehigh emits large amounts of hazardous air pollutants including mercury, chlorobenzene, and naphthalene, as well as other air pollutants like particulate matter and nitrogen oxide.  This is particularly significant given Lehigh’s proximity to high population areas and the Chesapeake Bay.  Pollution from the Lehigh plant can harm public health and the environment, as well as contribute to the degradation of the Chesapeake Bay.  Read comments on the draft Title V permit submitted to Air and Radiation Management Administration of Maryland Department of the Environment on December 15, 2010 by Environmental Integrity and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Read more about Lehigh’s emissions and the impacts of mercury emissions on our families and our environment in this report:  Cementing a Toxic Legacy? How the Environmental Protection Agency has failed to control mercury pollution from cement kilns

http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/local-economies-close-the-distance-between-us